MAPPING CONTROVERSIES: THE BLOCKCHAIN AND CRYPTOCOINS
About the project
Index
Actors
Chronology
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The website has been developed as a result of a Master´s class at the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po Paris during winter term 2016/2017. The class had been titled "Mapping controversies – Cryptocurrencies, Economy and Environment".
Mapping controversies (MC) is an academic method that allows to collect information and focuses on controversies around scientific knowledge. The goal is to find an accurate way of talking about a controversy and to understand different parties involved. The class is taught at different Parisian universities.
12 master students with diverse scientific backgrounds and nationalities participated to this class with the goal to present the controversy around cryptocurrencies and the technology blockchain. Ksenia Ermoshina was the coordinator of this project.
The following questions guided the group during the research:
What are the limits of the proof-of-work based cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, what are its potentials?
What kind of actors are involved in the controversy?
How do academics approach the question of the rise of cryptocurrencies across disciplines such as law studies, economy, informatics and social sciences?
How do crypto-entrepreneurs communicate on the topic and which countries are the most likely to legislate or ban cryptocurrencies?
What are the environmental challenges if crypto-money becomes mainstream?
Beside Bitcoin and other digital coins, what can the blockchain technology be used for?
The results of the research project are based on a review of scientific articles, press articles, articles and comments on forums and blogs as well as grey literature in order to guarantee a wide overview and diverse insight in the topic.
Our controversy circulates dynamically between web, press and academic world. Some online resources, like the Coindesk website, have a multiple function, being at the same time a source of analytics addressed to professionals, a news source, a forum and a platform for hosting research papers provided by independent think tanks and private companies. The multitude of sources we used and their complexity show the dynamic character of the controversy. Conference papers as well as publications from the crypto-community made us discover the controversy from different perspectives.
Scientometrics based on analysis of academic literature databases (Scopus) show that different academic communities exist dividing the complex subject on several topics.
After having read about 100 articles, our website reflects this division.
WHO ARE WE?
METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES
The website you are about to discover has been made in the context of a university´s class at Paris School for International Affairs (PSIA) at Science Po Paris. This website has been put online in order to share our results to a broader public, especially to other students of the academic format called Mapping Controversies. The content published does not represent the opinion of the school. Sciences Po Paris is not responsible for mistakes or vagueness concerning this website articles´ content, especially regarding the résumé of some authors´ideas, statistics, data or the usage of images and illustrations.
Please take into account that this website won´t be updated after 31st of december 2016. Nevertheless feel free to share your comment with us or to report a mistake. In this case please contact the students and the teacher of this class: Ksenia Ermoshina.
CONTACT:
ScPo2016@protonmail.com
DISCLOSURE AND COPYRIGHT