In the Teaching Module “Micro UX”, we MA User Experience Design students started to work with four different external project partners: This Ain’t Rock’n’Roll, Bittersuite, and Moley Robotics and Chelsea Physic Garden.
We got assigned a group of eight students with the Partner TARR ( This Ain’t Rock’n’Roll). We further subdivided our teams into four.
Team Members
Micro Unit encouraged us to align our industrial and studio practices and research methods working on real briefs in a professional environment.
Brief ~ Design a way to materialise the blockchain.
Partner: This Ain’t Rock’n’Roll
WEEK 1
Kickstart the desktop research
I was new to what a blockchain is; the only information I had was that cryptocurrency could make you rich if you are lucky enough! However, yes, the topic of blockchain made my interest inclined to know more about it, and we started with our desktop research.
As I got my head into the brief, I realised how we need to understand blockchain at the micro-level and identify design opportunities in what we observe at Brixton.
Self-made GIF Depicting Decentralised blockchain network recording data in nodes and shared across the network.
MY UNDERSTANDING OF BLOCKCHAIN
A database 💠 that is shared across a network of computers 🖥 .
⛓
Database Records are bundled together into blocks and added to the chain one after another.
It is decentralized and has no “master.”
As we got our head into blockchain with initial desktop research, we looked upon blockchain's key features and benefits. While researching, we also considered seeing the other side of blockchain by taking note of how this system incorporated, for example, criminality. But as our group discussed more and more, we all agreed to go forward with the positive impact of blockchain technology in the emerging future and its possible uses.
Benefits
Easier and faster to do peer to peer (point to point; individual to individual) transactions with lower cost (no transaction fee).
Make the process of exchange more transparent, and help to validate the events more quickly.
Different parties collaborate without sharing sensitive information, allowing them to trace the origins of supplies, verify their status, and reduce friction throughout the supply chain.
Key Features:
Decentralised ▬ Distributed ▬ Transparent ▬ Fast ▬ SafeUpcoming Applications:
Being applied to many areas like energy, pharmaceutical industries, and retails for making sure that the resources can be delivered to people that actually have urgent need as quickly as possible (Laclau, 2020; McCauley, 2020).
Further, we got introduced to the TARR team Charlie Waterhouse (Creative Director) and Clive Russell (Design Director). They shared about the Brixton pounds, a local currency launched in 2008 in the face of the financial crises in Brixton. Further to know more about it, we started our research from the Brixton itself.
Image: First Online meet on Zoom Call with Charlie and Clive from TARR
Past and Present Scenario
Brixton Pond in 2008-2018
Image Credit: brixtonpound.org
When launched in 2008, Brixton pound aimed to prove that money can stick to Brixton. It encouraged local trade, supported independent businesses and built a human-scale circular economy.
Brixton pound in the process, made a micro-grant-giving scheme, opened a pay-what-you-can veggie/vegan café using only surplus food, and ran a local lottery.
Current scenario of 2020-21
The local currency with paper notes and system was a warm-up. They have started working with the Algorand Foundation on the next chapter of the Brixton Pound story. Algorand Foundation gives a globe promising blockchain n technology with a pure Proof-of-stake approach.
It started becoming incredibly exciting as it was all new to me. I started understanding blockchain technology in my way by drawing it in example scenarios.
Simplest definition I could think of blockchain technology is
Distributed System Which Can Store Information
Blockchain glossary terms which I made myself familiar with
Consensus Mechanism - Proof of Stake (PoS), Consensus Mechanism - Proof of Work (PoW),Decentralization/Decentralized,Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT),Node, Mining,Peer-to-Peer (P2P),Smart Contract.Trip to Brixton
Our first visit to Brixton gave us a clear outlook of the Brixton Vibe. We notice few apparent aspects which people relate to when they are in Brixton or from Brixton itself
Cultural
Friendly
Community
Vibrant
Diverse
Overview of Concept Development
As we started exploring and discussing about blockchain and its relationship with brixton, we gave a thought on Blockchain technology for social impact.
We made our aim of the project as
How blockchain technology can be used to help create a more equal, more inclusive and more diverse community.
We considered our design thinking with these three aspects mentioned below to keep our imagination within blockchain technology as asked by the brief of the project.
Critical terminologies: “distributed ledger”, “block and chain” and the “verification mechanism” (Chen el ta, 2018).
Core operational principles: decentralisation, transparency, equality and accountability (Al-Saqaf and Seidler, 2017)
Blockchain certainly can go a long-way to making current business and process more efficient and transparent.
Our concept revolved around incorporating human values into the idea, such as local culture, time, love, or understanding. We took this as our starting point of concept, or call it a direction of our project.
Weekly Presentation
To sum up, in our 1st week of work, we presented our research and our aim towards the project on the screen with appropriate examples. After the presentation in the studio, it was a quiet interactive session with students in class, especially with the other TARR group, as we were thinking on the same subject.
Our faculty, Dr John Fass, mentioned to us to look at Place (Localise, micro); People; Situated scenarios; Experiences and interactions. He also liked the direction we are thinking of from the values like culture, time, love (care), understanding. Also, our tutor, Alaistair Steele, mentioned that how you localise is essential, thinking about place and thinking about spatial relationship keeping brief in mind.
Our next week agenda stayed with the thought of
What is the network, how we exchange, how do we materialise it?
References
Al-Saqaf, W. and Seidler, N., 2017. Blockchain technology for social impact: opportunities and challenges ahead. Journal of Cyber Policy, 2(3), pp.338-354.
Challener, C. (2019) Why the Industry Is Moving Toward Blockchain Technology. Available at: https://www.pharmasalmanac.com/articles/why-the-industry-is-moving-toward-blockchain-technology (Accessed: 28 April, 2021).
Chen, G., Xu, B., Lu, M. and Chen, N.S., 2018. Exploring blockchain technology and its potential applications for education. Smart Learning Environments, 5(1), pp.1-10.
Eleks Labs. (2018) How to Craft a Better UX Design for Blockchain. Available at: https://labs.eleks.com/2018/08/better-ux-design-for-blockchain.html (Accessed: 28 April, 2021).
Laclau, B. (2020) Why the energy sector must embrace blockchain now. Available at: https://www.ey.com/en_uk/digital/blockchain-s-potential-win-for-the-energy-sector (Accessed: 28 April, 2021).
McCauley, A. (2020) Why Big Pharma Is Betting on Blockchain. Available at: https://hbr.org/2020/05/why-big-pharma-is-betting-on-blockchain (Accessed: 28 April, 2021).
The Free Library., 2019. BLOCKCHAIN EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION. [Available at: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/BLOCKCHAIN+EQUALITY%2c+DIVERSITY+AND+INCLUSION.-a0591836629] (Accessed: 28 April, 2021)
Weird. (2017) Blockchain Expert Explains One Concept in 5 Levels of Difficulty. 28 November, 2021. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYip_Vuv8J0 (Accessed: 28 April, 2021).