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As part of the Gloriana St. Clair Distinguished Lecture in 21st Century Librarianship, Jason Griffey, Fellow, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University and Founder & Principal, Evenly Distributed LLC, will be discussing ‘Decentralization & Blockchain: Possibilities & Problematizations for Libraries’.
About the lecture:
The hype cycle for the technology known as Blockchain has reached a fever pitch, but it remains misunderstood by many. What is blockchain? What value could it bring to information management and library services? And, why should information professionals be interested? Jason Griffey will discuss the potentials and pitfalls of blockchain, focusing on its ability to decentralize and upend a number of assumptions about the way digital goods and services are implemented. He will also look at the problems of blockchain technologies; give some guidelines on separating hype from reality; and talk through what libraries should be watching for – and helping to build – over the next several years.
Biography:
Jason Griffey is the founder and principal at Evenly Distributed (http://evenlydistributed.net), a technology consulting and creation firm for libraries, museums, education, and other non-profits. Jason is an Affiliate Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, where he studies hyperlocal micronetworks such as his LibraryBox project, and works on technologies that provide open and robust access to information for the future, such as blockchain and other decentralization technologies.
Griffey has written extensively on technology and libraries, including multiple books and a series of full-periodical issues on technology topics, most recently Library Spaces and Smart Buildings: Technology, Metrics, and Iterative Design for ALA. Named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker in 2009, Griffey has written and spoken internationally on topics such as the future of technology and libraries, decentralization and the Blockchain, privacy, copyright, and intellectual property. A full list of his publications and presentations can be found on his CV.
He is one of eight winners of the Knight Foundation News Challenge for Libraries for the Measure the Future project (http://measurethefuture.net), an open hardware project designed to provide actionable use metrics for library spaces.
Griffey is the creator and director of The LibraryBox Project (http://librarybox.us), an open source portable digital file distribution system. He can be stalked obsessively online, and spends his free time with his daughter Eliza, reading, obsessing over gadgets, and preparing for the inevitable zombie uprising.