Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Anthropology
First Advisor
Mrinalini Tankha
Term of Graduation
Spring 2023
Date of Publication
7-25-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.) in Anthropology
Department
Anthropology
Language
English
Subjects
World Wide Web -- Technological innovations, Blockchains (Databases), Cryptocurrencies
DOI
10.15760/etd.3618
Physical Description
1 online resource (iii, 53 pages)
Abstract
The emergence of blockchain technology created an entire industry of innovative new digital assets--or tokens--and diverse new fields of expertise founded on ideological aspirations of a new World Wide Web that reimagines digital value transfer through decentralization and disintermediation. Experimentation in the so-called "Web3" industry produces rich new fields of ethnographic study revealing the experiences of diverse individuals navigating novel technological capabilities which give way to new avenues of identity formation, community building, and ecosystem creation. These exciting new endeavors come with difficult challenges threatening the realization of ambitious visions for digital futures. Ethnographic research conducted through discourse analysis, participant observation, and formal and informal interviewing identified three key challenges stemming from Web3 builder experiences creating ecosystems through token-economic design: the prevalence of scams impedes productive development and mainstream perception, tokenomics--the design and study of token-based economies forming much of the Web3 industry--is highly complex and under-developed as a field lacking sufficient expertise to meet demand, and regulatory uncertainty prohibitively raises costs and risk for builders. As the industry continues to grow more social science research and interest is needed to shed light on human experiences with these novel technologies.
Rights
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Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40850
Recommended Citation
Rogers, Christopher-John, "Confronting Web3 Technology: Opportunities, Challenges and Community Formation" (2023). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 6467.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.3618