Talk:Blockchain technology and internet governance – Edu 3 2017
First virtual meeting took place on May 3 on Zoom during (10.00-11.00 CEST) with the participation of five members: - Walid Al-Saqaf - Michael Oghia - Hanane Boujemi - Nadira Alaraj - Anton Zeunko
Ken Hansen, Arvin Kamberi and Renata Aquino Ribeiro had sent their apologies due to unsuitable time zones. But we would love hearing their feedback on the below summary of the meeting. An audio recording of the meeting is also available here: https://app.box.com/s/uj2nusrjy7efpdb1hjo8l5t29mzc9mgd .
Meeting summary: The meeting started with a welcome from Walid and a brief introduction by each participant.
Then the following agenda items of the meeting were presented:
1) Welcome & brief round of introductions
2) Discussing the blockchain session's agenda and speaking roles
3) Discussing the format of the interactive exercise
4) Promotion and outreach efforts
5) Any other business
Due to time constraints, it was agreed that the last points on promotion, outreach efforts and any other business are to be left to the mailing list.
Org Team member roles It was agreed to have the 90-minute session composed of two segments, the first in the form of an interactive exercise (game) to demonstrate what blockchains are and how they works and the second focused on the connection between blockchain technology and Internet Governance. Apart from running the practical hands-on game to show how the blockchain works, Walid expressed interest in raising points about standardisation and interoperability. Michael said he is interested to raise the point of the potential environmental effects of the wide spread of blockchains would cause in terms of storage use and bandwidth consumption. Hanane indicated her willingness to bring up the fact that there is deficiency in research and literature when it comes to blockchain's connection to Internet governance and questions about control and power. Anton said he would address any technical questions that could emerge. It was agreed to ask other organizing team members missing from the meeting to propose having a role.
Format of educational session Introducing blockchains in a form of a game was thought to be a great way to engage the audience, including those who do not have a technical understanding of the technology. It was agreed that moving from using beads to moving colored rubber bands would be more appropriate. (See example here: http://www.elenareidphotography.com/img/s8/v76/p1400986498-3.jpg) Anton suggested to open up the ability to solve puzzles and be miners to the audience instead of pre-defined set of miners. Simplification of the game was seen as crucially important. One way to simplify it is to limit the colors. That being said, it was agreed to try and avoid over-simplifcation and attempts should be made to stay true to the main general blockchain characteristics. Participants agreed that using a board with clear instructions would be necessary and timekeeping will be crucial. Equal weight was given to the learning experience through the game as well as the post-game session linking blockchain technology to IG.
Review of game rehearsal
The organizing team had a rehearsal of the blockchain interactive game on May 20 and the below is a review of how the rehearsal went:
Initial impressions were that the game was educational indeed since even Ken learned something new. The idea behind the game, as indicated in the call, is both educational and entertaining.
While the rehearsal may have worked somewhat, there will be need for improvements. Walid suggested that the real thing with the props (chocolates, board, etc.) in the room will be much more engaging and easier to understand.
To make the game as effective as possible, Walid suggested to do some changes, such as:
1- Simplify the rules and make them clearer (perhaps with infographics). Please help with the language here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RQVQg2296aURKR2P2rTr_IHMhKRkTnWlv56Mcj9O07g/edit
2- Reduce the complexity of the math problems and perhaps the easiest way to do so is to shorten the length of the block sizes to just one transaction per block. We could also perhaps just use the winner's ID and not the block number since it will be embedded in the design itself.
3- Ask the miners to come to the board and write their answers directly and when one of them gets the correct answer, a buzzer or some alarm will be played to mark the winner. Kahoot was initially considered, but was abandoned since it will be inconsistent with the practical nature of the game. In other words, the question will be answered by writing a bunch of numbers on the white board just like we did in our chat yesterday (using the message box).
4- We must start with mining a couple of blocks ourselves so that to familiarize the rest with the process and get them encouraged to join in mining. It was agreed to open up the mining to anyone in the room but it will need to be a max number of 9 players (including the miners). Arvin and Anton agreed to be the first miners to compete in getting the answers correct.
5- As we do the mining and go through the exercise ourselves (for a couple of blocks), we will explain how the game simulates blockchain operations (proof-of-work, merkle-tree hashing (with verified transaction hash plus the last block hash forming the new block hash), block-size, transaction fees, mining rewards, verified vs. unverified transactions, rising complexity of puzzle questions (puzzle questions will increase in difficulty), consensus, resolving conflict when two miners get the answer at the same time (by giving the reward to the one whose block gets verified by more players, 51% rule).
6- We can have them in groups of pairs if that makes things easier while of course allowing anyone else to join on his own if needed. We'll emphasize that there will be need to be rather quick in decoding the transactions, getting the questions from the right set of questions (colored based on the transaction selected). So they need to be caffeinated :)
Agenda for session
Eurodig 2017 Educational Track 3 Session - Tuesday June 6, 17.00-18.30:
17.00-17.02 Welcome note - Walid Al-Saqaf, ISOC Blockchain SME
17.02-17.10 Introduction to blockchain technology - Ken Hansen, Blockchain Roadshow (via WebEx)
17.10-17.45 How does the blockchain work? Play and learn! - An interactive educational game moderated by Walid
17.45-18.30: Blockchain technology and IG
17.45-17.50: Q: Is blockchain decentralising finance like Internet decentralized communication? - Arvin Kamberi, Diplo Foundation
17.50-17.55: Q: How can blockchain technology boost trust on the Internet? Anton Zuenko, Stratumn
17:55-18:00: Q: What challenges (legal, technical, etc.) does blockchain pose to IG?: Hanane Boujemi (via WebEx), Blockchain researcher
18:00-18:30: Open discussion
Resources used
Here are links to the resources that were used at the session:
"What is the Blockchain by Ken Hansen"
Video recording
Those who could not attend the session can still view its video recording here:
https://livestream.com/accounts/12493954/events/7461538/videos/157655427
Just jump to minute 13.30 where the actual session started.
Report
Reported on June 8, 2017
Blockchain technology and internet governance – EDUCATIONAL TRACK 3 2017
Despite the growing momentum and popularity of blockchain technology, there is need to clear some misunderstanding as some equate blockchains with Bitcoin. Bitcoin is just one application of blockchains and there are other innovative applications such as “Open Bazaar” an e–commerce site, “FlightDelay” a disrupt air travel insurance service, and “Ripple”, a global money transfer system.
The engaging interactive game used in the session helped participants understand the basics of blockchains by simulating blockchain operations (transaction, mining, block hashing, transaction fees and rewards).
Blockchains operate on top of the Internet as decentralized and distributed systems that can bring new innovative startups to live. Permissionless blockchains are self-governed using the simple 51% majority. There were concerns that governments may impose restrictions on these technologies, which could have drawbacks and discourage innovation in this area.
There is a heated debate on the direction to take when it comes to blockchain regulation. Since blockchain applications use transparent algorithms, they become self-regulatory and limit the need to trust intermediaries. However, finding regulatory frameworks for blockchains will take time and depends on the applications more than the technologies.
It is recommended to develop blockchain standards for various applications since that will promote many positive use cases that could have a positive impact on society. However, blockchains so far do not have interoperability and while each blockchain does not require intermediaries to function, collectively, they lack standard methods to communicate with each other.
Due to the complexity of blockchains, a proposal was to build something like a DNS root server to sustain them. Another environmental concern was expressed by highlighting the need to limit that the enormous electricity consumption caused by the proof-of-work mining algorithms.