Searching for Trust Blockchain Technology in an Age of Disinformation

Searching for Trust explores the intersection of trust, disinformation, and blockchain technology in an age of heightened institutional and epistemic mistrust. It adopts a unique archival theoretic lens to delve into how computational information processing has gradually supplanted traditional record keeping, putting at risk a centuries-old tradition of the 'moral defense of the record' and replacing it with a dominant ethos of information-processing efficiency. The author argues that focusing on information-processing efficiency over the defense of records against manipulation and corruption (the ancient task of the recordkeeper) has contributed to a diminution of the trustworthiness of information and a rise of disinformation, with attendant destabilization of the epistemic trust fabric of societies. Readers are asked to consider the potential and limitations of blockchains as the technological embodiment of the moral defense of the record and as means to restoring societal trust in an age of disinformation.

Preface; Part I. Introduction: 1. What good is Blockchain?; Part II. Trust: 2. Trust and its discontents; 3. From 'Trustless Trust' to 'The Great Chain of Certainty'; Part III. Disinformation: 4. Mistrust and the rise of disinformation; 5. Faking it; Part IV. Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology: 6. The 'Moral Defence of the Archive'; 7. From 'Archival Imaginaries' to archival realities; Part V. The Theory of the Future: 8. The 'Life-World' on ledger; References; Index.

Victoria L. Lemieux is Associate Professor of Archival Science at the University of British Columbia's School of Information and Founder of Blockchain@UBC, UBC's blockchain research and education cluster. Her research interests include risks to the availability of trustworthy records and how these risks impact transparency, financial stability, public accountability, and human rights. The numerous awards for her contributions to the field of archives, records management, and cybersecurity include a World Bank's Big Data Innovation Award in 2015, a 2020 Blockchain Ecosystem Leadership Award, and recognition as one of Canada's Top 20 Women in Cyber Security in 2020 by IT World.