GeoCoin

Abstract

Design and HCI researchers are increasingly working with complex digital infrastructures, such as cryptocurrencies, distributed ledgers and smart contracts. These technologies will have a profound impact on digital systems and their audiences. However, given their emergent nature and technical complexity, involving non-specialists in the design of applications that employ these technologies is challenging. In this paper, we discuss these challenges and present GeoCoin, a location-based platform for embodied learning and speculative ideating with smart contracts. In collaborative workshops with GeoCoin, participants engaged with location-based smart contracts, using the platform to explore digital 'debit' and 'credit' zones in the city. These exercises led to the design of diverse distributed-ledger applications, for time-limited financial unions, participatory budgeting, and humanitarian aid. These results contribute to the HCI community by demonstrating how an experiential prototype can support understanding of the complexities behind new digital infrastructures and facilitate participant engagement in ideation and design processes.

Making Sense of Blockchain Applications

“…Replicating existing local currency initiatives [25], 'Colu' provides a wallet for a local cryptocurrency in Liverpool. More ambitiously, projects such as 'FOAM' and 'Geocoin' [50] attach cryptocurrency wallets to spatial coordinates, setting value and financial rules onto places, such as a toll or bounty for spending time in an area.…”

GeoPact

“…These methods focus thinking on specific aspects and attributes of DLTs and enable participation around high-level thinking, without overloading people with technological concepts. The material qualities of trading coffee [16] and energy [15] supported by DLT have been explored through consumer artefacts, and GeoCoin provides a personal, real-world experience of location-based smart contracts supported by a mobile application [13]. Whilst the smart contracts in GeoCoin were simple, this work demonstrated the importance of roleplay in engaging with smart contracts, and avocated the need for open-ended experiences.…”

“…The work presented in this paper is motivated by the need to develop new thinking around solutions for transport and logistics. With more people than ever on the move, and the impact of growing volumes of home deliveries on urban logistics [13] this is an area in urgent need of design innovation. However, designing for change in transport and logistics infrastructure to meet both local and national requirements is challenging.…”

Recipes for Programmable Money

“…More recently, attention has turned to cryptocurrencies and particularly 'smart contracts' that enforce specific rules around transactions, and can grant non-human agents new kinds of financial autonomy. Nissen et al's 'GeoCoin [28]' illustrates the potential of tokens or currencies with specific rules embedded. A simple concept where a balance can be credited or debited upon entry to specific geo-fenced locations leads to the envisaging of applications for taxation, temporary marriages and participatory voting.…”

“…Relatedly, the emergence of blockchain technologies [10] has led to the proliferation of alternative currencies and tokens, governed by 'smart contracts' -immutable and 'unstoppable' applications that can support new forms of autonomous financial agents and organizations (e.g. [5,28,29,33]). As such, datadriven products and automated operations with money that were once the preserve of high finance (see [19]) are now increasingly in the hands of individuals.…”