Search results

This paper critically evaluates the political economy of Web3 and offers a neo-institutional model to explain qualitative observations of contemporary digital social movements. By starting to develop a sociological model of Web3 rooted in micro-organizational practices, including trust mediation and social coproduction, this paper re-evaluates assumptions of scarcity, economic value, and social belonging. It concludes by introducing a novel research program to study digital polycentric governance that focuses on community self-governance of digital common pool resources (DCPRs) and looks forward to empirical research using on-chain datasets from decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).

“Web3” is a practice in participatory digital infrastructures through the ability to read, write, and control own digital assets. Web3 is hailed as the alternative to the failings of big tech, offering a participatory mode of digital organization and shared ownership of digital infrastructure through algorithmic governance. This paper offers an introductory playbook to researchers entering the field of Web3 by providing an analytical lens to approach the emergent field of Web3 as “infrastructuring.” It argues that Web3 can be understood as a collective, community exploration of “how to infrastructure.” Drawing on qualitative examples derived from digital ethnographic methods, the study reveals that play, politics, and prefiguration are fundamental qualities underpinning Web3’s vision of offering an “exit” from established institutional infrastructures. Therefore, a primary challenge Web3 faces in its governance experiments centers around the question of how to effectively build and manage infrastructure.

The class of technology variously referred to as Web3 or crypto has been heralded as a democratizing force for economics and governance. This chapter argues that, to the extent such hype is justified, it is only partly due to the affordances of the technology itself. Perhaps more important is the amnesia it has induced, as an innovative paradigm whose novelty inclines people to neglect once-stable norms. In both economics and governance, crypto offers opportunities for greater democracy, but following through on them is guaranteed by neither the technology nor the amnesia it invites.

The purpose of this study was to measure the bias on a binary option's effect estimate that appeared in the types of questions asked and in the placement changes of public service users.

The author designed Monte Carlo simulations with the analytical strategy of latent trait theory leveraging a probability of care-placement change. The author used difference-in-difference (DID) method to estimate the effects of care settings.

The author explained the extent of discrepancy between the estimates and the true values of care service effects in changes across time. The time trend of in-home care for the combined effect of in-home care, general maturity, and other environmental factors was estimated in a biased manner, while the bias for the estimate of the incremental effect for foster care could be negligible.

This study was designed based on individual child-unit only. Therefore, higher-level units, such as care setting or cluster, county, and state, should be considered for the simulation model.

This study contributed to illuminating an overlooked facet in causal inferences that embrace disproportionate selection biases that appear in categorical data scales in public management research.

To model the nuance of a disproportionate self-selection problem, the author constructed a scenario surrounding a caseworker's judgment of care placement in the child welfare system and investigated potential bias of the caseworker's discretion. The unfolding model has not been widely used in public management research, but it can be usefully leveraged for the estimation of a decision probability.

Blockchain is an emerging technology that started in the cryptocurrency sphere with bitcoin but expanded to include numerous applications. This chapter provides an overview of the book. It begins by identifying the three main components of a blockchain. Next, it discusses the book's purpose, distinguishing features, and its intended audience. The chapter then outlines the book's structure, consisting of 22 chapters divided into four main parts. It offers a brief synopsis of each section and chapter. Finally, it ends with a summary and conclusions.

This paper argues that the concept of “jouissance” can help us understand the popularity of blockchain protocols, meme-coins, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the world of Web3. These technologies act as mirrors to project reflections that allow people to imagine social and personal selves differently. Meme-coins use dark humor to oppose mainstream society, and the popularity of NFTs cannot be fully explained by artistic merit or return on investment. Instead, each collectible NFT allows the collector to explore various possible representations of the self. It is argued that blockchains must be seen as socio-informational-technical systems that participate in the formation of the symbolic social structures giving rise to social and personal identity. By recognizing the personal and social significance of jouissance, we can appreciate the darker, more primal aspects of these phenomena that other theories and approaches cannot fully explain.