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Blockchain (not) for Everyone: Design Challenges of Blockchain-based Applications

Published: 19 April 2023 Publication History

Abstract

Upon its arrival, the Ethereum blockchain promised to introduce a new paradigm of Internet-based applications that would revolutionize multiple fields, from finance to IoT to the public sector. Until now, scientific efforts have been primarily focused on theoretical discussions about the implications of the technology and on technical proposals to improve and consolidate the underlying infrastructure, neglecting the experience of people using blockchain-based systems. However, for this technology to permeate the mainstream, blockchain technology should be easily accessible to the general public. This paper reports on evaluations conducted with first-time blockchain users of two Internet-mediated communities using prototype applications built on Ethereum. Results unveil that even users familiar with technology experienced severe difficulties using blockchain-based apps. Also, we saw how blockchain metaphors and transaction-mediated interactions challenge established mental models for modern applications, imposing heavy workloads on users. We conclude the paper by discussing design implications resulting from blockchain’s paradigm change.

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cover image ACM Conferences
CHI EA '23: Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
April 2023
3914 pages
ISBN:9781450394222
DOI:10.1145/3544549
Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Published: 19 April 2023

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  1. blockchain
  2. decentralized applications
  3. user experience

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Overall Acceptance Rate 6,164 of 23,696 submissions, 26%

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  • (2024)A Categorization of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations: The Case of the Aragon PlatformIEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems10.1109/TCSS.2023.329925411:6(8143-8155)Online publication date: Dec-2024
  • (2024)Adoption Barriers of Blockchain Technology in E commerce Platform - Developer Experience: Systematic Review of Literature2024 International Research Conference on Smart Computing and Systems Engineering (SCSE)10.1109/SCSE61872.2024.10550504(1-6)Online publication date: 4-Apr-2024
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