Abstract
In this paper, we present ethnographic data unpacking threedifferent accounts of how Blockchain technology getsintroduced into the shipping domain. The resultsdemonstrate that the shipping industry is based upon aninformation infrastructure with a socio-technical kernelcomprising transaction practices between shippers, freightforwarders, ports, shipping lines, and other actors in theshipping industry. These practices are based uponstandards, which have evolved over time and are embeddedwithin the installed base of the infrastructure. We find thatbecause of the inertia of the shipping infrastructure,Blockchain technology cannot be seamlessly introduceddirectly into the shipping domain. Instead, we introduceInfrastructural Grind as the activity by which domains (e.g.shipping) intersect with new technological infrastructures(e.g. Blockchain). Infrastructural grind occurs as a result ofvarious infrastructuring activities taking place at differentintersections between the two infrastructures, and isconstituted of the sum of these manifestations. We proposethat infrastructural grind is enacted through activitiesexpressing elements of consolidation, permeability, andvelocity.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on Supporting Groupwork : GROUP '18 |
| Publisher | Association for Computing Machinery |
| Publication date | 7 Jan 2018 |
| Pages | 297-308 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-1-4503-5562-9 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 7 Jan 2018 |
| Event | 2018 ACM Conference on Supporting Groupwork, GROUP 2018 - Sanibel Island, United States Duration: 7 Jan 2018 → 10 Jan 2018 |
Conference
| Conference | 2018 ACM Conference on Supporting Groupwork, GROUP 2018 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Sanibel Island |
| Period | 07/01/2018 → 10/01/2018 |
| Sponsor | ACM SIGCHI |