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Sketching Bitcoin: Empirical Research of Digital Affordances

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Abstract

Velasco discusses contemporary literature on Bitcoin and distinguish between technical and social research, in an effort to provide a basis for identifying native social structures within this digital assemblage. The chapter is particularly interested in digital research sprouted from the technical affordances of digital objects, yet directed towards socio-political enquiries. With this as a guidance, Velasco develops indicators and a method to map some of the entities of the Bitcoin network on a geographical canvas. The chapter presents this method in detail, and discusses what it is able to show and what are its attached limitations. Ultimately, Velasco argues that many digital methods share unavoidable constraints for social research, embedded in their own digital objects: digital grammar, framework design intentions and epistemological clauses.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Pablo R. Velasco

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  1. Pablo R. Velasco
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Correspondence to Pablo R. Velasco .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bremen (ZeMKI), Bremen, Germany

    Sebastian Kubitschko

  2. Södertörn University, Huddinge, Sweden

    Anne Kaun

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Velasco, P.R. (2016). Sketching Bitcoin: Empirical Research of Digital Affordances. In: Kubitschko, S., Kaun, A. (eds) Innovative Methods in Media and Communication Research. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40700-5_6

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