Researcher -social outcomes of decentralised technologies, governance, resilience. RMIT University + BlockScience
Between the Code: Why Technical Excellence Fails
This blog post is an extended write-up of a presentation delivered in collaboration with Kelsie Nabben at SEAL’s darkMode conference (EthDenver, 2026). Written by Kelsie Nabben & Matta. To view the trimmed, shortened recording, see the video below. Table of contents1. Between the Code: Why Technical Excellence Fails1.1 Why this topic1.2 Core themes1.3 Several key insights1.3.1 INSIGHT 1: Blockchain security is characterized by a permanent state of insecurity (for all involved)1.3.2 INSIGHT 2:...
Between the Code: Why Technical Excellence Fails
This blog post is an extended write-up of a presentation delivered in collaboration with Kelsie Nabben at SEAL’s darkMode conference (EthDenver, 2026). Written by Kelsie Nabben & Matta. To view the trimmed, shortened recording, see the video below. Table of contents1. Between the Code: Why Technical Excellence Fails1.1 Why this topic1.2 Core themes1.3 Several key insights1.3.1 INSIGHT 1: Blockchain security is characterized by a permanent state of insecurity (for all involved)1.3.2 INSIGHT 2:...
SEALing Crypto Security: A Web3 Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC)
Kelsie Nabben April 24, 2024Image 1: SEAL-ISAC Security Analysts (courtesy of DALL-E)The Most Attractive Target Crypto has proven to be an attractive target for sophisticated cyber criminals around the world. Threat intelligence suggests that nation-states rely on hacking into crypto accounts as a source of revenue for the government. Law enforcement lists crypto as one of the largest sources of financial loss in the past three years. Indeed, individual hacks can lead to over $100 million in ...
SEALing Crypto Security: A Web3 Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC)
Kelsie Nabben April 24, 2024Image 1: SEAL-ISAC Security Analysts (courtesy of DALL-E)The Most Attractive Target Crypto has proven to be an attractive target for sophisticated cyber criminals around the world. Threat intelligence suggests that nation-states rely on hacking into crypto accounts as a source of revenue for the government. Law enforcement lists crypto as one of the largest sources of financial loss in the past three years. Indeed, individual hacks can lead to over $100 million in ...
Announcing the ‘Decentralised Data Governance Pattern Library’: Exploring social arrangements around technical protocols to support resilience
Kelsie Nabben August, 2023 Yesterday marked the launch of the Decentralised Data Governance Pattern Library. The library attends to the social arrangements surrounding data management to improve resilience. Resilience, here, refers to adaptability and transformability in response to external threats, internal vulnerabilities, and opportunities. The social science approach I take focuses on the affordances of decentralised technologies in terms of resilience for individuals and groups of peopl...
Announcing the ‘Decentralised Data Governance Pattern Library’: Exploring social arrangements around technical protocols to support resilience
Kelsie Nabben August, 2023 Yesterday marked the launch of the Decentralised Data Governance Pattern Library. The library attends to the social arrangements surrounding data management to improve resilience. Resilience, here, refers to adaptability and transformability in response to external threats, internal vulnerabilities, and opportunities. The social science approach I take focuses on the affordances of decentralised technologies in terms of resilience for individuals and groups of peopl...
Blockchain Governance: Accountability in Decentralised Technology Communities
Kelsie Nabben. May, 2023. It’s May 2023, which marks 3 years since I formally embarked on a PhD research journey to investigate ‘resilience in decentralised technologies’. As one journey (hopefully) comes to an end (see findings here, here, here, and forthcoming), I am hereby holding myself accountable to set out another research project by sharing it with you here.* Accountability is a core governance concern in legal, social, and technical systems. Accountability refers to the mechanisms an...
Blockchain Governance: Accountability in Decentralised Technology Communities
Kelsie Nabben. May, 2023. It’s May 2023, which marks 3 years since I formally embarked on a PhD research journey to investigate ‘resilience in decentralised technologies’. As one journey (hopefully) comes to an end (see findings here, here, here, and forthcoming), I am hereby holding myself accountable to set out another research project by sharing it with you here.* Accountability is a core governance concern in legal, social, and technical systems. Accountability refers to the mechanisms an...
'Computer Aided Ethnography' (CAE): Ethnography Using Computational Methods in the Field of Web3
By Kelsie Nabben (RMIT / BlockScience), Michael Zargham (BlockScience), & Ellie Rennie (RMIT University) February, 2023 This post discusses a concept which builds on existing ethnographic approaches, that we call ‘Computer Aided Ethnography’ (CAE). Our ethnographic research on Web3 uses some of the same software tools that define ‘Web3’ (referring to communities that participate in the practice of decentralized technologies, such as public blockchains), as digitally native communities. In thi...
'Computer Aided Ethnography' (CAE): Ethnography Using Computational Methods in the Field of Web3
By Kelsie Nabben (RMIT / BlockScience), Michael Zargham (BlockScience), & Ellie Rennie (RMIT University) February, 2023 This post discusses a concept which builds on existing ethnographic approaches, that we call ‘Computer Aided Ethnography’ (CAE). Our ethnographic research on Web3 uses some of the same software tools that define ‘Web3’ (referring to communities that participate in the practice of decentralized technologies, such as public blockchains), as digitally native communities. In thi...
