TY - GEN

T1 - Crypto heater

T2 - a design fiction

AU - Lindley, Joseph

N1 - © Lindley, 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in C&C '15 Proceedings of the 2015 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Creativity and Cognition http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2757226.2757367

PY - 2015/6/30

Y1 - 2015/6/30

N2 - This proposal is to exhibit the work named Crypto Heater which is part of a design fiction [c.f 1,5,8:30] series intended to explore a near future world in which cryptographic currencies such as Bitcoin [6] have become commonplace. This work opens up space for discussion about the activities of the distributed peer-to-peer network of so-called "miners" that ensure the security of the Bitcoin network and regulate the supply of new currency in the Bitcoin economy. The physical part of the work (the heater itself) is set within a fictional near-future reality. In this reality, Bitcoin has become central to our financial service industry, and "mining" in domestic settings is promoted by the government, as a means of heating our homes and to ensure security of the network. A "story world" is constructed using devices such as promotional materials from the UK Government's Ministry of Crypto Currency; technical specifications; customer testimonials; and the heater itself. The main element of the exhibit is a fully working Crypto Heater prototype. This device is (in the fictional world, and the real world) part of the distributed network of Bitcoin miners. Through computation, it converts electrical energy into cryptographic currency. Uniquely Crypto Heater dissipates the heat energy (a by-product of the computational effort required to be a Bitcoin miner) through a standard household radiator. By offsetting the value of the cryptographic currency produced, against the cost of electricity used, the heater provides subsidized domestic heating.

AB - This proposal is to exhibit the work named Crypto Heater which is part of a design fiction [c.f 1,5,8:30] series intended to explore a near future world in which cryptographic currencies such as Bitcoin [6] have become commonplace. This work opens up space for discussion about the activities of the distributed peer-to-peer network of so-called "miners" that ensure the security of the Bitcoin network and regulate the supply of new currency in the Bitcoin economy. The physical part of the work (the heater itself) is set within a fictional near-future reality. In this reality, Bitcoin has become central to our financial service industry, and "mining" in domestic settings is promoted by the government, as a means of heating our homes and to ensure security of the network. A "story world" is constructed using devices such as promotional materials from the UK Government's Ministry of Crypto Currency; technical specifications; customer testimonials; and the heater itself. The main element of the exhibit is a fully working Crypto Heater prototype. This device is (in the fictional world, and the real world) part of the distributed network of Bitcoin miners. Through computation, it converts electrical energy into cryptographic currency. Uniquely Crypto Heater dissipates the heat energy (a by-product of the computational effort required to be a Bitcoin miner) through a standard household radiator. By offsetting the value of the cryptographic currency produced, against the cost of electricity used, the heater provides subsidized domestic heating.

KW - design fiction

KW - research through design

KW - bitcoin

KW - crypto currency

KW - domestic energy

U2 - 10.1145/2757226.2757367

DO - 10.1145/2757226.2757367

M3 - Conference contribution/Paper

SN - 9781450335980

SP - 355

EP - 356

BT - C&C '15 Proceedings of the 2015 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Creativity and Cognition

PB - Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

CY - New York

ER -