Experiments with the Ethereum Blockchain

Ethereum is a platform for decentralised applications, built on top of a blockchain mechanism, which can be used for public data storage and computation. It acts as an immutable public ledger, which provides strong cryptographic guarantees for data integrity. One definitive feature of the Ethereum platform is the ability to execute Turing-complete Smart Contracts. A Smart Contract is a program on the blockchain. We have been investigating the possibilities that the Ethereum blockchain infrastructure affords.

Below you can see some screencasts of some of our recent experiments with Ethereum:

Education

Proactive job hunting and course finding through badges and smart contractsProactive job hunting and course finding through badges and smart contracts
Moodle Open Badges PluginMoodle Open Badges Plugin
Tutorials Part 1 – Booking tutorialsTutorials Part 1 – Booking tutorials
Tutorials Part2 – ReputationTutorials Part2 – Reputation
Course H818 – ePortfoliosCourse H818 – ePortfolios
Peer Reputation with claimed badgesPeer Reputation with claimed badges
Multi-signed CertificatesMulti-signed Certificates
ePortfolio CollectionsePortfolio Collections
Evidenced Course DemoEvidenced Course Demo
Simple ePortfolio DemoSimple ePortfolio Demo
OpenLearn Blockchain Badges DemoOpenLearn Blockchain Badges Demo
Peer Reputation DemoPeer Reputation Demo
Course Student DemoCourse Student Demo
Course Admin DemoCourse Admin Demo

IoT and RDF

Introduction to our RDF experimentsIntroduction to our RDF experiments
RDF Experiment 1RDF Experiment 1
RDF Experiment 2RDF Experiment 2
RDF Experiment 3RDF Experiment 3
Solar Panel Data ExperimentSolar Panel Data Experiment
IOT Sensor ExperimentIOT Sensor Experiment

Security and Legal

Multi-sig Payment DemoMulti-sig Payment Demo
IPFS File Encryption DemoIPFS File Encryption Demo
Contract Data Encryption DemoContract Data Encryption Demo
Password ManagerPassword Manager
Estate Agent DemoEstate Agent Demo
Land Registry DemoLand Registry Demo
Abstract Cubes
Latest Experiment
Multi-sig Payment DemoMulti-sig Payment Demo
Latest Media

Open University in £40m campaign to create more computer scientists

The Open University in Milton Keynes is at the heart of a £40 million drive by the Government to help train more computer scientists. It is leading one of the five main themes – on university learners – being addressed at the new Institute of Coding.

Business Weekly

Recent Talk

Using Blockchains and Semantics to Decentralise Personal Data

The increasing centralization of the Web, he says, has “ended up producing—with no deliberate action of the people who designed the platform—a large-scale emergent phenomenon which is anti-human.”
Vanity Fair Quoting Sir Tim Berners-Lee August 2018.

As highlighted by the Web’s inventor and by recent stories around the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica the over centralisation of, often personal, data generates significant problems for ordinary users. A related problem is that ‘data poor’ citizens can suffer through the denial of credit and more. Recently in the UK over 60 citizens were erroneously deported because of a lack of citizenship data.

At the OU we have been working on a semantic blockchain platform, LinkChain, which supports the decentralisation of personal data by through a combination of blockchain and Linked Data technologies. In the presentation I will give an overview of our platform and show some initial uses within the higher education space.

This event took place on the Tuesday 18th September 2018

Upcoming Event
Blockchain Expo Global 2019 Logo

Blockchain Expo Global 2019

25th April 2019, Olympia Grand, London

The World’s largest Blockchain Conference and Exhibition focuses on the future of enterprise technology. The event showcases two days of top-level content from leading brands, embracing and developing cutting edge blockchain technologies. Arriving at Olympia Grand London on April 25-26, the Blockchain event is co-located with the IoT Tech Expo, AI & Big Data Expo and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo so you can explore the convergence of these technologies in one place.

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