Browsing by Subject "blockchain"

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    Open Access
    A Blockchain-enabled System to enhance Food Traceability in Local Food Supply Chains (FSCs) suitable for Small Co-operatives in South Africa
    (2021) Kanjere, Julian; Georg, Co-Pierre
    Food is vital to human life. Therefore, ensuring its safety as it moves from producer to consumer in food supply chains (FSCs) is essential. This can be achieved through the use of food traceability technology which enables track and trace of produce within a FSC. Recently, blockchain technology (BCT) has shown great potential to enhance traceability in FSCs, owing to its ability to securely store data in a decentralised and tamper-evident manner. However, it appears that research on blockchain-enabled food traceability exists primarily within the context of large FSCs, whilst scarce for local FSCs in which traceability is often an inefficient and manual process. Given this background, this exploratory research is carried out, to investigate whether a blockchain-enabled system can be used to improve traceability in local FSCs. To do this, we (i) collaborate with Oranjezicht City Farm Market (OZCFM) - a farmers market in Cape Town, the smallholder farmers that supply OZCFM with fresh local produce and the OZCFM patrons that purchase the produce; (ii) map out the local FSC by conducting observations and running surveys with the aforementioned actors; (iii) design, develop and pilot FoodPrint - a web based and blockchain-enabled food traceability application. During the pilot within the OZCFM-related local FSC, FoodPrint is used to capture data on the harvest, transportation and storage of produce; and reveal produce provenance at destination by scanning of supplier-produce specific quick response (QR) codes. We find that FoodPrint provides tamper-evident traceability and authentic transparency of produce related data to the local FSC actors. Further, we note that scanning a FoodPrint QR code for produce provenance does not enhance the consumers trust of the local FSC, as it pre-exists. This implies that local FSCs with existing and functional trust mechanisms do not benefit from trust-enhancing mechanisms such as blockchain-enabled traceability. Future work may consider data privacy in FSCs and automating FSC data entry to reduce the risk of fraud.
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    Open Access
    A governance framework for blockchain technology in the South African insurance industry
    (2025) Damon, Aldo; Roodt, Sumarie; Chigona, Wallace
    Purpose: The governance of blockchain technology is a topic of continuing study, and a multidisciplinary perspective on blockchain governance is essential for building a formal governance framework for this emerging technology. While the subject of blockchain governance is sometimes misunderstood, blockchain technology has gained growing interest from businesses and academics. Blockchain stakeholders cannot work or make rational decisions optimally without enough insight into the governance of blockchains. Its advancement and stabilization are of utmost importance for stakeholders that depend on blockchain. Where organizations and individual end-users must consider in their decision the element of regulation for the blockchain technology or network, regulators and developers still need to grasp it. The purpose of this study is to explore the understanding of blockchain governance by reporting on frameworks and themes that capture the main dimensions and layers of blockchain governance. The study proposes a governance framework that can assist strategic management within businesses to analyse the governance of the blockchain in a comprehensible manner in order to facilitate strategic decision-making in the insurance industries within South African organisations. Design/methodology/approach: This deductive qualitative research that is shaped by subjectivism ontology, interpretive epistemology, uses comprehensive literature review and deductive thematic analysis of eight semi-structured and focus group interviews for data collection, which then identifies the key dimensions and layers of blockchain governance, including technical, economic, social, and legal aspects of consideration. The deductive thematic analysis selected follows the seven steps of deductive qualitative research. Findings: The innovative blockchain governance framework consists of four perspectives, each tied to key themes from the collected data. The OSS Governance Phases focus on decision-making, community engagement, and conflict resolution. The OSS Life Cycle Stages emphasize onboarding, code contribution, and version control. The Blockchain Governance Framework Dimensions & Layers highlight on chain voting, off-chain communication, and incentive structures. Lastly, the TOE Framework Model addresses technological readiness, organizational roles, and regulatory compliance. These perspectives align with the study's findings, ensuring clarity and alignment with research objectives. xi P a g e Research limitations/implications: The paper contributes to blockchain governance theory. The innovative perspectives provide a synthesized conceptual framework for researchers to evaluate and understand blockchain governance development from multiple perspectives. Practical implications: The synthesized blockchain governance framework presents a road map for practitioners and business managers to follow in their blockchain projects. Originality/value: The research uses an innovative perspectives and other individual research methodologies to synthesize the existing research framework proposed. It is one of the first research papers in the information systems field to make use of deductive thematic analysis approach to consolidate the existing qualitative research and interviews to systematically propose a blockchain governance framework.
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    Open Access
    How to attribute credit if you must
    (2021) Meiklejohn, Luke S; Georg, Co-Pierre
    Data ownership is of fundamental importance in the digital economy of today. Commercializing academic research, whilst maintaining ownership of it, is a task that can now be accomplished due to the strengths of blockchain technology, which allows data to be registered, made unique, and traced to its origins. We propose a blockchain use-case for licencing academic research, based off an academic project named UniCoin. In this thesis, we discuss how to fairly attribute credit between all sources of knowledge that contribute to new pieces of academic research, using citation network analysis and centrality measures. Katz centrality, in-degree centrality, and PageRank are three potentially useful centrality measures, with varying results: these are compared using case studies based on three papers co-authored by Andrei Shleifer. We use these centrality measures to guide how to fairly attribute credit, and thus how to distribute licencing revenues generated through UniCoin.
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    Leveraging blockchain and artificial intelligence for enhanced copyright enforcement in South Africa
    (2025) Mugauri, Joseph; Ncube, Caroline
    Leveraging Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence for Enhanced Copyright Enforcement in South Africa The Fourth Industrial Revolution has significantly impacted copyright enforcement, particularly in South Africa, where technological advancements have bolstered and challenged existing frameworks. This dissertation explores the integration of blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance copyright enforcement mechanisms in the digital realm. Current enforcement methods face several challenges, including lengthy legal proceedings, slow legislative updates, circumvention techniques, accessibility concerns, non-compliance, and algorithmic bias. These issues necessitate innovative solutions to protect intellectual property rights effectively. With its decentralised and immutable nature, blockchain technology offers promising solutions for transparent and efficient copyright enforcement. Concurrently, AI technologies such as machine learning, deep learning, and adaptive algorithms can enhance the detection and prevention of copyright infringements, including brute force attacks, malware, phishing, and illegal streaming. This research delves into the potential of AI and blockchain for detecting infringing content, blockchain-based arbitration platforms for resolving disputes, and adaptive watermarking algorithms to trace the unauthorised use of digital content. The benefits of these technologies include increased efficiency, improved accuracy, transparency, and traceability. However, implementing these technologies poses challenges such as regulatory compliance, privacy concerns, ethical considerations, and associated costs. It recommends policy updates, ethical guidelines, and collaborative efforts to ensure blockchain and AI's responsible and effective use in copyright enforcement. By leveraging these technologies, South Africa can strengthen its copyright framework, fostering creativity and innovation while safeguarding intellectual property rights in the digital age.