Quinn DuPont studies human and social dimensions of cybersecurity, cryptography, and code. He is currently a postdoctoral Research Associate at the School of Information, University of Washington. He has a PhD in Information Science (Toronto), and is an ALA-accredited librarian (Western), with a decade of industry experience as a Senior Information Specialist at IBM, an IT consultant, and a usability and experience designer. His current research focuses on ethical practices of computer security researchers, and cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. He is a member of the Standards Council of Canada and ISO blockchain standardization committees, Chair of the IEEE Blockchain Initiative, and Chief Governance Officer at Qubit Protocol.
His book, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains (2018, Polity), is a scholarly survey of cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies in society.
Current Appointments
- Research Associate, School of Information, University of Washington
Past Appointments
- Center For Digital Cultures Fellow, Leuphana University (Summer, 2017)
- Electronic Textual Cultures Lab Visiting Scholar, University of Victoria (Spring, 2017)
- Digital Studies Fellow, Rutgers University (2016-2017)
Current Service & Activities
- Member: Blockchain & DLT (TC307), Standards Council of Canada (SCC) (2016-)
- Member: Study Group on Blockchain & DLT: Security and Privacy (TC307), International Standards Organization (ISO) (2017-)
- Member: Study Group on Blockchain & DLT: Smart Contracts (TC307), International Standards Organization (ISO) (2017-)
- Member: Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (2017-)
- Education Chair: Blockchain Initiative (BCI) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (2018-)
Recent & Upcoming Lectures
- University of British Columbia, iSchool “Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains” (Seattle, March 16, 2018)
- University of Washington, ISACA, “Developing a Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains Research Agenda” (Seattle, April 3, 2018)
- University of Chicago; History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science Workshop, “Origins of the Encrypted Information Society (1945-2013)” (Chicago, May 18, 2018)
- International Communications Association, “Hacking Culture and the Emergence of Responsible Computer Security Research” (Prague, May 24-28, 2018)
Publications
Monographs (1)
- DuPont, Quinn. Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains. Digital Media and Society. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2018.
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles (10)
- DuPont, Quinn. “The Cryptological Origins of Machine Translation, from al-Kindi to Weaver.” Amodern, 8 (2018). http://amodern.net/article/cryptological-origins-machine-translation/
- Pedersen, Isabel, and Quinn DuPont. “Tracking the Telepathic Sublime as a Phenomenon in a Digital Humanities Archive.” Digital Humanities Quarterly, 11, no. 4 (2017). http://digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/11/4/000344/000344.html
- DuPont, Quinn. “Blockchain identities: Notational technologies for control and management of abstracted entities” Metaphilosophy, 48, no. 5 (2017): 634-653. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/meta.12267/full (free/preprint).
- DuPont, Quinn, and Bradley Fidler. “Edge Cryptography and the Co-Development of Computer Networks and Cybersecurity.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 38, no. 4 (2016): 55-73. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7763734/ (free/open access). [equal author contributions]
- DuPont, Quinn, and Alana Cattapan. “Moving Forward, Looking Back: Taking Canadian Feminist Histories Online.” Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, and Social Justice, 37, no. 2 (2016): 225-237. http://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/view/225-237%20PDF (self-archived access). [equal author contributions]
- DuPont, Quinn, and Yuri Takhteyev. “Ordering Space: Alternative Views of ICT and Geography.” First Monday 21, no. 8 (July 23, 2016). http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/6724.
- DuPont, Quinn. “The Politics of Cryptography: Bitcoin and the Ordering Machines.” The Journal of Peer Production 1, no. 4 (2014). http://peerproduction.net/issues/issue-4-value-and-currency/peer-reviewed-articles/the-politics-of-cryptography-bitcoin-and-the-ordering-machines.
- DuPont, Quinn. “Unlocking the Digital Crypt: Exploring a Framework for Cryptographic Reading and Writing.” Scholarly and Research Communication 5, no. 2 (2014): 1–7. http://src-online.ca/index.php/src/article/view/157.
- Takhteyev, Yuri, and Quinn DuPont. “Retrocomputing as Preservation and Remix.” Library Hi Tech 31, no. 2 (2013): 355–70. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/07378831311329103.
- DuPont, Quinn. “Cracking the Agrippa Code: Creativity Without Destruction.” Scholarly and Research Communication 4, no. 13 (2013): 1–8. http://src-online.ca/index.php/src/article/view/126/240.
Book Chapters (4)
- DuPont, Quinn. “Cryptographic Media.” In Second International Handbook of Internet Research edited by Hunsinger, Jeremy, Klastrup, Lisbeth, Allen, Matthew M. Springer: Netherlands, 2018.
- DuPont, Quinn. “The Printing Press and Cryptography: Alberti and the Dawn of a Notational Epoch.” In A Material History of Medieval and Early Modern Ciphers: Cryptography and the History of Literacy edited by Katherine Ellison and Susan Kim. Material Readings in Early Modern Culture. New York: Routledge, 2017. https://www.routledge.com
- DuPont, Quinn. “Experiments in Algorithmic Governance: An ethnography of “The DAO,” a failed Decentralized Autonomous Organization.” In Bitcoin and Beyond: The Challenges and Opportunities of Blockchains for Global Governance, edited by Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn. Routledge 2017 (Google Books; preprint).
- DuPont, Quinn. “Otherness and Order.” In Andrés Ramírez Gaviria: A Line, However Short, Has An Infinite Number Of Points. Barcelona: Triton, 2016. http://www.andresramirezgaviria.info/dupont.
Journal Special Issues (1)
- Philosophy and Technology special issue on “Financial Technologies” guest co-editor (with Mark Coeckelbergh and Wessel Reijers), 2017.
- Introduction: “Towards a Philosophy of Financial Technologies,” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-017-0261-7.
Book Reviews (4)
- DuPont, Quinn. “[Review] Golumbia, David, The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism.” Journal of Cultural Economy, 2017. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17530350.2017.1322997
- DuPont, Quinn. “[Review] Ekman, Bolter, et al. (eds). Ubiquitous Computing, Complexity and Culture.” Boundary 2 Online, February 8, 2017.https://www.boundary2.org/2017/02/ubiquitous-computing-intermittent-critique/
- DuPont, Quinn. “[Review] Soll, Jacob, The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations.” Journal of Cultural Economy, September 22, 2015. http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/3gkjbd7ReasuIIYADpzJ/full.
- DuPont, Quinn. “[Review] Philip P. Arnold, (Ed.), Traditions of Systems Theory: Major Figures and Contemporary Developments.” Philosophy in Review 34, no. 5 (2014): 199–201. https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/pir/article/view/13186/4139.
Other Articles (6)
- DuPont, Quinn and Alana Cattapan. “Engendering Alice and Bob.” Backchannels: Society for Social Study of Science, October 9, 2017. http://www.4sonline.org/blog/post/engendering_alice_and_bob.
- DuPont, Quinn. “Liquid Diet: Is Soylent Really the Cyberfeminism Food of Our Dreams?” This Magazine, June 2016.
- DuPont, Quinn. “Opinion: Why Apple Isn’t Acting in the Public’s Interest.” Christian Science Monitor, February 22, 2016. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/Passcode-Voices/2016/0222/Opinion-Why-Apple-isn-t-acting-in-the-public-s-interest.
- DuPont, Quinn. “Opinion: It’s Time to Rethink Polarizing Encryption Debate.” Christian Science Monitor, December 2, 2015. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/Passcode-Voices/2015/1202/Opinion-It-s-time-to-rethink-polarizing-encryption-debate.
- DuPont, Quinn, and Bill Maurer. “Ledgers and Law in the Blockchain.” King’s Review, June 23, 2015. http://kingsreview.co.uk/articles/ledgers-and-law-in-the-blockchain/ (preprint). [equal author contributions]
- DuPont, Quinn. “Kryptographie Für Alle: Zur Snowden-Lektion Über Technologische Emanzipation Im Überwachungsstaat.” Berliner Gazette, July 1, 2014. http://berlinergazette.de/kryptographie-post-snowden/.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy, Information Science
University of Toronto (2010—2016), “An Archeology of Cryptography: Rewriting Plaintext, Encryption, and Ciphertext.” Supervised by Brian Cantwell Smith and Patrick Keilty.
Master of Arts, Philosophy
University of Toronto (2006—2007).
Master of Library and Information Science
University of Western Ontario (2006—2007)
Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy
University of Victoria (2002—2005)
Digital Projects (5)
- Alice & Bob: A History of The World’s Most Famous Cryptographic Couple (2017). [cryptocouple.com]
History and archive of Alice and Bob in academic literature and digital culture. With Alana Cattapan. - Cracking the Agrippa Code (2012). [http://crackingagrippa.net]
Digital humanities investigation of Gibson’s Agrippa e-poem. Commentary and additional analysis by Alan Liu. - Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Academic Bibliography and Archive (2017) [forthcoming]
Comprehensive bibliography and archive of cryptocurrency and blockchain academic literature. - Cryptographic Identities (2016) Fabric of Digital Life. [fabricofdigitallife.com]
Curator of collection of cryptographic wearables for digital humanities archive. - DAO of Whales (2016). [Now defunct; http://daoofwhales.com]
Participant-observation research of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. The DAO was shuttered in 2016; see my “Experiments in Algorithmic Governance.“