Alexander Jones works with the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) building innovative, creative experiences for underserved youth. He is also a professional actor, dancer, and composer. In December 2018, Alex participated in a Designing with Blockchain workshop offered at the d.school. The session was specifically for educators. Carissa Carter led the blockchain workshop and Laura McBain and Sam Seidel curated the participants from their K12 network and added on to the exercise with a section specifically tailored to understanding the possibilities of blockchain in the K12 landscape.

We asked Alex to reflect on his interest in blockchain as it relates to K12 education:

As someone who identifies as a very traditional and somewhat conservative artist, I had little interest in emerging technology and was somewhat repelled by the thought of it until the blockchain workshop I participated in at the d.school in December of 2018,

I was fueled by the thought that somehow this new approach to transactions and trust could present solutions to some of our toughest problems as a society.

However, things changed for me after this workshop. I started to see the potential waiting patiently to be realized. Where there was once fear and resentment, suddenly there was curiosity and possibility. I was fueled by the thought that somehow this new approach to transactions and trust could present solutions to some of our toughest problems as a society. Blockchain was and is an opportunity for us as a society to re-imagine in a way that builds equity into our systems cross-sector. Shortly after the workshop, I was invited to co-facilitate a workshop at St. Ignatious Preparatory School in San Francisco by the Director of Education Technology and Innovation there, Jennifer Glaspar-Santos, a co-participant at the d.school workshop.

We led a shortened version of the workshop for teachers, IT folks, and others in the community. It was received very well with many saying that they wanted to learn more afterward.

BLOCKCHAIN AND THE ARTS

For the past year and a half, I have been working at the frontier of arts education in San Francisco, doing racial equity work, helping to co-design programming for SFUSD’s $300 Million arts center project with design firm IDEO, and building out a program for high school students of color with the d.school, the city of San Francisco and two SF arts organizations (Imprint City and Zaccho Dance Theatre).

I approached the Director of the visual and performing arts department at SFUSD with the idea of using blockchain concepts to help strengthen the sometimes strained and delicate relationship between the department and the school district’s central offices. With or without code, could the relationship benefit from a reimagining of trust? He jumped at the idea and had me do a small workshop for his department. I was struck by his immediate ability to integrate some of the concepts into a framework that could work for the department.

I still see many opportunities:

How might we leverage emerging technology to strengthen the bond between the Arts and public education?

If it is an issue of departmental trust as it may be within SFUSD, are there ways to build that through decentralization concepts? What else is possible?

How might we create radical access to arts education through emerging technology?