Blockchain Technology for Participatory Publication of Archival Documents. Marco Polo’s Diplomatic Codex as a Showcase

Abstract

To commemorate the 700 years since Marco Polo’s death (1324–2024), the State Archive of Venice, the National Library of Saint Mark, and the Veneto Institute of Sciences, Humanities and Arts (IVSLA) are curating and editing a diplomatic codex (CDP) of documents relevant to the study of the historical figure of Marco Polo (1254–1324). IVSLA will publish the CDP as a prestigious and traditional book, and the Engineering Historical Memory initiative will publish it online. This paper presents and discusses how the CDP is exploring the use of blockchain technology among parties who might not necessarily trust each other (i.e., authors and readers) to 1) launch ongoing participatory editing by entrusting multiple users with the task of promoting substantiated modifications to critical editions of archival documents and 2) share the digital asset’s history while duplicating and reusing archival documents’ digital reproductions. Thus, the online CDP can be construed as a practice-led research project exploring the disruption of making a critical edition of archival documents using highly participatory research powered by blockchain and distributed ledger technology.