New textbook on Blockchain and Web 3.0 Co-written by UW’s Lupien | News
21 December 2022
A textbook written by the director of the University of Wyoming Center for Blockchain and Digital Innovation offers students and educators insight into the future of blockchain and Web 3.0.
Steve Lupien co-authored “Blockchain Fundamentals for Web 3.0” with Mary Lacity, a distinguished professor of information systems and director of the Blockchain Center of Excellence at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. The textbook was published this fall by the University of Arkansas Press.
Lupien teaches several courses in UW’s minor in blockchain studies. Lupien says he and Lacity were motivated to write a textbook because of blockchain’s rapid development, which made many available books dated. While there are many books on blockchain, crypto and digital assets, he and Lacity focused on blockchain applications for Web 3.0.
“That was one of our real motivations for creating this textbook,” says Lupien. “It’s for people who want to learn about blockchain and, more importantly, learn how to use blockchain.”
In the book, Lacity and Lupien explain the movement to establish trust online through the decentralization of value, identity and data ownership.
“This movement is part of Web 3.0, the idea that individuals rather than institutions will control and benefit from online social and economic activities,” says Lupien.
Since blockchain technologies are the digital infrastructure for Web 3.0, the book’s target audience is students, professionals, and managers who want to learn about the overall Web 3.0 landscape — the investments, the size of the markets, major players, and the global reach, as well as the economic and social value of applications.
Lupien says he and Lacity approached writing the book in a way that those with a more casual interest in blockchain can appreciate.
“It’s not a code book,” says Lupien. “We don’t tell you how to code, as there are other books and other programs for that. This is about how to do business and operate in this new Web 3.0 environment.”
The textbook outlines applications that use Web 3.0 technologies to unlock value in DeFi, NFTs, supply chains, media, identity, credentials, metaverses, and more.
The textbook “Blockchain Fundamentals for Web 3.0” is used by undergraduate and graduate blockchain courses at the UW, the University of Arkansas, and other universities around the world. Faculty interested in adopting this book for instructional purposes are welcome to contact the authors for supporting instructional materials.
The textbook was supported by American Rescue Plan Act funds through the State of Wyoming. It is also intended to be used in basic blockchain courses by Wyoming Community Colleges, Lupien says. Any revenue from the book earned through Lupien’s involvement will be donated to UW.
