In 2016 an anonymous "white paper" was published that provided an outline for the creation of a decentrlized autonomous research endorsement tool to alleviate some of the issues with the current research publication network. The paper detailed what, at the time, was a lofty proposal with technology and resources that had not been fully developed. However, in 2018, we now have significant enough developments in the world of online data access and storage information systems to make what was proposed in the white paper a reality. 

While many associate blockchain technology with bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, the use cases for blockchain's transparent and immutable nature have made it an excellent candidate to resolve a variety of differnet problems across almost every commercial industry. Part of my current research revolves around looking at emerging bloackchain and decentralized ledger systems that can help postively dispupt and improve the current lanscape of communication research, distribution, and access.