Visualizing blockchain in construction projects: Status quo, challenges, and a guideline for implementation

This study is led by Dr. Liupengfei Wu (Department of Real Estate and Construction, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong), Prof. Weisheng Lu (Department of Real Estate and Construction, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong), Dr. Louis Chu (Estate Office, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong), and Mr. Chen Chen (Department of Real Estate and Construction, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong).

Blockchain, emerging from the technology sphere, could instigate a paradigm shift in construction engineering and management (CEM) (Li et al., 2019). A blockchain is a cryptographically secure shared database with a decentralized consensus mechanism, which can effectively record and endorse transaction data among users in a shared, secure, and traceable manner (Risius and Spohrer, 2017). Numerous benefits of blockchain have been reported in the literature, such as reinforced data transparency, traceability, immutability, and privacy (Elghaish et al., 2020), promotion of democratic decision-making through decentralization (Hamledari and Fischer, 2021a), and reduced costs through the removal of intermediaries (Wu et al., 2022a). It has been explored in CEM for internal administration (Pradeep et al., 2021), immutable records of transactions (Lu et al., 2022), secure payment (Wu et al., 2022b), accurate information sharing (Wu et al., 2022a), and combined applications with the Internet of Things (IoT), building information modeling (BIM) (Li et al., 2022), and cloud computing (Li and Kassem, 2021). To successfully implement these blockchain applications, construction stakeholders need to visualize blockchain to gain trust in the system.

Developing from a general computer science background, blockchain technology uses a set of unique terminologies and system architectures, which CEM practitioners find less accessible (Xue and Lu, 2020). In the big data era, the amount of data submitted to blockchain is growing exponentially (Tao et al., 2021). A key issue when uploading construction data, in particular, to blockchain systems is how to visualize data management processes (DMP) to give users a sense of user-friendliness and trustworthiness. This paper takes typical DMP, such as data submission, endorsement, storage, and invocation, as the research scope. Data visualization, which is the graphical representation of data using common graphics, such as charts, plots, infographics, and animation (Börner et al., 2019), offers several benefits, such as improved comprehension, increased engagement, effective communication (Sackett et al., 2006), reinforced transparency, enhanced decision-making (Park et al., 2022), and storytelling (Wang et al., 2019). In blockchain, data visualization can quickly help users understand the DMP (Spiller et al., 2021).

It is essential for practitioners in construction projects to trust in the systems and subscribe to the technology and, without clear visualization, construction practitioners may struggle to do so. This lack of trust can result in hesitancy or reluctance to adopt blockchain technology, hindering the potential benefits it offers in terms of transparency, security, and efficiency in DMP. A lack of data visualization can also lead to confusion, misinterpretation, and potential errors in decision-making, undermining the overall effectiveness of DMP and potentially impacting project outcomes. However, visualization of blockchain-based DMP has received little scholarly attention in the CEM context.

The primary aim of this research, therefore, is to provide a set of guidelines for users to visualize DMP on blockchain systems with a focus on the CEM context. Our research objectives are to:

identify the current patterns and challenges of DMP visualization on blockchain systems in construction projects;

develop guidelines for visualizing blockchain-based DMP according to construction project needs; and

evaluate the effectiveness of the developed guidelines through demonstration and assessment in a case project.