Abstract
I explore the resonance of my childhood ideals of justice and good - represented by the figure of Batman - with the ideological discrepancy of my current research on Bitcoin. By using diffractive method of research - proposed by Haraway and Barad and explored in social science by St.
Pierre, Mazzei and others - I aim to examine how my field notebook with its Batman logo on the cover serves as a constant reminder of my ambiguous relationship with my interlocutors and becomes one of essential parts of the intra-active research apparatus. I argue that ever since I was a child I was big fan of Batman, nevertheless in recent years this early ideal figure started to clash with my own leftist political views and my favour of Batman now comes with a grain of salt.
Similarly I was at first astounded by the decentralization ideology of Czech Bitcoin community just to find out, that their ultra-libertarian ideals are at odds with my own ethical values. Hence my choice of Batman-themed notebook was deliberate, because it affects and resonates with me in specific way.
At the same time this particular value-laden object also challenges the boarders between researcher, theory and data and helps me to acknowledge how this division is not a priory established; instead it is constantly re-negotiated. Through the object of Batman notebook I introspect how the assemblage of my researcher-self - formed by various and variously sedimented ideologies, sentiments and emotions - intra-acts within the research field and tries to navigate through the ideological struggle.