document: Failures and successes : notes on the development of electronic cash Between 1997 and 2001 , two mid-sized communities in Canada hosted North America 's most comprehensive experiment to introduce electronic cash and , in the process , replace physical cash for casual , low-value payments . The technology used was Mondex , and its implementation was supported by all the country 's major banks . It was launched with an extensive publicity campaign to promote Mondex not only in the domestic but also in the global market , for which the Canadian implementation was to serve as a `` showcase . '' However , soon after the start of the first field test it became apparent that the new technology did not work smoothly . On the contrary , it created a host of controversies , in areas as varied as computer security , consumer privacy , and monetary policy . In the following years , few of these controversies could be resolved and Mondex could not be established as a widely used payment mechanism . In 2001 , the experiment was finally terminated . Using the concepts developed in recent science and technology studies -LRB- STS -RRB- , the article analyzes these controversies as resulting from the difficulties of fitting electronic cash , a new sociotechnical system , into the complex setting of the existing payment system . The story of Mondex not only offers lessons on why technologies fail , but also offers insight into how short-term failures can contribute to long-term transformations . This suggests the need to rethink the dichotomy of success and failure
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extractive_keyphrases: electronic cash canada mondex major banks publicity campaign global market canadian implementation computer security consumer privacy monetary policy payment mechanism science and technology studies sociotechnical system
abstractive_keyphrases: low-value payments short-term failures long-term transformations