Protocols run the world, whether you’re aware of them or not. As our lives continue to intertwine with our tools, the underlying rules—formal, technical, explicit—gain even more importance. Noticing this, Venkatesh Rao and the Ethereum Foundation team decided to give the idea deeper thought and further examination. They created the Summer of Protocols as an experiment in field building: Were protocols worth studying? If so, how do you grapple with a sprawling, hard-to-define concept? What theory might emerge?
The idea has been fruitful enough to keep going, with the program restarting every summer after a period of hibernation. They’re on their third turn now. Venkat and Timber Stinson-Schroff tell the story and offer their best wisdom on the meta-protocol of protocol field building.
Key ideas:
Good theory must be “rewilded” back into the information ecosystem. Any idea raised in captivity (a group chat, a research lab, etc) eventually has to make contact with the world, and that’s where you’ll learn its true value.
Maintain a portfolio of inspiration. Venkat learned the craft of research management by raiding history—Bloomsbury Group, the International Geophysical Year, Solvay Conferences, and more. Don’t copy any one model, he advises. Instead, know the lineage, then cherry-pick lessons that fit the moment.
Design for artifact-field fit. The Summer of Protocols has experimented with a variety of artifacts—tension workshops, kits, a digital magazine—to spread the concepts. Growing a field often involves inventing a social object to help move the idea along.
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