Protocol Watching: A Guide to Field Identification

<p>Protocols are everywhere, once you start looking! Most protocols are unique, but share many qualities that allow us to create taxonomies. Consider these important ways to characterize protocols (see <em>Safe New World</em>) found in the wild:</p> <ul> <li><em>structure</em>: social ↔ material</li> <li><em>scale</em>: atomic ↔ systemic</li> <li><em>failure mode</em>: Kafka- or Bartleby-type (see <em>Kafka Index</em>)</li> <li><em>lifecycle</em>: budding, juvenile, mature, dead</li> </ul> <p>With these dimensions, it becomes easier to isolate and identify protocols in the wild. You can document common varieties and even assemble an evolutionary tree. To add some fun, the same protocol can be spotted in different stages of its lifecycle or in a failure mode…</p>