# Operationalizing Source: https://protocolized.summerofprotocols.com/p/operationalizing Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Operationalizing?index=0x684c92ea1f7058890e7eb0ded2d455db6cfabe83465e2497ac0cdb63880d1158f5780cec Submitted by misha on 2025-06-13 UTC, 1 upvote, 0 comments ## Summary Protocolized, the Summer of Protocols newsletter, is recruiting a new editor, with applications due June 20, 2025, and it announced a new practitioner-oriented field guide. The issue says the technical foundations track kicked off with a talk titled "Towards a Formal Theory of Protocols," and that formalization of protocol studies will be the focus for the rest of the year. An in-person Basket of Protocols working conference is planned for October, and the #formal-protocol-theory SIG held its first call. The new field guide bundles popular tools such as the Kafka Index, Pattern Languages for the Design of Urban and Digital Spaces, and Five Real-World Case Studies, and is publicly available as a Google Doc. ## Article In this issue: Protocolized is looking for another editor, catch up on the kickoff for the technical foundations track, reminder for the SIGs survey, and a new field guide. We are looking for an editor. Details here. To apply, please send 2-3 paragraphs about you, your experience, and your interests, and a resume (a writing sample is a bonus) to research@summerofprotocols.com by June 20, 2025. . “Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today — but the core of science fiction, its essence, the concept about which it revolves, has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all.” - Isaac Asimov This week we kicked off this year’s technical foundations track with a talk titled Towards a Formal Theory of Protocols. You can get caught up with the recording on the Protocol Town Hall. Like economics formalized markets and how we manage them, is it possible to formalize protocols – to express them formally, in mathematical terms – so that we can use them in more sophisticated ways? Formalization of protocol studies is a focus for the remainder of the year. In October, we’ll accelerate work on models and theory and what Sanjoy Mahajan calls Streeet-Fighting Mathematics with an in-person, weekend technical conference (Basket of Protocols. And today, the #formal-protocol-theory SIG had its first call. Applications for the Basket of Protocols working conference will open soon. If you’re math-inclined or math-curious, we recommend engaging on Discord to boost your chances. To get notified when the call for applications goes live, subscribe. We’ve slightly rejigged the SIGs (Special Interest Groups) to make them more interesting. Each SIG lead will now produce a few articles for Protocolized, in addition to the bimonthly-ish study sessions. To help us calibrate for interest, fill out the SIG survey here. We chose a low-thoroughness, high-efficiency layout for the form. The titles might be a bit vague, so if you have questions or ideas, please share them on Discord. Tim Beiko running a tensions game at Edge City. Stay subscribed or join the Discord to stay up to date on SIGs. Facilitators will share details here periodically – and you can look forward to a kickoff talk for each SIG as they start up. We’re excited to announce a new field guide designed for practitioners, analysts, and facilitators. It’s a bundle of the most popular, practical tools and concepts in protocol studies, featuring things like: The Kafka Index Pattern Languages for the Design of Urban and Digital Spaces Tensions Game Workshop Templates A Fresh Guide to Protocol Thinking Five Real-World Case Studies A future version of this document might be put into print. In the meantime, it’s a publicly accessible Google Doc. That means you can share, remix, copy, and fork. Plus, with the modular format (tip: use the ToC to navigate) you can read the guide in any order. Tasked with a challenging project? Find some traction. Get the Field Guide Let us know what you think on Discord. If you’re more of an academic type, we still recommend the Protocol Reader – a challenging, but worthwhile one-weekend read.