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Bridge Atlas - Episode 1: Intro | Tim Beiko & Timber Stinson-Schroff

Interview Tim Beiko, Timber Stinson-Schroff, Christine DKim
researcher practitioner
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Tim Beiko and Timber Stinson-Schroff introduce the Bridge Atlas interview series and provide an overview of Summer of Protocols, a three-year research program funded by the Ethereum Foundation designed to establish protocols as a first-class concept for understanding the world. The program has evolved through four phases—pilot, research-focused summer, application-focused summer, and education-focused summer—producing essays, projects, and artifacts while engaging approximately 100 participants to study protocol design, management, and improvement.

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Interview

Bridge Atlas - Episode 2: Paradigms | Nils Gilman and Josh Stark

Nils Gilman and Josh Stark introduce the concepts of 'hardness' and 'planetary thinking' as frameworks for understanding Ethereum and protocol design. Gilman, a historian trained in globalization theory, traces how planetary thinking evolved from modernization and globalization discourse, while the discussion positions these concepts as critical lenses for analyzing technological and governance systems.

bridge-atlas globalization-theory governance

Nils Gilman, Josh Stark

Talk

Into the Spannungsfeld (SIG Kickoff)

The speaker introduces the Spannungsfeld (field of tensions) Special Interest Group, a research initiative exploring trade-offs and conflicts in protocol design and technological development. Drawing from tension games conducted at conferences, the group proposes a framework combining engineering trade-offs with social conflict to understand how tensions shape protocol design and societal outcomes.

conflict protocol-design protocols

Speaker (SIG Lead)

Talk

Plenary Talk - 2024 Protocol Symposium

Tim Boo opens the 2024 Protocol Symposium, explaining how Summer of Protocols evolved from studying Ethereum-specific challenges to examining protocols as a cross-domain class of phenomena. The program aims to identify common principles underlying protocols across different fields by funding researchers to study diverse protocol implementations.

cross-domain-protocol-analysis protocol-as-a-class protocol-research-methodology

Tim Boo

Topics

bridge-atlas ethereum-foundation protocol-design protocol-management protocols protocols-as-first-class-concept research summer-of-protocols-program