Skip to content

Guest Talk with Jay Graber | Q&A Hosted by Venkatesh Rao

Lecture Jay Graber, Daniel Holmgren
researcher practitioner
Open resource →

Jay Graber discusses her trajectory from digital rights activism through cryptocurrency development to founding Blue Sky, a decentralized social protocol project. Graber argues against decentralization maximalism, instead advocating for pragmatic protocol design that balances decentralization with usability, drawing on her experience with peer-to-peer technologies like Secure Scuttlebutt, IPFS, and blockchain systems.

Related resources

Paper

2023 Retrospectus

The 2023 Retrospectus is a collection of essays from the Summer of Protocols initiative examining how protocols function across social, economic, and technological domains, featuring contributions on topics ranging from killswitch mechanisms and protocolized economics to memory-making and emergency response systems. The volume presents a multidisciplinary exploration of protocols as generative frameworks for organizing collective behavior, coordination, and cultural production in both digital and physical contexts.

organizations protocols research

Summer of Protocols

Article

2026 Protocol Symposium: New Nature

The 2026 Protocol Symposium, the third edition of the flagship event for protocol studies, will be held online September 21-25 with the theme 'New Nature,' exploring the technological layer shaped by AI and protocols. Abstract submissions for talks and workshops are open until June 14, 2026, with registration to follow once the schedule is finalized.

obliquities organizations protocols

Venkatesh Rao

Article

A Very Short Introduction to Memory

The Memory Research Group, a special interest group incubated by Summer of Protocols, launches a monthly series examining memory across disciplines, starting with Frances Yates' classical account of the art of memory. Rather than debating whether machines should automate memorization, the group investigates how contemporary tools reshape our understanding of memory itself, moving beyond surface-level recall toward deeper modes of knowing.

article memory organizations

Kei Kreutler

Topics

decentralization-pragmatism decentralized-social-protocols digital-rights organizations peer-to-peer-architecture popular-lectures protocol-design protocols