Researcher Salon with Dorian Taylor| Retrofitting the Web

Dorian Taylor presents his summer research on retrofitting the web through an engine for website creation that automates repetitive tasks like navigation, headers, footers, and dynamic content handling. Taylor argues that existing website engines (WordPress, Drupal, Rails, etc.) cannot achieve his specific outcomes, requiring a new approach to introduce denser hypermedia and fix fundamental linking problems on the internet.

Related resources

Paper

Addressing

This paper examines addressing schemes in computing systems, from physical memory addresses to hierarchical file organization and internet URLs, establishing how different protocols and structures require distinct addressing mechanisms to navigate data storage and retrieval. The authors argue that computers must support multiple addressing paradigms that work seamlessly together, drawing analogies between digital addressing and physical-world location systems.

blockchain infrastructure protocols

Dec 2023

Tim Beiko, Mario Havel

Talk

Research Salon with Kei Kreutler | Artificial Memory and Orienting Infinity

Kei Kreutler explores how protocols develop and maintain memory, tracing historical memory metaphors from ancient philosophy through computation. She argues that protocols serve as mechanisms for memory management, where associative and taxonomic logic converge in computational systems to shape how information is organized and recalled.

artificial-memory associative-logic computational-memory-systems

Feb 2024

Kei Kreutler

Talk

Salon I: End-to-End Encryption in ActivityPub - 2024 Protocol Symposium

Evan and Tom present their research on implementing end-to-end encryption within ActivityPub, the W3C-standardized federated social network protocol. They outline their methodology covering user stories, design research, potential architectures, UI guidelines for federated contexts, and next steps for adding cryptographic privacy to ActivityPub's push-based, JSON-based message infrastructure.

activitypub end-to-end-encryption federated-social-networks

Oct 2024

Evan, Tom