Protocol Ecologies Symposium

Nathan Schneider — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 20:53:15 +0000

Protocol Ecologies Symposium Nathan Schneider Tue, 02/10/2026 - 13:53

March 24, 2026
8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mountain Time
CASE E330, University of Colorado Boulder

The fate of the world may depend on protocols—from climate treaties to AI guardrails, from Indigenous stewardship to diasporic cultures. It is a concept that has spread far and wide, but scholarship has yet to take seriously the breadth and power of the concept.

This event introduces both the theory and practice of protocols. It features a keynote talk by a leading theorist of protocol media, Johannes Bennke, followed by a panel including Colorado protocol practitioners.

Agenda

8:30 a.m. / Breakfast
9:00 a.m. / Welcome: Nathan Schneider (Media Economies Design Lab, University of Colorado Boulder)
9:15 a.m. / Keynote: Johannes Bennke (Media Lab for Digital Sovereignty, Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf), "Protocol Ecologies: The Art of Governing between Control and Emancipation"
Respondents:
- Eric Alston (Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder)
- Júlia Martins Rodrigues (Media Economies Design Lab, University of Colorado Boulder)
10:45 a.m. / Break
11:00 a.m. / Panel: Protocol Oral History Project
- Asia Dorsey (Bones Bugs and Botany)
- Drew Hornbein (Ritual Point Art & Divination)
- Rick Williams (People of the Sacred Land)
- Moderator: Nathan Schneider (Media Economies Design Lab, University of Colorado Boulder)

Hosted by the Media Economies Design Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder

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The Protocol Oral History Project

Nathan Schneider — Sun, 04 May 2025 20:41:26 +0000

The Protocol Oral History Project Nathan Schneider Sun, 05/04/2025 - 14:41

Nathan Schneider

The Protocol Oral History Project is an ongoing effort in MEDLab to explore the possibilities of protocols in diverse areas of human self-governance. We have just published the first ten interviews, which range from a Bangladeshi diplomat to a Denver-based healer, with much in between. We will continue adding more interviews in the coming months.

The project description is as follows:

The Protocol Oral History Project is an effort to honor and share the stories of protocol artists—the skilled builders and stewards of the rules, standards, and norms that shape our lives in often invisible ways, ranging from technical standards and diplomatic practices to Indigenous traditions and radical subcultures.

The website was designed by MEDLab's longtime collaborator Drew Hornbein. The color-scheme and grid design was inspired by Constitutional Wampum by Robert Houle, which in turn draws on the use of wampum belts as a form of governance in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and other Native American cultures. Hornbein designed a protocol to translate strings of text into patterns. You can try it yourself on the website's About page.

These oral histories are part of the broader Governance Ecologies project, for which we have also just published a new website. As part of Governance Ecologies, we hope it will contribute to knowledge of repertoires for self-governance from across time and around the world, so as to inform governance designs for the future.

Visit protocol.ecologies.info

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Protocols

Protocol Ecologies Symposium

Agenda

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The Protocol Oral History Project

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