Things are calm and uneventful on the surface, but like the proverbial duck, the Summer of Protocols team is paddling away furiously underwater, preparing the research output for publication. This newsletter will be on a bit of an irregular track for a while while we do that, but there's a lot going on in the background, and plenty of new material for you already.

First, Tim and Venkat went on Kevin Owocki's Green Pill podcast to provide a preview of the SoP output. SoP researchers Nadia, Timber and Dorian also previously went on the podcast, so you have three to catch up on.

Second, We have a particularly fascinating and foundational Protocol Town Hall coming up TODAY at 5PM UTC (1 PM Eastern, 10 AM Pacific). JoAnne Yates, author of Engineering Rules, the definitive history of standards setting in engineering and technology, will be doing a session titled The Trajectory of Global Standard Setting: From 1880 to the Present and Future. If you work on the protocolization frontier, this is a foundational topic. Hop on the Discord to join the Zoom call, or you can catch the livestream (we'll share the link on the socials once the event starts).

Here's the blurb:

This talk will trace industrial standard setting from its beginnings in the 19th century through three waves. In the first wave, voluntary consensus standardization emerged and national standards bodies were established; in addition, standardizers made initial attempts at international standardization, with mixed success. The second wave saw the blossoming of international standardization in the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO. It became the center of a system of standardization that supported the globalization of the economy. The ongoing third wave is characterized by a series of challenges to the international standardization system, including the emergence of new global standards bodies with different standardization principles and processes, the need for increasing speed, and a shortage of individuals willing to do standards work. The talk ends with a look at the future of standardization.

For those of you want to dive deeper, here is are some links

• The Joy of Standards

• Finding the Unexpected Wonder in More Than 22,000 International Standards

• Globalism is under siege. Here’s how to save it — and why.

That's all for now, but there's a lot more brewing!