Protocol Futuring: Speculating Second-Order Dynamics of Protocols in Sociotechnical Infrastructural Futures

Pre-Print / In Submission

The manuscript has been submitted and is under review at CHI 2026.

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Abstract

Drawing on infrastructure studies in HCI and CSCW, this paper introduces protocol futuring as a methodological orientation for critical computing and design research. This approach expands traditional design futuring with an infrastructuring lens, foregrounding the role of protocols—the underlying rules of sociotechnical systems—in shaping future worlds rather than focusing on singular speculative artifacts. Designers must understand how protocols engineer arguments between stakeholders and how protocols affect the lifeworlds around them, including emergent unexpected behaviors and systematic second-order dynamics such as jams, drift, and ossification that drive systems beyond protocols' intended use. This approach is demonstrated through four case studies: protocol fiction ("Composable Life"), participatory adversarial workshop ("Knowledge Futurama"), AI-assisted protocol fiction contest ("Ghosts in Machines"), and simulated society workshop ("South Beast Asia"). We then discuss the implications of this approach, highlighting its strengths in surfacing hidden infrastructural politics and revealing complex long-term entanglements, and its challenges regarding validity.