Social Protocols
"technical protocols" typically serve to facilitate machine to machine communications.
"graphical user interfaces" serve to facilitate machine to human communications
"social protocols" mediate interactions between humans using computers/networks,
or computer agents acting on behalf of human concerns.
enable the creation of rich content, verifiable assertions, decisions, and agreements -- to develop and manage trust relationships
often driven by explicit policy requirements
the web requires mechanisms of trusted abstraction, assurance, redirection, and cues
the key components of this are meta-data, negotiation, and trust mechanisms.
Joseph Reagle, HLS/W3C/LCS/MIT
3 of 14