I design protocol-oriented research, reference infrastructure, and institutional frameworks for representing rights, incentives, access, coordination, and transition in complex systems.
This GitHub profile serves as a public development index for my current work with Jellen Protocol Lab, while also retaining earlier software projects, experiments, and personal development history.
Jellen Protocol Lab is an independent research initiative focused on protocol design, rights infrastructure, institutional systems, public-facing technical artifacts, and infrastructure-grade research.
Authoritative specifications, schemas, registries, reference tooling, and canonical research artifacts are developed and versioned openly, with explicit scope, lifecycle status, and archival discipline.
Primary development and canonical artifacts are maintained in the sjellen/protocols repository.
My current public work focuses on research that can be translated into inspectable technical and institutional artifacts:
- protocol specifications
- registry and schema models
- resolver and reference surfaces
- DOI-backed whitepapers and briefs
- institutional design frameworks
- operational simulations and transition models
This work is primarily maintained through Jellen Protocol Lab and the sjellen/protocols repository, alongside older software projects and personal development work.
The Universal Sports Graph (USG) is a protocol stack for representing sports broadcast rights as structured, interoperable data.
USG defines a neutral, machine-readable layer for:
- rights definition and ownership
- entitlement and access authorization
- registry-backed auditability
- settlement and clearinghouse primitives
The goal is to make sports rights computable, reducing ambiguity across leagues, distributors, platforms, regulators, and downstream systems.
Together, the USG whitepaper and RFC series define a minimum viable protocol stack:
rights graph → entitlement enforcement → authoritative registry substrate
The following documents define the standards-oriented surface of USG. Whitepapers and briefs elsewhere in the canon are interpretive, exploratory, or contextual.
-
The Universal Sports Graph — Blueprint Edition
DOI-backed whitepaper defining the problem space, protocol goals, and architectural framing. -
RFC 0001 — The Universal Sports Graph
Core rights graph model, access surface, and clearinghouse abstraction. -
RFC 0002 — USG Entitlement Token Profile
Standards-track specification defining entitlement tokens, required claims, validation rules, security properties, and interoperability expectations. -
RFC 0003 — USG Registry Architecture
Standards-track specification defining registry object models, identifier semantics, lifecycle rules, canonical JSON forms, digest requirements, deterministic indexes, and federation constraints.
The protocols repository includes versioned reference artifacts for registry-backed protocol design.
Authoritative artifacts
- registry object schemas
- entitlement token and settlement record schemas
- deterministic index files and registry metadata
- canonical identifiers and digest conventions
Reference tooling
- schema validation utilities
- integrity and digest checks
- index verification helpers
- minimal resolver paths for citation and inspection
Tooling exists to demonstrate protocol behavior, not to function as production infrastructure.
The resolver layer is intentionally read-only and interface-only:
- no service guarantees
- no business logic
- no mutation authority
Authoritative state remains in the registry.
Current work is focused on turning research artifacts into structured protocol and institutional systems:
- USG registry, resolver, and federation models
- governance and compliance extensions
- settlement and clearinghouse formalization
- institutional continuity mechanisms
- labor, retirement, and public-system transition frameworks
- operational simulations for policy and infrastructure proposals
- research pathways connecting whitepapers, briefs, RFCs, and reference artifacts
Published / Versioned
- USG Blueprint Edition
- RFCs 0001–0003
- Registry schema set
- Canonical index and digest rules
- Selected whitepapers and briefs archived through DOI-backed publication workflows
Active
- Governance and compliance extensions
- Settlement and clearinghouse formalization
- Registry federation and multi-authority models
- Applied institutional frameworks
- Research index and public archive structure
Explicitly Out of Scope
- Consumer applications
- Proprietary platform integrations
- League-specific business logic
- Production service guarantees
Whitepapers exploring rights structures, incentives, labor systems, public infrastructure, media systems, education, energy, and institutional design.
Selected works:
- The Universal Sports Graph — Blueprint Edition
- The Shutdown Stabilizer
- The Shorter Working Life
- The Shadow Subscription
- The Content Layer
- The Sports Spin-Off
- Less Than Net Zero
Archive:
https://scottjellen.com/whitepapers
Concise research briefs derived from larger papers and protocol work, focused on clarifying structure, incentives, implementation patterns, operational implications, and transition logic.
Archive:
https://scottjellen.com/briefs
- clarity over scale
- infrastructure before applications
- protocols before platforms
- versioning over polish
- publish early, freeze deliberately
- mechanisms before narratives
- inspectability before persuasion
Systems are treated as structures, not products:
rights → access → incentives → coordination → outcomes
For critique, collaboration, or research discussion:
https://scottjellen.com/contact
Portfolio and research archive: https://scottjellen.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjellen/