Towards a Fourth Generation Pattern Language: Patterns as Epistemic Threads for Systemic Orientation (original) (raw)
Related papers
Configuring Patterns and Pattern Languages for Systemic Inquiry and Design
Proceedings of the 25th Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs (PLoP), 2018
This paper builds on work relating to pattern languages for social change, such as in the papers titled Fourth generation pattern languages-patterns as epistemic threads for systemic orientation, and Pattern Literacy in support of Systems Literacy presented to the Systems Science and Pattern Language communities between 2015 and 2017. It is part of an endeavor to bring pattern thinking and systems thinking, or pattern science and systems science, closer to each other, in order to further introduce pattern thinking and pattern language in the design, assessment and orientation of our socio-technological and socio-environmental systems, large or small, to better address the societal issues of our time. It complements several initiatives to put pattern languages at the service of sustainability and societal change, and to introduce pattern thinking and pattern language into systems thinking and systemic design. My broader aim is to enhance the innate patterning capability of human beings and thus an overall pattern literacy in support of systems literacy. Pattern literacy manifests our ability to grasp, learn, assemble, represent and mobilize patterns to make-sense of, converse about and shape our world(s). Systems literacy manifests our ability to interrogate and attempt to understand the relationships among systems wholes and parts, and the mechanisms that affect and shape our world(s), in part or as a whole. In this paper, I explore how a systemic approach to patterns and pattern language could support systemic inquiry and systemic design, and more generally the advancement of pattern language. In particular, I discuss the extension of the act of design to encompass the systemic inquiry that motivates a design and the ongoing monitoring of the fitness of a design to its intended purpose. I examine the multiple facets and understandings of the concept of pattern and show how they can be reconciled to include both the inquiry or observational/informational aspects and the design aspects of patterns in a larger systems framework. In this light, I reexamine the appropriateness of the pattern expressed in problem-solution form in the context of complex systems, and the notion of generativity, and I propose ways forward for extended definitions and pattern forms.
Configuring patterns and pattern languages for systemic design Helene Finidori
This paper builds on the work on Fourth generation pattern languages-patterns as epistemic threads for systemic orientation, presented at Purplsoc 2015, and Pattern Literacy in support of Systems Literacy presented at Plop 2017. In this paper, I explore how a systemic approach to patterns and pattern language can support the concept of an act of design expressed in broader terms than the conception-to-delivery of objects or projects to be designed. In particular, I propose to include patterns in an extension of the act of design: upstream to decode the context and forces that motivate or trigger a design, and downstream to encompass the behaviors generated by the design in interaction with other designs, as well as the effects the design may produce on initial contexts and behaviors. I consider action as an act of design. This involves expressing elements constitutive of contexts and driving forces, as well as outputs or outcomes of generative designs as sign/form patterns, embedded into the formulation of a pattern as guide for design. This is part of an endeavor to bring pattern thinking and systems thinking or pattern science and systems science closer to each other, in order to further introduce pattern thinking and pattern language in the design, assessment and orientation of our socio-technological and socio-environmental systems, large or small, to better address the societal issues of our time.
Paper presented at the 60th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences - "Realizing Sustainable Futures" - University of Colorado – 23 - 30 July 2016. Soon to be published in the ISSS Journal – 60th meeting - Creative Commons Licence CC-BY-ND 4.0. Working towards more sustainable systems is a critical endeavor of the 21st century requiring collaborative efforts for the broad development of systemic literacy. This paper explores the potential of patterns and pattern languages as tools for systemic change and transdisciplinary collaboration, investigation and design, and outlines the ways they could be further operationalized to develop and leverage collective intelligence and agency towards Curating the Emergence of Thrivability and Realizing Sustainable Futures in Socio-Ecological Systems.
Patterns: Problem and Solutions?
2002
We consider the use of patterns as a means of structuring and presenting ethnographic material within a broader system design and research process. In contrast to many existing approaches that orient pattern languages to encode problems and their solutions, we focus on the communicative properties of pattern languages. Addressing the ethnography-design relationship in particular, we suggest that pattern languages may be devised to support practitioners address the perennial problem of interdisciplinary communication. The emphasis here is shifted from a retrospective concern with mining previous experiences to the development of support for interdisciplinary analysis of the design space in the ongoing flow of design work. The rationale for a format for structuring and presenting ethnographic findings is outlined.
To understand and adapt to the world around us, and to collectively make decisions that can ensure its systemic health in the long run, we must get a grasp of how the systems that our designs generate actually behave and evolve, not only in their ‘mechanical’ aspects, but also in their psychological, relational, political, and existential dimensions. The skills that this requires may be thought of as Systems Literacy. Systems Literacy involves a set of ‘sensing’ and mediating capabilities that can help us identify, interconnect and make sense of weak signals of systemic behavior in growing volumes of information. This approach includes leveraging the complementarity of perspectives, knowledges, and know-hows across disciplines and domains of action, and helping us to enter in resonance with each other and our environment, in order for systemic coherence to emerge as a whole as a result of fragmented collective change efforts. Because patterns are embedded in cognition, and are so essential for both discerning and designing form, we believe that the development of Pattern Literacy could beneficially support the enhancement of Systems Literacy. This paper explores the properties of patterns as units of systemic meaning-making and how these properties could be combined as a system to enhance pattern literacy and ultimately support the development of systems literacy.
Working with Patterns: An Introduction
This article introduces (design) patterns in the traditon of Christopher Alexander – what they are, how they are researched in pattern repositories, how they are organized as pattern languages and published in various formats, how they are used in a creative cycle, and which ethical attitudes are needed to make them work – directed at the members of social movements, specifically the Commons Movement. (the article is a chapter of the book "Patterns of Commoning" by David Bollier and Silke Helfrich)
Working with Patterns: An Introduction (Paper for Feedback & Discussion)
This article introduces (design) patterns in the traditon of Christopher Alexander – what they are, how they are researched in pattern repositories, how they are organized as pattern languages and published in various formats, how they are used in a creative cycle, and which ethical attitudes are needed to make them work – directed at the members of social movements, specifically the Commons Movement. (the article is a chapter of the book "Patterns of Commoning" by David Bollier and Silke Helfrich)
Computer Science and Information Systems, 2004
The pattern community came about from a consciously crafted culture, a culture that has persisted, grown, and arguably thrived for a decade. The culture was built on a small number of explicit principles. The culture became embodied in its activities-conferences called PLoPs that centered on a social activity for reviewing technical works-and in a body of literature that has wielded broad influence on software design. Embedded within the larger culture of software development, the pattern culture has enjoyed broad influence on software development worldwide. The culture hasn?t been without its problems: conflict with academic culture, accusations of cultism, and compromises with other cultures. However, its culturally rich principles still live on both in the original organs of the pattern community and in the activities of many other software communities worldwide.