Also see the discussion at the end of [[What we mean by "pattern"]]

Great description and important given other possible interpretations of "pattern language." Wikipedia has a good, but more expanded/technical definition as well.

  --Rick Lent (Not signed in).....Fri Jul 10 04:47:53 -0700 2009

I'm left with this vague feeling that you've used a lot of words to say very little. :/ what *is* a pattern language?

  --Anonymous (Not signed in).....Sat Jan 09 14:52:53 -0800 2010

Would love to change "processes" links throughout the site to point to http://processarts.wagn.org/ which is wiki/alive and includes much of The Change Handbook, rather than to TCH which is fixed.

  --[[Brandon WilliamsCraig]].....Mon Jan 25 22:50:30 -0800 2010

Errata? Pretty sure "A pattern language which generates multi-service centers" where the term was coined came out in 1968, rather than 1977. See [[Schuler_2008_p49]]

  --[[Brandon WilliamsCraig]].....Mon Jan 25 22:51:48 -0800 2010

I'll transfer this to the Forum here (if it happens) but just needed a spot to put this where I can return to it and others can see/respond as moved.

Based on work originally applied to architecture and civil design in _A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_ by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein http://tinyurl.com/ykqwpju, what follows is an adaptation of their definition modified to fit the process arts (our field). A pattern language is a series of associative descriptions (narratives about how systems and structures relate) of archetypal design practices within a particular field. It often frames the most basic universal patterns by researching and naming common tensions (e.g. in "community building" the tension between being both individual and collective authentically), proposing related processes capable of working with the tensions introduced (e.g. emergent design or goal-problem-solution, among others). Ideally, the pattern language will create a context where dilemmas are welcomed rather than resisted so that challenges may be included within a consensus understanding and options will continue to present themselves throughout design and implementation.

  --[[Brandon WilliamsCraig]].....Sat Feb 13 10:40:04 -0800 2010

To me this way of describing it, in addition to sounding overly academic, misses the central key and instead emphasizes elements i think are less important. The point of a pattern language is to bring aliveness or "the quality that has no name," and i think any definition needs to start from there. I see working with tensions or dilemmas as just one way of approaching that purpose.

  --[[Tree Bressen]].....Wed Feb 24 18:37:10 -0800 2010

Here is a definition from Tom Atlee:

A pattern is a design element -- something to attend to when designing or studying a healthy or workable system. "An accessible large body of water" might be a pattern for livable communities. "People feeling really heard" might be a pattern for generative conversations. A pattern LANGUAGE is a set of well-described patterns that also explains their interdependencies: For any given pattern, which other patterns does it depend on, and which depend on it. We might say that a pattern language articulates the life-enhancing facets of a living whole and the relationships between those parts that sustain the aliveness of the whole.

  --[[Tom Atlee]] (Not signed in).....Wed Mar 10 12:38:41 -0800 2010

Just for the record, I'm still interested in making clear the difference between definitions and ideographic framing, so we don't wander too far into ideology.

Perhaps:

* A pattern is a design element -- something to attend to when designing or studying any system

* A pattern LANGUAGE for group process is a set of well-described patterns that also explains their interdependencies, dilemmas, strengths, potential consequences, histories, archetypal narratives, etc.

* A pattern language for healthy/workable/sustainable group process is a set of well-described patterns that explains their interdependencies and the ways they may be understood independently and in dynamic interaction such that people involved are more likely to participate directly in creating a life-enhancing, living whole, and know more deeply the relationships between the parts that sustain the aliveness of the whole.

Thanks, Tom, again, for the beautiful language.

Striving to be healthy and workable,

B

  --[[Brandon WilliamsCraig]].....Wed Mar 10 16:21:43 -0800 2010

I see the difference between a bunch of patterns, and a pattern language, as much more than adding to each pattern well-explained interdependencies with other patterns. As we look at some patterns and try to see how they might make a language together, i expect us to end up with a different set of patterns than we started with — some may split, others merge, others be renamed or removed, or redefined or added, in service of getting to a coherent whole. I see this happening already — e.g., at the Berkeley February [[event]], Mirroring was renamed to [[Fractal]], and Reflection was renamed to [[Mirroring]]. I wasn't part of that process, but i imagine it reflected changes in understanding about what each pattern was about, coming in part from seeing how they related to each other. This shifting attention back and forth from individual pattern to the whole pattern language is analogous to [[Subgroup and Whole Group]].

  --[[John Abbe]].....Thu Mar 11 14:10:05 -0800 2010

See also Peggy Holman's explanation on [[Other links and documents]] page:

{{Definitions}}

  --[[Tree Bressen]].....Tue Apr 06 13:30:16 -0700 2010

To say a pattern is a design element is like saying a hammer is a building tool. Very true, but one is left with a mystery...what are its purpose and characteristics?

In "The Timeless Way of Building" Alexander says "every place is given its characteristics by certian patterns of events that keep on happening there." (p55) and "the pattern of events are always interlocked with certain geometric patterns in the space." (p75).

Therefore, a pattern could be defined as a template that manifests a specific experience or activity in a space...preferably one that adds life to the situation. A pattern language can be used to describe a number of interdependant events, spaces and activities.

  --[[Daniel  --[[Dan Doherty]].....Thu Jul 08 16:59:34 -0700 2010