the$plast$project pattern$languages$for$systemic ...tions in a reﬂective way, and a willingness to...

The PLAST Proposal Consortium

The$PLAST$ProjectPattern$Languages$for$Systemic$Transformations

Helene%Finidori,%Tom%Henfrey,%Nadia%McLaren,%Kurt%Laitner,%Sayfan%Borghini,%Vincent%Puig,%Takashi%Iba,%Martin%PruvostCBeaurain,%Helmut%Leitner,%René%Reiners,%

Frank%Leymann,%Michael%Falkenthal

© 2015 Spanda Publishing

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and7Kurt7Laitner7 and7Sayfan7 Borghini7 and7Vincent7 Puig7 and7Takashi7 Iba7and7Martin7 PruvostKBeaurain7 and7Helmut7 Leitner7 and7René7 Reiners7 and7Frank7 Leymann7 and7Michael7 Falkenthal},

title7 7777=7{The7 PLAST7 Project:7 Pattern7 Languages7 for7Systemic7 7Transformations},

journal7 77=7{International7 Journal7 of7the7Spanda7 Foundation},year7 77777=7{2015},volume7 777=7{VI},number7 777=7{1},pages7 7777=7{205KK218},publisher7 =7{Spanda7 Foundation}

}

:

Institute of Architecture of Application Systems

Helene Finidori (Free Knowl-edge Institute), Tom Henfrey(Schumacher Institute), NadiaMcLaren (Global ActionPlan International), KurtLaitner (Third Meta Con-sulting), Sayfan Borghini

(Free Knowledge Institute),Vincent Puig (IRI), Takashi Iba,

(Keio University Japan), MartinPruvost-Beaurain (ICT Consultant),

Helmut Leitner (GIVE research society), René Reiners (Fraun-hofer Institute of Technology), Frank Leymann and MichaelFalkenthal (University of Stuttgart – Institute of Architectureof Application Systems).

F O R E W O R D

HIS ARTICLE IS AN ABSTRACT OF THE PROPOSAL

recently submitted to the EU HORIZON

2020/CAPS program. The CAPS program aims tosupport the piloting of Collective AwarenessPlatforms for Sustainability and Social

Innovation. The authors, part of the project con-sortium members organizations and their closepartners involved in the call, came togetheraround the idea of connecting sustainability andsocial change praxis and related pattern languageswithin a commons pattern repository, via a sys-temic pattern language. Each brings a buildingblock of what is needed to create a sustainableand scalable platform for collective awarenessand exchange of tacit knowledge on sustainabilitychallenges and solutions oriented towards sys-temic change. Helene Finidori, Sayfan Borghini,Kurt Laitner, and Takashi Iba are coordinatingthe concept from a theory to application per-spective. Tom Henfrey, Nadia McLaren andHelmut Leitner are involved in the practicalaspects of pattern language praxis, working withpractitioners and those who drive change on theground. Martin Pruvost-Beaurain and VincentPuig are bringing to the mix exploration of possi-bilities and the semantic and hermeneutic inquirythat help to organize documented knowledge anddiscussions related to it. They ensure the liaisonbetween the non-digital world of practice, the IT

that ‘tools’ it, and the philosophical-ethicalapproach that ensures a critical questioning ofthe categorization of knowledge. This approachis supported by the work of René Reiners onpattern evaluation and evolution, based on along experience in the design and assessment ofhuman-computer-interaction concepts, accom-panied by the work on pattern repositories byFrank Leymann and Michael Falkenthal.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

A central problem of our time is the separationof knowledge cultures into isolated islands.These knowledge islands typically have an excessof relevant information at their disposal fromother islands, but do not leverage this knowledgeeffectively. This isolation has many causes: acade-mic specializations, ideological polarizations andcompeting interests among grassroots movements,or simple separation in space, time, natural lan-guage or culture. Just as importantly, knowledgetends to be disconnected from praxis. The combinedeffect is to hinder the expansion of collective intelli-gence and fragment the systemic impact of sustain-ability and social change initiatives.When attempting to intervene in a complex system, itis essential to assess the systemic implications of actionsand to be aware of other actors in the system and theirconcurrent interventions. Isolated solutions can createnew problems or be mysteriously ineffectual. Systemicchange requires multiple interventions and an under-standing of how they interact to produce desired out-comes, the discipline to monitor outcomes against inten-tions in a reflective way, and a willingness to changecourse where necessary, to mitigate the risk of unintend-ed consequences.The purpose of PLAST (Pattern Languages for SystemicTransformation) is to produce an open knowledgerepository of sustainability and social innovation prac-tices, leveraging pattern languages to make knowledgeaccessible, reusable across domains and actionable,turning knowledge into shared and accessible ‘know-how’. The key to success is making communities ofpractice aware of each other’s achievements in a lan-guage that is understandable, so that successes canbe re-contextualized, applied, and evaluated for

T H E P L A S T C O L L E C T I V E

T H E P L A S T P R O J E C T : P A T T E R N L A N G U A G E SF O R S Y S T E M I C T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

T

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effectiveness in other domains. The dynamic repos-itory structure aims to promote the creation ofmeaningful relationships among different patternlanguages using ‘Systemic Patterns’ as a novel formof meta-language.The project balances this theoretical convergence bycapturing the practical usage of patterns in new con-texts, partnering and working with communities whileprototyping and building the platform and allowingdiscussions and deliberations about patterns’ successand suitability to be included. Practice will thus informtheory which will guide practice in a virtuous cycle. Inthis way the PLAST will support collaborative creation,maturation, discussion, and refinement of knowledgeand ‘know-how’ about sustainability practices and newways of being and catalyse the social innovation requiredto find them.The overarching objective of PLAST is to transcend bound-aries among knowledge islands by creating a strong com-munication attractor for sustainability knowledge andthus to make sustainability-related knowledge moreeffective, connectable and ‘actionable’. This involvesdeveloping new digital tools and associated processesfor the innovation of practice that builds upon,rather than rediscovers, established knowledge.In particular PLAST is working to:~ Provide a platform on which to share knowledgeand know-how (in the form of Patterns and PatternLanguages) as ‘shared social objects’1, subject todiscussion, deliberation and transformation.~ Actively make communities aware of oneanother’s solutions through a coherent model ofmeaningful relationships and ‘systemic patterns’,providing the structure to allow inquiry andanalysis through discovery and exploration.~ Provide multiple entry points, (by problem,by solution, by systemic pattern, by context, bycategory etc.), and pathways, (guided tours, usebefore/after, etc.), through the collected solu-tions and practices.~ Provide the means to re-contextualise solu-tions and practices into new domains andcommunities, and the ability to monitor, track,evaluate, deliberate and discuss the results.~ Support the analysis of the process of trans-formation (categorizing discussion, delibera-tion, and transitions to understand tippingpoints, phase changes, and leverage points), cre-ating the opportunity to design transitionalstrategies that are systemically assessed.~ Allow participants to understand the full lifecy-cle of patterns in practice, from problem identifi-cation to pattern application, iterative reuse, matu-rity, adaptation, refinement and re-evaluation.

We expect this to:~ Accelerate the circulation of domain-specificknowledge. ~ Improve the effectiveness of this knowledgeand its applications. ~ Bridge ‘isolation’ gaps by connecting andmaking this knowledge ‘interoperable’.~ Ultimately, keep knowledge dynamic as a liv-ing resource that embeds its on-going creation.

S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y :T H E Q U A L I T Y O F A

( R E ) G E N E R A T I V E S Y S T E M

We adopt in this project a broad definition ofsustainability as a quality of a generative sys-tem able to regenerate and perpetuate itself ina way that allows flourishing of both the sys-tem as a whole and all its constituent parts.This systemic perspective can encompass multi-ple narrower definitions and forms of action:whether focused on the environment, lifestylesand behaviours, organizational forms, culturalnorms and habits, power relationships, gover-nance, equity and justice, technologies, or humanrelationships. This aligns itself with efforts tocharacterise trajectories towards making the worlda better place in terms of essential qualities ratherthan precise definitions. There exist many defini-tions of the “vector” that makes the world a betterplace, and many who seek to uncover its essence andsystemic characteristics.Social activist Tom Atlee calls it Goodness2. PhysicistDavid Bohm referred to it as Wholeness3; cultural theo-rist Jean Gebser as Diaphaneity4; Gregory Bateson as‘The Pattern that Connects’5. Architect ChristopherAlexander best conveys, and most fully articulates, thisidea of something desirable, ineffable yet readily perceiv-able with high levels of intersubjective agreement. Alexan-der refers to it as the ‘quality without a name’: “There is acentral quality which is the root criterion of life and spirit in aman, a town, a building, or a wilderness. This quality isobjective and precise, but it cannot be named.”6

He goes on to elaborate on its context-dependence[…]”[I]t is never twice the same, because it always takesits shape from the particular place in which it occurs.”7

and later on the conditions for its arisal: “This quality[…] cannot be made, but only generated, indirectly, bythe ordinary actions of the people, just as a flower cannotbe made, but only generated from the seed.”8

Alexander’s holistic and pluralistic treatment prefig-ures the PLAST approach of providing tools for changeagents, wherever they may be located and whatevertheir core areas of interest, to identify their own

T H E P L A S T C O L L E C T I V E | T H E P L A S T P R O J E C T : P A T T E R N L A N G U A G E S | 2 0 6

goals and design their own preferred pathwaystowards them. PLAST thus aims to nurture, collectively,a range of diverse, complementary solutions that cre-ate opportunities for learning and collaboration andpossibilities for mutually supportive action and syner-gistic outcomes. We see current sustainability challenges as like the ele-phant in the ancient Hindu fable of the blind men.Although all are touching the same beast, each blindman only perceives a small part of it, and thinks hetouches something different from the rest, none able tosee the complete picture. Similarly, change agentsinvolved in sustainability and social innovation mayintervene in different domains, but all are ultimatelyaddressing parts of the same challenge. PLAST ’s mainambition is to make the elephant – the bigger picture –clearly visible to change agents in all domains, allowingthem to understand and take into account linkagesamong perceptions, interpretations and representations

Edgar Morin describes this multiplicity of path-ways in La Voie (the Way): “On each continentand in each nation one can find creative bubbling,a multitude of political initiatives in the direction ofeconomic, social, political, cognitive, educational,ethical or existential regeneration. But everythingthat must be connected is yet dispersed, compart-mented, separated. These initiatives are not awareof each other, no institution enumerates them, andno one is familiar with them. They are nonethelessthe livestock for the future. It is now a matter of rec-ognizing, aggregating, enlisting them in order toopen up transformational paths. These multiplepaths, jointly developing, will intermesh to form anew Path which will decompose into the paths eachof us will follow and which will guide us toward thestill invisible and inconceivable metamorphosis.“10

In growing trends towards peer production,increasing numbers of people are seeking to createtheir own goods, tools, concepts and knowledge,often within local systems of production, use and

exchange11. The challenge this raises is how to equipcommunities with skills and technical capacities tocapture their experiences of peer production andthe tacit knowledges developed in doing so, andreproduce and build upon this learning so thatfuture action is more effective. A related chal-lenge is how to support learning across commu-nities that can support more effective local co-creation, bridging islands of engagement, lan-guage and experience without diluting diversityinto uniformity12.We believe this can be achieved through sys-temic investigation via a hermeneutic approachof observation, hypothesis formation, selectionof methods, and interpretation. This will pro-vide the ontological and epistemologicalthreads that can reveal and activate potentialconnections among different sustainability ini-tiatives. By encouraging change agents to cre-atively focus their attention on the tacit knowl-edge they have developed through experience intheir own domains, and on the underlyingdynamics of the sustainability challenges theyengage, PLAST will support them to enhance theeffectiveness of their interactions with peers intheir own domains and create and strengthenconnections to other domains.At the centre of PLAST is the concept of the designpattern, as a mechanism for connecting differentkinds of people with different kinds of experiences.The design pattern is a unit of knowledge that cancirculate - can be exchanged or transferred. Patterns,in use, are connected to other design patterns toform a web of action-oriented knowledge within a

defined domain of operation, called a pattern language. PLAST will provide a systemic thread through whichdiverse capacities and potentials become interrelatedwithin an emergent ecosystem or network of possibili-ties. Within this ecosystem, collective awareness buildsup as sustainability domains open up to each other andconnect through webs of interrelated patterns, unleash-ing all sorts of possibilities for participation, collabora-tion, innovation and action.In the following sections, we distil elements of conceptand show how each will be approached and opera-tionalized, and we conclude with the overall technicaldesign approach of the project.

W I C K E D P R O B L E M S :T H E S Y S T E M I C N A T U R E

O F S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y I S S U E S

Most sustainability issues are systemic in nature.They are emergent on complex dynamic processesaffected by the aggregated behaviours of multiple


FIGURE 1 ~ The Ancient Indian Fableof the Blind Men and the Elephant9.

agents (human and non-human): behaviours thatare shaped by the rules, structures and automatedsystems we humans put in place, which arise fromthe paradigms we hold. Donella Meadows sum-marises this situation in her characterisation of Pointsof Intervention in a System (see figure below)13. Oftenthese dynamics manifest at levels other than those atwhich they originate: a common property of complexadaptive systems. They may over time gather momen-tum and become self-reinforcing, and in turn becomestructural features that shape the available choices andhence behaviour of agents in the system. This creates sit-uations of lock-in to highly undesirable states - such asthe linked technological, institutional and political bar-riers to decarbonisation of industrialised economies14 –and likelihoods that these propagate as path dependen-cies built in to new or rapidly changing systems15. Lack-ing simple resolution or even problem definition, mostcomplex sustainability issues take the form of ‘wickedproblems’, intractable to causal analysis and imperviousto concrete remedies16.

PLAST addresses this by bringing together scien-tists from many different fields of systemsresearch to explore, discover and capture com-mon patterns of systemic behaviour. A patternin a system is here broadly referred to as ‘a com-mon feature, system behaviour, structure or func-tion […] that can be observed across multiplecontexts’17 and can be used for revealing informa-tion on processes18. Research areas such as digitalstudies, cognitive technologies, social and culturalstudies, game theory, complexity theory and resilience

theory have identified many common systemic pat-terns of this type, but often represent them in dif-ferent ways. We will identify these recurring pat-terns across disciplines and research fields andtheir contexts of manifestation and forms ofexpression in different domains of sustainabilityand under diverse conditions. This will improvegeneral understanding of system dynamics andtheir relation to sustainability, and help bridgelanguages across sustainability domains by pro-viding a common ontological and epistemologi-cal thread. The objective is to produce a sys-temic pattern language that will be tested,refined and connected to the knowledge ofcommunities of practice, and operationalised inthe digital platform.

T A K I N G A H A C K E R ’ S

A P P R O A C H T O

S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y

C H A L L E N G E S

A simple summary of ourcore approach is that it isabout learning to takethings apart in order tounderstand the relation-ships between compo-nents and build somethingnew. This is the essence ofa hacker’s approach:“The large part of thecomplexity and opacity weare faced with is that itneutralises political action.There is […] a large dif-fuse body of people whocan’t really articulatewhat they don’t like aboutthe [financial] system andhow to change it […] Iused the hacker ethicsanalogy and framework[…] It involves exploringsomething to see it not as a

thing, but as a set of interacting components. Hacking is fig-uring out the internal impulse of things to figure them out.But the important question with the hacker approach iswhat are you aiming to achieve with this impulse.”19

Here we take a similar approach, identifying systemicpatterns that capture perceived relationships and behav-iour and linking them to design patterns that commu-nicate possible courses of concrete action in specificcontexts. Design patterns, especially when located innetworks of inter-relationships as pattern languages,


FIGURE 2 ~ Donella Meadow’s leverage points for systemic change.

can efficiently capture interacting components of sit-uations, practices or systems and their underlyingdynamics. Use of pattern languages has become stan-dard practice in object-oriented programming, wherepatterns are a format for exchange and reproduction ofbuilding blocks among experts20. They are now increas-ingly used by communities for collaborative creation, asa medium of narrative and conversation based on obser-vation and experience that encourages creative thinkingand creative action21.The value of using patterns as units of knowledge andpattern languages to describe their contexts of applica-tion is manifold, as they: ~ Reveal domain specific tacit knowledge, allowing itto be understood, unpacked, and recomposed toaddress specific challenges and needs.~ Build a language format upon which communitiesof practice can share experience.~ Facilitate the socialization and recombination ofknowledge (ultimately resulting in hyper-productive,learning and knowledge-creating communities).~ Provide a conduit to externalise tacit knowledgeenabling translation and transfers between domains ofaction and the circulation of knowledge acrossdomains.~ Provide a web of ‘readable’ possibilities peoplecan explore.~ Allow knowledge to be stored and retrieved,and for this reason extend collective intelligence.~ Articulate fundamental design principles toguide holistic/life-serving applications in a givendomain (such as systemic transformation andsustainability), with each principle able to bemanifested in diverse ways.~ Structure educational curricula (in this casefor systemic transformation and sustainability).Pattern languages are emancipatory tools, inother words, because they bring to light knowl-edge and understanding about the system that isnormally hidden from view and which, whenconsciously articulated, allows people to proposeand act upon ways to transform their situation22.We will support the communities involved in ouruse cases to ‘hack’ or decode sustainability issuesand alternative practices in their domains ofaction, using the systemic patterns produced in thetheoretical foundations research part of the project,and to encode these issues and practices into pat-terns (connectable, exchangeable formats) them-selves. This will provide users with the capacity toexplore, share and compare patterns and pattern lan-guages (i.e. codified tacit knowledge) from a variety

of sustainability domains. These capacities will inturn be enounced in the platform objectives andbuilt into the platform.

I D E N T I F Y I N G U N D E R L Y I N G

S Y S T E M S D Y N A M I C S I N

S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y D O M A I N S

The community-based research part of the pro-ject will focus on various application domainsand subdomains to record and analyse commu-nities’ creative and discovery processes, inorder to answer the following questions: ~ How do communities of practice apprehendand talk about systemic phenomena (the sus-tainability challenges they face or the underly-ing dynamics they identify) in their domain?How do they observe, interpret observationsand make hypotheses? ~ How do they explore and design solutions toaddress these problems in their respective domainsand how do they document both problems andsolutions? ~ What are the systemic invariants and their mani-festation/expression in the various domains? ~ What socio-cognitive and contextual heuristicvariables and operators can be drawn from thestudy of domain and subdomains exploration anddesign processes? ~ What lies at the intersections among domains andamong modes of exploration and perception?We will derive from these data a semantic structure anda pattern language structure that will accommodateexisting pattern languages and enable operationalizationof exploration of possibilities, systemic inquiry and col-lective interpretation into a digital tool, which will bemodelled into a semantic and system inquiry tool.Pattern languages are already in use in many differentareas of sustainability, including bioregional develop-ment23, community action on climate change24, the Tran-sition movement of community-based sustainability ini-tiatives25, permaculture’s approach to designing sustain-able human habitats26, as well as other human interactionand action domains such as learning, collaboration, co-creation, innovation, and conflict resolution27. The PLAST

pattern data structure will bring together these differentlanguages, mediate among them, and help create newones. In this way, it will reveal how sustainabilitydomains can act as intersecting clusters of closely relatedlanguages, forming an ecosystem of ideas and whereagents complement each other in generating societalchange. The domains and subdomains of applicationwe will work with as use cases will act like vectors intothe diverse semantic spaces of action for sustainability


and social change. This will allow connections tomanifest, usage of the tool to spread, and ultimatelysupport localised (spatially and/or conceptually)efforts to coalesce into emergent systemic effects athigher levels.Use case collaborations will operate in four domains,and at their areas of intersection and overlap:1 ~ TECHNO-SOCIAL

2 ~ SOCIO-ECONOMIC

3 ~ SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL

4 ~ STIGMERGETIC

T E C H N O - S O C I A L

In the techno-social domain, circulation of knowledge isessential for individuation, empowering individuals,building capacity and promoting collective intelligence28.The network effect has the potential to accelerate the cir-culation of knowledge and the expression of collectiveintelligence for the benefit of society as a whole. Con-versely, in certain configurations it leads to monopolyformation and the capture of collective intelligence bycommercial interests. In such environments, con-formist pressures are enhanced by algorithms thatinfluence choice and may undermine behaviouraldiversity29. Algorithms play an increasingly significantrole in shaping human behaviour and system dynam-ics, and their effects must be monitored30. PLAST canhelp communities identify those configurations andbetter prevent the threats they may entail.In this domain, we will follow the work ofAntoinette Rouvroy on algorithm intentionalityand governance31,32 and explore the structures anddynamics affecting choice and agency in the digi-tal space. Key use case partners in this domainare Ars Industrialis, a community of citizensinterested in industrial policy and technologiesof the mind and matters related to the future ofthe web in conjunction with the “web we want”W3C initiative, and the Digital DIY H2020 pro-ject focusing on the transformations generatedby the increasing social adoption of atoms-bitsconvergence, and its implications on ethics andthe legal system. The goal is to work with thetechnology community to develop annotationcapability, protocols for categorizing intentions,and learning material on technosocial implica-tions of algorithmic computations and theirdysfunctional effects in order to help generatepositive dynamics.

S O C I O - E C O N O M I C

In the socio-economic domain, business and gov-ernance structures and models have variousimpacts: on the circulation and accumulation ofresources, money and intangible values; on forms of

work and realization of individual and collectivepotential; and on the capacity for people and com-munities to generate livelihoods. For example,combination of decentralised energy generationwith distributed monitoring and control via ‘smartgrid’ technology may be the technological basisfor an ‘energy commons’ under the control of cit-izen producer-consumers, or it may entrench thepower of large market players with vested inter-ests in the status quo33. The two may look andsound similar in their natural language descrip-tion, but have quite different impacts on empow-erment, revenue retention, and other factorsaffecting the long term sustainability of thecommunity. PLAST will help communities evalu-ate possible outcomes and the likelihood of amodel to achieve its intents. Key use case partners in this domain are the P2PFoundation, a global network of researchers andactivists focusing on peer production and partic-ipatory modes of governance, and members ofthe ECOLISE network of community-based sus-tainability initiatives active at policy level. Theywill create patterns for policy and activity modelsoriented towards commoning, transitions to sus-tainability, commons based peer production, andsustainable living. The goal is to provide policymakers and social entrepreneurs with the buildingblocks, pathways to generative sustainable systems,and related inquiry approaches that will help themidentify and share knowledge to design game chang-ing policy and organizational models.

S O C I O - E N V I R O N M E N T A L

In the socio-environmental domain, the choices peoplemake in terms of lifestyles, production and consumption(food, energy, other resources) affect environmental foot-prints, resilience and thrivability, and ultimately humanprosperity, relationships and well-being. PLAST will sup-port community-scale inquiry into relationships amongthese choices and their effects, for example to identifyhow to balance efficiency and resilience and so access the‘window of viability’ of a solution34. This can help com-munities address sustainability issues and make informedtrade-offs without getting stuck in polarised positionsand other unproductive social patterns.In this domain, we will work with projects and initiativesof members of ECOLISE, the network of European Com-munity-Led Initiatives for a Sustainable Europe; sustain-ability education initiatives involving Global Action PlanInternational (GAP) and other sustainability educationorganisations; and Initiative Homes, a social enterprisesupporting community-led housing initiatives thatemphasise sustainability and social justice goals. Thegoal is to support processes of collective learning at


community levels that can support meaningful actionfor social change, via education, awareness-raising, andreconfiguration of basic structures for production andconsumption to satisfy human and environmental needs.Potential use cases within the ECOLISE include its policy-level activity (intersecting with the socio-economicdomain), its internal operations as a network (such ascommunication mechanisms and decision-makingprocesses), specific projects of member initiatives (such asthe Italian national Transition Hub), and educational pro-jects in which several member organisations are alreadyusing pattern languages (Global Ecovillage Network, GaiaUniversity, and the German Permaculture Institute).

S T I G M E R G E T I C D O M A I N S

Commons based peer production projects involve amechanism of indirect coordination between agents oractions, which is stigmergetic by nature. The principleof stigmergy is that the trace left in the environment byan action stimulates the performance of a next action,by the same or a different agent35. In that way, subse-quent actions tend to reinforce and build on eachother, leading to the spontaneous emergence ofcoherent activity. This is how open source productionoperates, with the common co-produced artefactopenly accessible for peers to further build on36. Stig-mergetic projects require both the whole (the com-mons being developed) and the ‘traces’ (new con-tributions, needs or opportunities) to be madeaccessible, visible, intelligible and actionable at thecollective as well as the individual level so thatpeople can engage in an optimal way37.We will work with the Digital DIY project involvedin studying the impacts of the digital do-it-yourselfsocio-technological phenomenon on open designand hardware communities, the P2P foundation,the Open Knowledge Foundation and more tobuild a pattern portfolio on peer production anddigital commons that will help communitiesmake their open and commons-based peer pro-duction projects more effective.

L E V E R A G I N G T H E

E F F E C T I V E N E S S O F P A T T E R N

L A N G U A G E S A S N E T W O R K S O F

I D E N T I F I A B L E A N D T R A N S F E R A B L E

E L E M E N T S O F D E S I G N

At the conceptual level, PLAST draws significantlyupon the pattern language approach pioneered byChristopher Alexander, which integrates conceptsand approaches from a variety of fields includingsystems thinking, design thinking, and actionresearch. It consists of a methodology to generateAlexander’s ‘quality without a name’, based on the

generation and use of patterns as generic, flexibleencodings of possible desirable transformations in asystem, and pattern languages as systematicallyorganized collections of all patterns relevant to aparticular domain. As dynamic entities that sup-port on-going exploration of generative possibili-ties, patterns and pattern languages are not fixedbut constantly reinvented through use in practi-cal contexts, leaving space for interpretation anddiscovery of new patterns and relationships andemergence of co-created solutions38. They thusfit the need for a more dynamic, process-orient-ed ‘Transition Design’ approach consistent withthe wicked nature of sustainability problems39.Alexander, the first to formalize the concept ofpattern language, sought to understand howdesign forms arise as solutions adapted to specificconfigurations of problems, which can then begeneralized for other similar uses. He observedthat complex systems could be partly decomposedinto recognizable subsystems bound by strongforces (the systemic patterns) inter-related throughweaker links, which could be treated as recombin-able units (the design pattern) within design mod-els, following grammar-like rules40. By making visi-ble previously covert processes and the tacit knowl-edge that underlies them, a pattern language pro-vides a common vocabulary for design, bringingcommunication on designing into existence andopening up new channels of communication andunderstanding41.In practical terms, Alexander defines a pattern as athree part construct. First comes the ‘context’, the con-ditions under which the pattern holds. Next is a ‘sys-tem of forces’. In many ways it is natural to think of thisas the ‘problem’ or ‘goal’. The third part is the ‘solution’;a configuration that balances the system of forces orsolves the problems presented. This definition42 rein-forces the distinction between the ‘system as a whole’ – aholistic description of a concrete phenomenon in relationto its emergent properties - described by design patterns –and the ‘generative system’, or set of organic processes outof which any phenomenon emerges, described by sys-temic patterns43. PLAST will make explicit and examine therelationships among systemic patterns, the focus of itstheoretical foundation research, and the design patternsrevealed and generated in community-based research,which will be built into the platform design.

A N H E R M E N E U T I C A P P R O A C H T O

S Y S T E M I C I N Q U I R Y : P A T T E R N S

A N D P A T T E R N L A N G U A G E S A S

R E P R E S E N T A T I O N A N D

I N T E R P R E T A T I O N M E D I A

PLAST seeks to tool the praxis and evolution of collec-tive sense-making and action towards sustainable


design within a knowledge ecosystem that includesdiverse logics of understanding and engagement,each with its own languages and cognitive prefer-ences. It recognises that this diversity is not onlyinevitable, and desirable for its own sake44: it under-stands plurality of outlook and action as vital foraddressing complex sustainability issues. However, italso recognises that not all outlooks and actions areequally true, valid, morally sound, or effective. By mak-ing use of patterns and pattern languages as media ofinterpretation, it will seek to reconcile difference withinterconnection, inclusiveness with discernment, and sohelp activate collective awareness to its fullest potential,not reduce it to its lowest common denominator. PLAST therefore adopts a hermeneutic approach to obser-vation/representation, interpretation, design and action.A hermeneutic approach seeks to understand rather thanexplain. It acknowledges the situated nature of all inter-pretations and therefore accepts and values a plurality ofperspectives on and points of entry into a topic. It rec-ognizes that language and history both allow and limitunderstanding (see the pharmacological approachbelow), views interpretation as conversation, and iscomfortable with ambiguity. Project partner IRI’sapproach to hermeneutic inquiry facilitates discussionand seeks to record points of divergence from andconvergence towards categories and networks of cate-gories in scientific disciplines. PLAST will extend thisto analysis of conceptual models and the ways theyare reflected in patterns and pattern languages. Inthis way, it will make it applicable to grassrootsdesign and action, extending hermeneutics fromthe conceptual to the phenomenological and per-formative domains, furthering the work of theDigital Studies Network45. The wicked and multifaceted nature of most sus-tainability challenges lends itself to a hermeneu-tic approach46. Their complexity often entertainsambiguity, preventing the adoption of clear-cutproblem-solution approaches: trade-offs mustbe made, and any course of action monitoredfor unforeseen effects. A solution in one contextcan turn out to be a problem in a different con-text, or become a problem as conditionschange47. Economic growth, for example, reliablycontributes to improved standards of well-beingin a context of poverty, but beyond a certain levelof material affluence drives increasing depletionof environmental resources for no discernible ben-efit48. A network effect empowering participatorydynamics may become lock-in to proprietaryplatforms in the context of the web49. A solutionor practice that is desirable and sustainable atmoderate levels may become a problem at higherintensities. For example AirBnB – an apparent suc-cess in the sharing economy that contributes to

diversification of individual incomes – has alsoinflated local property prices and costs of staplegoods, making life unaffordable for residents ofpopular city centre destinations50. Similar forms ofcontext-dependence can also be seen in relation topoints of view, interpretations of a situation, andapproaches to action. Hermeneutics enables multi-level inquiry throughwhich this context-dependence can be understoodand assessed. It allows the phenomenon underinvestigation (a situation, a practice, an alternative,a pattern…) to be evaluated in two main ways: inrelation to its systemic features and their conse-quences, and in relation to its maturity. Such eval-uation allows categorization of the phenomenonand its properties in terms of attributed status orquality (problem/solution, desirable/undesirable,functional/dysfunctional…). Systemic evaluation focuses on the systemiccharacteristics of the pattern, changes in its con-figuration, and anticipated effects under desig-nated conditions. These identify how sustainableor how functional/dysfunctional it may be orbecome – as illustrated in the examples describedabove. To accommodate this type of inquiry, the

PLAST pattern language structure and ontology willsupport scenarios to allow evaluation of a pattern interms of its sustainability under various conditionsand in diverse contexts. PLAST will assist changeagents in communities to decode (interpret and/orarticulate) and encode (model and prototype) sys-temic phenomena and possibilities into patterns. Thiswill operationalize Bernard Stiegler’s concept of Phar-makon (the technique or solution being at the sametime a cure and a poison, meaning that for problemsolving to be effective it must take the form of an on-going reflexive inquiry)51.Evaluation of the ‘maturity’ of a pattern might address thecompleteness of its analysis, interpretation, description,understanding, design, or applicability (as Wikipedia doesfor its pages, for example). Does the content of the patternreflect and empower a meaningful systemic inquiry andinterpretation of a situation, practice, alternative? Does itaccommodate sufficient perspectives or points of view forthe design to ‘stabilize’ and evolve in an appropriate man-ner, and for people to expand the horizons of their explo-ration and understanding? Have points of convergenceand divergence relevant to making trade-offs or under-standing relational dynamics been identified? PLAST will undertake such an hermeneutic enquiry inorder to capture multiple perspectives and scenarios.Outcomes from this, along with new observationsfrom further research or experience over the course ofthe project, will feed back into pattern design andeventually into the pattern structure and ontology.


These feedback loops will be maintained through-out the project and built into the on-going opera-tion of the platform beyond the funded period, as aninbuilt mechanism for incremental evolution of pat-terns. PLAST will thus, as one of its major features, ini-tiate an autopoietic approach, driving learning andexpansion of collective awareness through an on-goingdesign approach that perpetually regenerates the condi-tions for its own continuation52. Methodologies for col-laboratively identifying and formulating patterns, thestructure of patterns, and their inter-relationships with-in pattern languages (semantic organization) will derivefrom community-based research on the use case topicsdetailed above, and will be modelled for its operational-ization in the platform.A hermeneutic approach to support exploration anddevelopment of patterns and pattern languages willachieve the following:~ Provide users with the capacity to interpret, discussand articulate sustainability challenges and sustainablepractices in systemic and dynamic terms.~ Allow assessment of the ‘systemic’ sustainability ofpractices and perceived dynamics.~ Support documentation and reprocessing of discus-sions and field experienceto keep the data alive andgrow the commons ofsustainability knowledgeas the ‘memory’ of collec-tive intelligence in action.

F O S T E R I N G

E X P L O R A T I O N

A N D D I S C O V E R Y

B Y M O D E L L I N G

C R E A T I V E

D E S I G N

P R O C E S S E S :P A T T E R N S A N D

P A T T E R N

L A N G U A G E S A S

D I S C O V E R Y

M E D I A

PLAST seeks to provide atool for the explorationof the social change possibility space, takingadvantage of the dual status of pattern languagesas media for both communication and discovery.If communication is essential to the formation ofunderstanding, discovery is essential to the forma-tion of awareness. In this sense we can see thePLAST platform as an Internet of actionable knowl-edge for awareness, decision-making and action onsustainability, enabling navigation among patterns

and pattern languages across domains and so foster-ing discovery. A user should be able to enter the sys-tem at any point and from there explore it, discov-ering new possibilities and moving from familiardomains of practice to new territories of under-standing and action. In order to ensure this, com-munity-based research focuses on modelling cre-ative design processes in order to build the find-ings into the design of the platform.The creative process consists of a sequence ofdiscoveries; it includes observation, interpreta-tion, hypothesis formation, method selection,problem identification, problem solving, andultimately innovation and action. Discoveriesresult from associations of ideas. Collaborationthus drives creativity by encouraging genera-tion of a sequence of new associations andtherefore discoveries beyond those accessible tothe individual mind working in isolation. Thecreative processes underlying innovation andnovel action are thus structurally coupled withprocesses of individual development of con-sciousness and awareness (psychology), andprocesses of communication within and amonggroups (sociology)53.

Connections beyond individual minds, such as thoseenabled by the Internet and the hyperlink, have expo-nentially increased the potential for discovery of ideasand knowledge. In a similar way, by facilitating cre-ation and use of design patterns that encapsulate tacitknowledge in interoperable formats, supported byinsights on systemic consequences, PLAST, focusingon the ergonomics of the technical tools that willaccompany the practitioners and their practice, will


FIGURE 3 ~ Coupling of creative, psychic, and social systems54.

generate added potential for discovery of actionableknowledge and therefore for action.When change agents analyse situations and co-createsolutions in real world contexts, each stage of the co-modelling process involves questioning and draws onmultiple modes of perception and exploration. Duringthe research phase, we will document and model collab-orative processes of pattern interpretation (decoding ofperceived patterns) and design (encoding of pattern rep-resentation). We will analyse and evaluate several facilita-tion methodologies and human action pattern lan-guages55. On this basis, we will create prototype workshopformats, to be piloted during the project and employedthereafter. Workshops will both facilitate the researchprocess and allow documentation of the various processesthrough which groups explore possibilities and co-createnew ideas. This will inform the design of a semantic struc-ture and an orientation engine in the platform’s userinterface that will include query, visualization and naviga-tion features that enable exploration and discovery.

The goal is to enable users to navigate in thecreative environment: query, explore, and playwith elements forming structure, space andmovement, and so explore perspectives, limitsand boundaries through inquiry. The wholeprocess enables the appreciation of multiplepathways and co-created solutions while ensur-ing systemic coherence and allowing systematicorganization of knowledge in the pattern reposi-tory. PLAST will provide users with the capacity tomake connections among patterns and navigateacross domains within the sustainability space. Thenetwork formed through the common underlying

dynamics that connect patterns will enable users toexplore possibilities and cross-pollination opportu-nities, bringing to life the ‘adjacent possible’ pro-posed by Stuart Kauffman: “The strange and beau-tiful truth about the adjacent possible is that itsboundaries grow as you explore them. Each newcombination opens up the possibility of other newcombinations. Think of it as a house that magicallyexpands with each door you open. You begin in aroom with four doors, each leading to a new roomthat you haven’t visited yet. Once you open one ofthose doors and stroll into that room, three newdoors appear, each leading to a brand-new roomthat you couldn’t have reached from your originalstarting point. Keep opening new doors and even-tually you’ll have built a palace.”57

The Johari Window58 (FIGURE 5) opens up on self-awareness and shared discovery of the unknown,to expand the boundaries of our perception. Dis-cussions generated in the process of taking ‘the

system’ apart to betterunderstand interactionsand their combinedeffects help gain a betterview of the whole. Anapproach akin to cartog-raphy where one explorersets the contours of anew continent for othersto discover and morefinely describe.To sum up, at the con-ceptual level, PLAST

bridges thesystemic/expe-riential/action sphere (thedynamics at play; thestructures, agents, rela-tionships involved) andthe semantic/conceptu-a l /psycho-cogni t ivesphere (how we talkabout these dynamics

and co-create solutions across boundaries), with thetechnics (tools that will help people find the right infor-mation, co-create and exchange knowledge, betterunderstand each other’s language and learn about sys-temic phenomena) in a reflexive manner. In this way, itwill increase problem solving capability and the scopefor dissemination of new concepts and practices. Inother words, PLAST provides interpretation tools andinteroperability across sustainability areas to allowgroups with different outlooks, languages and goals toexplore the possibility space and describe systemic phe-nomena in a mutually comprehensible way. Sharedunderstanding allows reflection upon solutions and


FIGURE 4 ~ The overview of experience mining, experience analyses,and experience visualisation with patterns56.

the prototyping, sharing, reproduction, maintenanceand on-going development of effective practice acrossdomains, supporting the design, learning and dissemi-nation goals of change agents within communities ofpractice on the ground.

D E S I G N I N G T H E P L A T F O R M

F O R S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y

The platform will be designed to enable the formu-lation, management and development of patternsand pattern languages by the user communitieswho authored them. It will incorporate a contrib-utory model, whereby different user communitieswill have their own local pattern repositories,integrated into a commons repository. Othercommunities will be able to work on copies ofpatterns transferred from the commons repositoryand later propose that their changes be re-incor-porated into the commons repository. An evalu-ation and validation process will determine thecriteria (based on pattern maturity) for inclu-sion of patterns in the commons repository andmodalities for their merging and categorization.The evaluation tool and its user interface will be akey feature of PLAST. Governance of the processesfor assessing pattern maturity and adding newpatterns to the repository will be agreed withuser communities.The project will build on existing software toproduce a pilot that can incrementally develop,scale and synthesize collective experiences ofsolutioning processes as catalysts of collectiveawareness. The PatternPedia system60 for authoring patternsand pattern languages of Stuttgart University’s

Institute of Architectureof Application Systems isthe basis for the develop-ment of the PLAST patternrepository. PatternPediais built on the MediaWi-ki platform using seman-tic extensions, and is con-figured to provide anextensible set of semanticrelationships betweenpatterns. The platformwill hold a scalable num-ber of domains and sup-port multiple perspec-tives, formalizations, log-ics, vocabularies andontologies, to maximisecontact and cross-pollina-tion among disciplines.

The PLAST platform will also support thehermeneutic process of pattern formulation andevaluation, to assess the maturity of a pattern andlead to ‘meta-stabilisation’ of collective points ofview forming one or more cohesive bodies of theo-retical data, with tools and practices enabling ‘trace-ability’ of interpretations. The hermeneutic patternformulation and evaluation tool will integrate adap-tations of Fraunhofer’s pattern evolution system, suchas implemented in the BRIDGE FP7 project61, and IRI’s‘categorisation’ process, such as implemented in thePolemic Tweet tool to reveal controversies aroundevents on Twitter62. The hermeneutic pattern formula-tion and evaluation tool should enable a change agentor community to design patterns and pattern languagesfrom their own practice and to put them up for discus-sion, allowing comparison with similarly designed pat-terns, and with patterns and pattern languages in otherdomains of practice. The tool will allow tracking of thepattern inquiry and interpretation discussions in real timeusing supporting visualization of controversies and dis-cussions that can be traced in a platform similar toWikipedia’s (versioning and history of exchanges)63.It is essential to design the platform to reflect users’practices and fit their operational needs. To achieve thisgoal, we will co-design the tools with user communitiesin a LEAN/AGILE approach and integrate their feedback,stressing cognitive ergonomics and ease of use in orderto empower the practitioners and not add technicalconstraints. The needs and findings uncovered in thecourse of the user-centred research, which can not beentirely foreseen, will drive the IT pilot’s developmentin an agile manner. Requirements concerning federa-tion of patterns from several repository instanceshave to reconcile governance of knowledge in the


FIGURE 5 ~ The Johari Window59.

common and integrated repository and the need fordata autonomy in the federated repositories. Sodevelopment is tightly coupled with user communi-ties’ needs, implemented iteratively and responsive touser feedback. To ensure the sustainability of the PLAST platformbeyond the project’s duration its development andutilization have to take into account the followingpoints64:1 ~ The PLAST platform is generative of knowledge.To ensure that the PLAST platform is used beyond theduration of the PLAST project it has to accrue significantvisibility and volume of content during the projectphase. It has to enable generation and derivation of newknowledge based on the hosted patterns, pattern lan-guages and debates, and to ensure that user communi-ties can maintain this knowledge.2 ~ PLAST platform is generative of an open sourceecosystem.To ensure the sustainability of the PLAST platform fromthe technical and development perspective the projectaims to attract a community of developers, in particu-lar those who tool communities of social change, inorder to create a whole ecosystem of features besidesmaintenance of the platform and contributions tothe contents. Therefore, we will involve open sourcedevelopers very early in the project, provide theplatform as open source, and present it at computerscience research conferences and hackathons toraise its profile among open source developers. Bythese means developers interested in the platformwill be invited to contribute to its developmentor to create new features to extend its capabilitiesin order to support community specific func-tionality, with possibilities to spread the use ofthe platform to other communities. This followsthe example of Wikipedia, where editors workin collaboration with open source Wikimediadevelopers to provide increasingly effectiveediting capability.3 ~ The PLAST platform is generative of liveli-hood.The PLAST platform has to maintain high levelsof activity among users and producers of itscontent in order to ensure positive feedbacksbetween content generation and successfulapplications in practice, and eventual escalationto a point at which it can support new roles andpractices that generate revenue. Thus, the PLAST

platform seeks to establish a lively community todevelop and refine its content further. Theparagons for this aspect are open source move-ments such as Linux coupled with Git, whichshows how federated work can be integrated into apowerful system generative of livelihood.

C O N C L U S I O N

PLAST advances systemic transformation in the fol-lowing areas: ~ CONCEPTUAL: PLAST defines and operationalizes‘sustainability’ using systemic patterns andhermeneutic supports that accommodate andintegrate diverse perspectives from multiplesustainability domains and communities ofpractice, providing tools that allow these per-spectives to operate coherently, synergisticallyand systemically.~ INTELLECTUAL: PLAST supports collaborationamong diverse scientific fields and areas ofpractical application to provide new interdisci-plinary and transdisciplinary perspectives. ~ KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION, COLLECTION AND

CIRCULATION: PLAST leverages pattern languagesas a format and protocol for the exchange ofsustainability knowledge and practical know-how between and amongst theoreticians andpractitioners by providing tools for document-ing, compiling, evaluating, revising, integrating,synthesising, applying and sharing knowledgefrom different areas and across different fields ofapplication. PLAST semantically structures patternsusing concepts from systems theory to createopportunities for cross domain engagement, sur-passing existing tools for activating and developingcollective knowledge and capacity for action.~ PROCESS AND CONTINUITY: PLAST ’s transdisciplinaryaction learning approach, using intentions and moni-toring outcomes, allows more on-going/thorough/sys-tematic testing of patterns and pattern languages thanbefore. Embedding PLAST in communities of practiceand providing operational data to theoreticians ensuresits continuity beyond the lifetime of the funded project.~ RESOURCES: PLAST leverages knowledge, resources andcapacities across domains of action creating an novelecosystem of navigable, evidence based, practical applica-tions of theoretical knowledge which in turn becomesinformed by and evolves with practice. Patterns, patternlanguages, relationships and categories all become sharedresources, subject to debate and evolution. The debatesand discussion are also categorized, becoming a resourcein their own right for the development of the patternlanguages and theories of change~ CONNECTING PRACTICE DOMAINS: PLAST brings togetherand activates wide communities of practice: local com-munities, social change activists, knowledge managers,sustainability educators, policy makers, and practi-tioners of pattern languages, systems thinking andorganizational change, to create a knowledge com-mons upon which to build practice.


The platform will structurally support a systemic,pluralistic view of challenges, conditions and solu-tions, and support operationalisations that embedobservation, orientation, monitoring and discussionin pathways to action. It draws upon the directengagement of diverse communities of practice inassembling its elements via collaborative processes thatwill embed systemic cross-domain connections in itsframework in a way that makes them accessible to users.This allows the transfer of practices across contexts andmaintains active flows of knowledge, reinforcing andmodulating relationships, directly affecting awareness,engagement and action. The result will be a genuineknowledge commons65: a dynamic set of openly accessi-ble knowledge and associated practices that support theactivities of user communities, who in the course of theiruse collaboratively maintain and develop both its con-tent and its technical features, bringing about systemicchange in practice.

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53 Iba, Ibid.54 Iba, Ibid.55 e.g., Iba, T. (2014). Collaboration Patterns: A Pattern Lan-

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57 Johnson, S. (2010). “The genius of the Tinkerer”, TheWall Street Journal <http://on.wsj.com/1pGCUOf>[Accessed 5 April 2015].

58 <http://bit.ly/1K8dMt1> [Accessed 5 April 2015].59 Copyright Alan Chapman 2003 <http://www.busi-

nessballs.com> [Accessed 5 May 2015].60 Fehling, Christoph; Barzen, Johanna; Falkenthal,

Michael; Leymann, Frank: PatternPedia - CollaborativePattern Identification and Authoring, in Proceedings of Pur-suit of Pattern Languages for Societal Change - PreparatoryWorkshop 2014.

61 <http://bit.ly/1K8dQc9> [Accessed 5 April 2015].62 <http://bit.ly/1FaqK58> [Accessed 5 April 2015].63 Note the EU <contropedia.net> project, a platform

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