SocialSoftwareWiki - Design Patterns of Social Computing January 1, 2006
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Wiki , trackback‘Pattern Language’ is a phrase which crops up on wikis including the original Ward Cunningham one, and Tom Smith’s ecommerce wiki can seem a bit intimidating to the uninitiated. Are these people deliberately using a strange jargon in order to be exclusive and sound more clever than they are perhaps? Specialised jargon often comes in for such criticism but then specialists do need to communicate on their own level sometimes, and jargon is created by specialists in order to communicate more efficiently amongst themsleves, which is crucial for progress and development. All of this is really just a convoluted introduction to a link to a section of the Social Software and Computing Wiki, which Linda pointed out to me because of the Distributed Research section and blog. The section I’m referring to here is called Design Patterns of Social Computing, and exlains the whole concept of pattern language rather well:
Design patterns attempt to describe common, recurring problems. Patterns capture the essence of the problem and illustrate best practices and good designs to tackle them. Pattern languages also provide a common vocabulary that practioners and researches can use to discuss and explore their field. Here we attempt to identify the common patterns of social software.
Explore a little further in and we find a quote from the architect Christopher Alexander:
Each pattern describes a problem that occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice.
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is an online professional who initiated DARnet 
SocialSoftwareWiki - Design Patterns of Social Computing
[Source: DARnet] quoted: ”˜Pattern Language’ is a phrase which crops up on wikis including the original Ward Cunningham one, and Tom Smith’s ecommerce wiki can seem a bit intimidating to the uninitiated. Are these people deliberate…
Of course I’m trying to sound cleverer than I am, with my IQ I need to…
The “jargon” you mention is my attempt to propogate ideas within my company. Terms like “AlwaysHaveSomewhereToGoNext”… and “BestBets” become shorthand for what can be at times quite lengthy (if not complex) ideas.
And the ONLY way they’re gonna “stick” is if they are “catchy”… like DifferentChairs or WaistHighShelves or GreenFingers….