Patterns are nouns. Typically, they are identifiable things, which emerge, or are created, to resolve a set of pressures or problems. They are typically GENERIC ... they have emerged before, although usually in a unique way, adapted for the particulars of a situation. And for our purposes, patterns are GOOD. (An anti-pattern (-) is BAD.) And patterns should be GOOD for the WHOLE system. The SCALE at which they should be applied as a solution should also be clear. It should be clear at which STAGE of development they should emerge. They should also just be RIGHT: i.e. a pattern should make sense both to your head and your heart.

Here you'll see me generally aiming at finding GRADIENTS of patterns, because, to me, patterns are most useful when collected into SEQUENCES.

Note that a blog certainly doesn't have the right kind of order for this work. What I have here is essentially "scratch paper", or "working papers", for patterns which themselves will eventually be presented as a gradient, in order. Of course, that kind of webapp is a pattern: "GRADIENT SEQUENCE".

Blog

People want to record their impressions.

A weblog is a diary, but it is also journalism, in the original sense of that "published daily". It can be investigative journalism, because the investigation itself can be published on a daily basis, and the ongoing story can attract readers, and fund further investigation.

The immediacy of a journal, or a diary, is what makes the writing & reading of weblogs so attractive. Of course, it's as vulnerable to spin and mendacity as any other form of publishing. But when done honestly, it is the opposite of dry reporting of official pronouncements.

The reasons that "the blog" became successful, and is a web pattern, is that it serves a very critical personal need: to just get your thoughts down, so they aren't lost. Other web patterns will also serve such critical & personal needs. There are untapped patterns, in many other realms. In the sense that the weblog was a generic use of the web years before "blogs" became a web service, is an important consideration in mining patterns from the web, and in anticipating future successes.

by Greg Bryant Saturday, January 08, 2005 3:33 PM

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