Pattern Languages

Birgitt Williams birgitt at mindspring.com
Thu Jun 26 15:18:51 PDT 2003


Michael,

the article you wrote in your notebook at http://www.globalchicago.net.
regarding Christopher Alexander 's work and complexity and our understanding
of it in OST is exceptionally good. Well done and thank you!

in the earlier days of the list, some of us participated in a discussion of
Christopher Alexander's work and the relationship that we saw with what
happened in OST. There may be something in the archives of interest to you.

 I too was very much influenced by his work (thanks to landscape architect
Virginia Burt)  and my thinking about OST. There is important foundational
material for me in his book of Pattern Language and his book The Timeless
Way of Building. Both are in our bibliography for the Genuine Contact
program.  Pg 101 from the Timeless Way, in his chapter on Patterns which are
alive "The specific patterns out of which a building or town is made may be
alive or dead. To the extent that they are alive, they let our inner forces
loose, and set us free; but when they are dead they keep us locked in inner
conflict."

And now an excerpt from a piece I have been writing about the Conscious Open
Space Organization:
"What is a Conscious Open Space Organization?
A Conscious Open Space Organization is alive, knows that it is alive, and
chooses to nurture and strengthen its life for optimal performance. It is
able to make the most of its resources including its great potential,
infinite possibilities, wisdom from intellectual and intuitive knowledge,
self managed work and work/project teams, inspiration, creativity,
solutions, innovations, imagination, inspiration, insights, resolution,
commitment, and focused action.  It creates focal points and the space
needed for Spirit to do its work and the people to develop mastery with
their work. It uses a blending of simple methods and frameworks to assist in
creating the focal points and space for optimal performance. These simple
methods and frameworks are easy to learn and are duplicable throughout the
organization.

Every Conscious Open Space Organization is different and has different
amounts of evident open space for potential and possibilities to be worked
with. In some, such as a necessarily hierarchical organization such as the
police or military, the Conscious Open Space Organization has minimal
evidence of where the space for inspiration is open. In others, there are
very few “givens” or constraints, and the evident amount of space open for
inspiration, innovation and so on is large."

And Reinhard, congratulations on your birthday of Visuelle Protokolle

Blessings to you and to all with whom you make Genuine Contact,
Birgitt
Birgitt  Williams of Dalar International Consultancy
http://www.dalarinternational.com <http://www.dalarinternational.com/>
Mentoring for Organizational Effectiveness
view the calendar for upcoming training at
http://www.openspacetechnology.com/training.html
<http://www.openspacetechnology.com/training.html>
We invite you to join the list serve at
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/genuinecontact
Mailing address: Po Box 19373, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA 27619 Raleigh,
North Carolina USA
Phone: 919-522-7750     Fax: 919-870-6599
"I believe that Spirit matters and people are precious. I know that
organizations incorporating these values have exciting, tangible results
including wealth, prosperity, and abundance. Daily, these organizations
attend to their health and balance. Participating in the Genuine Contact
program takes you on a learning journey of HOW to achieve the healthy and
balanced organization (the conscious Open Space Organization).”  Birgitt
Williams, Dalar International Consultancy




-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of
Visuelle Protokolle
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 6:10 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: AW: Pattern Languages


hi Michael and all,

what a surprise, and a double one!

Not only was Christopher Alexanders' work one of the most important
influences for my previous work as an architect and facility programmer (and
I translated big parts of 'A Pattern Language' into German) - and I used his
patterns for my work, especially for my second home in Tuscany Italy very
successfully -

but also - and that is nearer to my presence and to my heart - the theme of
patterns is directly connected with our present work as Visual Facilitators.

Two weeks ago we celebrated our fifth anniversary as VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE
with a little meeting for facilitators, customers and friends here in
Munich. We were happy that among other beautiful people David Sibbet,
president of the 'Grove Consultants International' in San Francisco, the
oldest and biggest company doing visual facilitation, came to visit us.

David stayed for another day of friendly talks and showing Munich. And then
he said: What you do with your drawings in a meeting is something  different
than what others do, and you should think of a new name for it! You draw,
what people say, and also what they do not say, but feel, and touch
something insides them, what makes things clear in a second, brings people
to a common understanding, and makes them smile, because you touched them in
their center.

He went on speaking about the brain and where we store words and pictures
and experiences, and then he took a pencil and wrote: A  B  C   and said:
that means ART   and  BUSINESS   and   CULTURAL REPATTERNING ! That is what
you do, he said. And he gave us something to chew on, I tell you.

I looked up the unknown word REPATTERNING in the web, and found it is used
for therapies, mainly 'Holographic Repatterning', a holistic approach, with
many links to Meditation, Bach Flowers, Yoga etc., and an International
Association.

And of course I thought of C. Alexanders Patterns immediately, and found out
that David knew about it.

Michael, in the texts you provide - what a gift for us, to prepare so many
links and ideas and treasures!!!! you cited Alexander with the word
'Reconfigure'. I wonder wether that's the same ...

I will dive into your treasures a lot more, I promise, and follow this
exiting thread with love and curiosity!

Reinhard

VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE
Kuchenmueller & Dr.Stifel

Munich Germany

Tel: +49-89-202 447 48

http://www.visuelle-protokolle.de



hi all...

anybody here on the list done any thinking about how ost syncs up with
the work on pattern languages and the nature of order by chris alexander
and the agile/xp software development crowd?

seems to directly parallel complexity and ost work we usually talk about
here.   i've written a paper on this today that is in the Notebook at
http://www.globalchicago.net.  the paper that gave rise to this paper of
mine is just fascinating, talking about using software, and the
"wholeness and life in it" as the basis for moving human attention in
the direction of creating a more Living World.  talk of Centers seems to
parallel what you have called Myth, Harrison.  design and development
process is labelled as self-preserving and self-enhancing transformation.

wondering if there aren't more bridges to be found here.  might be of
interest in the Plexus conversations.

michael herman

--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
300 West North Avenue #1105
Chicago IL 60610 USA
(312) 280-7838

http://www.michaelherman.com - consulting & publications
http://www.globalchicago.net - laboratory & playground
http://www.openspaceworld.org - worldwide open space

...inviting organization into movement

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