PatternSmiths,Architects,Engineers

From PatternSmithingAlliance

The act of expressing/manifesting a pattern into the world usually can be categorized as the work of an artisan, artificer, or an artist. The label of artisan is usually associated with a craftsperson or skilled worker who can usually do a standardized operation or piece together standardized operations to produce an instantiation of a desired template or a unique combination or evolution of previous templates. The label of artificer is usually associated with skilled devising, inventing, construction, design of something entirely new or a more complex derivation/transformation of previous creations (thus, implying a longer time scale) but will nonetheless become a template. The label of artist is usually associated with someone who has imagination and noticeable talent in a particular domain that can produce something (through sometimes more mysterious and less-defined processes) that may be described as aesthetically pleasing, unique, original, such that the concept of template is utterly meaningless – it is an individual act of willed creation.

• PatternSmiths will forge a static pattern into the physical, virtual, and/or cognitive domains based on their highly refined resonant language. The act of PatternSmithing itself will be shared by all three disciplines — and actually I dream of a day when every single person with knowledge, experience, and associated resonance in some language can be qualified as a PatternSmith of some type. The desire for ‘every person’s SPE’ that this represents doesn’t detract from the pattern-smithing role in the least or elevate the others; rather, if the engineering role does its job properly (see below), the vast array of fields (vocation[4]) and resonances possible will allow for everyone to become a skilled craftsperson to some degree or another. This fact in itself will confirm the success of the entire body of research and application for static pattern engineering — the patternsmithing is the application of the field.

• Static Pattern Architects will draw on many domains of knowledge, experience, and language to conceptualize and transmit the design for large scale projects that straddle the cognitive, virtual, and physical domains. Working closely with Static Pattern Engineers, an inspiring and innovative design will emerge that will be further improved by the design aspects of SPE’s processing and collaborational technology for identifying the larger context the creation exists in across all three domains as well as the resources that can improve its implementation and continued existence/evolution in aspects of each domain. Because the Architect is examining all three domains in the design, he or she is in fact working not only at a physical level (as we have currently with traditional architecture), nor at just a computerized level (as we have with software architecture), but at a cognitive level and considering -all- virtual manifestations (e.g., creation of a business model is virtual, or defining a set of publications, or designing ways of disseminating the requisite knowledge, etc.).

• Static Pattern Engineers work on multiple dimensions across the field of static pattern engineering and it is going to take a separate post*** to enumerate all the various aspects this will entail, but briefly it will involve managing the movement of knowledge and matching resonances across multidisciplinary teams to actualize (engineer) a complex product that can span multiple domains, operating/facilitating the process of collaboration and innovation in analysis, design, and implementation phases of that product, serving as a subject matter expert in one or more specialties (which they resonate highly with) within the domain of engineering, cognitive science, or computer science to serve as a contributing team member in analysis, design, and implementation phases of that product, developing artifacts which allow for more effective execution of static pattern engineering processes, developing tools which allow for improved detection of resonances (and thus location/training of qualified PatternSmiths), driving teams toward higher challenges and ensuring a high rate of innovation, and doing experiments and/or research which will advance the field on a continual basis.

The important thing to note is that all three of these roles at any point in time be acting as an artist, artificer, or artisan — the large difference between them is the granularity and function of their work (what they are focusing on). A PatternSmith could in fact be a full-time artist and producing nothing but one of a kind, original productions in any domain, or they could be a craftsperson (artisan) that produces templated results with skill, or even they could be called upon for their artificer skills in producing something unique and innovative. Additionally, the PatternSmith’s varied resonance may allow them to serve in all three capacities across different domains or knowledge areas. Likewise, in their larger scale context, a SPA (StaticPatternArchitect) may use (and often will be required to use) a blend of all three modes of working to produce their initial and continued design, and the output itself will probably be considered a blend of the three — carrying out its refinement and implementation will likewise require a blend of the three in most cases, which the SPE (StaticPatternEngineer will facilitate, as well as initial design). Unlike the other two, however, the StaticPatternEngineer will be –required– to use a blend of all three. He or she has to be a skilled artisan in using the technology for matching resonances, moving knowledge, or invoking collaborations throughout a distributed system of thought – there is no time for innovation or art for this extremely important functional need; however, there will be a need for an artificer skill set in the unique design constraints of each product where only the static pattern engineer will have the requisite ability to perceive and identify unique approaches for that team.