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Showing posts with label Community Design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Community Design. Show all posts
Monday, February 25, 2008
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Pattern Re-Visited
While I know I said I was going to show case a pattern a day and a different pattern at that I have felt the need to re-visit a pattern as I have come to see it's deeper and more fundamental relationship to my research objective.
The pattern is Alan Borning's "Citizen Access to Simulation" and when I wrote my first response to this pattern I was thinking of community simulation where actors are involved in a sort of mock experiment similar to the one we are conducting in my environmental conflict course. However, in reading some of the material behind this pattern I have come to see this as dynamic simulations as a way to support decision making in community context.
Now, this is exactly what I'm doing in my other class "Systems Dynamic Modeling," and the more I get into this course the more I recognize how this can play a central element in collaborative planning. For instance, in following along with my interest in a planning approach that promotes pattern mapping to develop a cognitive map of sustainable development design, the use of systems modeling could play a central role in helping groups become more informed about their proposed policies or designs for development.
And as a result of this centrality, it represents what I think to be a first order pattern in any planning process that deals with the interaction between natural and built systems. Now, being a pattern person I see that sustainable development is more more complex than what can be modeled, however, there are certain elements that modeling can tell us about our environment that might not be obvious. Things that if overlooked could spell disaster for our proposals. To me this makes sense as we can bring in a quantitative model and apply it in a qualitative way to help people learn about their environment.
The problem is that many seem to confuse these models as predictors or forecasters of dynamic change, but when really they are educational tools that are meant to do just that, educate us. So great care must be taken to ensure that people recognize modeling for what it is. Alexander, talks about this in the 'Nature of Order.'
With that in mind, I wonder how a simulation of this sort might influence a pattern based approach to planning a development program. In fact, this might make a very useful pattern as part of a pattern based planning methodology that seeks to inform the ways patterns are contextualized by communities.
The pattern is Alan Borning's "Citizen Access to Simulation" and when I wrote my first response to this pattern I was thinking of community simulation where actors are involved in a sort of mock experiment similar to the one we are conducting in my environmental conflict course. However, in reading some of the material behind this pattern I have come to see this as dynamic simulations as a way to support decision making in community context.
Now, this is exactly what I'm doing in my other class "Systems Dynamic Modeling," and the more I get into this course the more I recognize how this can play a central element in collaborative planning. For instance, in following along with my interest in a planning approach that promotes pattern mapping to develop a cognitive map of sustainable development design, the use of systems modeling could play a central role in helping groups become more informed about their proposed policies or designs for development.
And as a result of this centrality, it represents what I think to be a first order pattern in any planning process that deals with the interaction between natural and built systems. Now, being a pattern person I see that sustainable development is more more complex than what can be modeled, however, there are certain elements that modeling can tell us about our environment that might not be obvious. Things that if overlooked could spell disaster for our proposals. To me this makes sense as we can bring in a quantitative model and apply it in a qualitative way to help people learn about their environment.
The problem is that many seem to confuse these models as predictors or forecasters of dynamic change, but when really they are educational tools that are meant to do just that, educate us. So great care must be taken to ensure that people recognize modeling for what it is. Alexander, talks about this in the 'Nature of Order.'
With that in mind, I wonder how a simulation of this sort might influence a pattern based approach to planning a development program. In fact, this might make a very useful pattern as part of a pattern based planning methodology that seeks to inform the ways patterns are contextualized by communities.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Today's Pattern...
Today's, pattern is an extension of what I have been thinking about quite extensively over the past few days. In fact, it represents the crux of what I'm envisioning with regards to this web-based pattern language design framework. It really comes down to the facilitation of this "Collective Decision Making: Harmony of Five Voices" pattern written by Valerie Brown. Based upon the varying locations of potential participants particularly among groups working to address regional, national or international issues the usage of a system that represents one more way to facilitate this process is a potential step in a direction towards fully allowing for this pattern and other patterns to be fully realized and applied within the real world.
In the sense of aiding in this collaborative process of sustainable design that includes many voices and opens up space for reflection, assessment and adaptation (as feedback emerges from the decisions we as communities and societies as a whole make), I see this pattern as being a fundamental component and driving aim of this project
So in thinking up requirements for this pattern mapping application and knowledge system I recognize not only the need to be able to visually map these patterns in ways that form coherent wholes as related to the identified design problems (at hand and that interface with the larger process of sustainable transformation taking place at larger and smaller scales), but there is a greater need to enable people to use this system as a way to track decisions. With this in mind this system will need to be able to document and retain the information used in defining the design problem, but also the maps that are generated from these mapping exercises.
Also in considering the number of voices involved in design and all the interests involved it is obvious to me that there must be a mechanism for asynchronous activity to take place that will allow multiple users to aide in the design process, rather than be dependent upon the expertise or dominant voice of one person. This is often the case in GIS based applications.
The use of multiple voices also means that the system will need to have a UI simple enough for people with varying degrees of technical knowledge to be able to effectively use the system.
Perhaps, this means heavy documentation and strict adherence to clarity in the preparation of materials relevant to the use of the system. Trainings, workshops and so forth may also be principle parts of the design and implementation of the system.
The other idea is the ability of this application to be standalone in the sense that communities and organizations should be able to easily download and install on their servers, or of course they can use the community space application that PSP would in theory provide to the public.
This brings up the idea of using the xml dump that Doug has been talking about. This way an application downloaded and served off of a PSP server could in theory query the pattern repository and hopefully generate a list of patterns relevant to the requirements defined by the design participants.
Extending these ideas further there is the perceived need of maintaining community memory among system users. It is potentially relevant that everyone have a chance to learn from mistakes and successes of those using the patterns. This means being able to see the various approaches communities have taken to contextualize individual patterns, what if any changes were made as well as suggestions these communities might make for revision based upon their experience.
With this capability in mind, it is my hope to enable an adaptive and organic system cognizant of the changing nature of community experience and needs and reflects the adaptation of the social, economic and environmental systems that groups are working in.
However, with all these ideas towards adaptive capacity and community memory the fundamental drive of this system is for people to effectively engage in a collaborative and collective process for good decision-making.
In the sense of aiding in this collaborative process of sustainable design that includes many voices and opens up space for reflection, assessment and adaptation (as feedback emerges from the decisions we as communities and societies as a whole make), I see this pattern as being a fundamental component and driving aim of this project
So in thinking up requirements for this pattern mapping application and knowledge system I recognize not only the need to be able to visually map these patterns in ways that form coherent wholes as related to the identified design problems (at hand and that interface with the larger process of sustainable transformation taking place at larger and smaller scales), but there is a greater need to enable people to use this system as a way to track decisions. With this in mind this system will need to be able to document and retain the information used in defining the design problem, but also the maps that are generated from these mapping exercises.
Also in considering the number of voices involved in design and all the interests involved it is obvious to me that there must be a mechanism for asynchronous activity to take place that will allow multiple users to aide in the design process, rather than be dependent upon the expertise or dominant voice of one person. This is often the case in GIS based applications.
The use of multiple voices also means that the system will need to have a UI simple enough for people with varying degrees of technical knowledge to be able to effectively use the system.
Perhaps, this means heavy documentation and strict adherence to clarity in the preparation of materials relevant to the use of the system. Trainings, workshops and so forth may also be principle parts of the design and implementation of the system.
The other idea is the ability of this application to be standalone in the sense that communities and organizations should be able to easily download and install on their servers, or of course they can use the community space application that PSP would in theory provide to the public.
This brings up the idea of using the xml dump that Doug has been talking about. This way an application downloaded and served off of a PSP server could in theory query the pattern repository and hopefully generate a list of patterns relevant to the requirements defined by the design participants.
Extending these ideas further there is the perceived need of maintaining community memory among system users. It is potentially relevant that everyone have a chance to learn from mistakes and successes of those using the patterns. This means being able to see the various approaches communities have taken to contextualize individual patterns, what if any changes were made as well as suggestions these communities might make for revision based upon their experience.
With this capability in mind, it is my hope to enable an adaptive and organic system cognizant of the changing nature of community experience and needs and reflects the adaptation of the social, economic and environmental systems that groups are working in.
However, with all these ideas towards adaptive capacity and community memory the fundamental drive of this system is for people to effectively engage in a collaborative and collective process for good decision-making.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Thinking of a Community Knowledge System
Another note:
By using something like Green Maps or another similar community application it is possible to record past and on-going projects that could enable future groups to draw from and develop community memory. This could also provide information to future groups that might potentially interface with past projects in order to create a continually expanding web of sustainable design projects.
Similarly, if using patterns as a way to link solutions with community data to design community solutions, it is possible to record the decisions made by these communities for ongoing assessment and possible adaptation.
This is perhaps my primary justification for supporting an information or community knowledge system (CKS) approach to designing pattern-centric community development. This way communities can be better able to monitor and adapt.
I think this became most obvious when reading the book, "Development as Process: Concepts and Methods for Working with Complexity,"which describes an on-going adaptive approach, that seeks to use 'process documentation' as a way to produce feed-back whereby planners and community stakeholders can tweak and address short-comings in their original assumptions.
By integrating this practice with presence of community information systems it seems that people might be better equipped to produce the necessary feedback about their projects in a much more timely manner. It seems to me that one of the primary critiques of Development as Process is the difficulty of obtaining 'real-time' information.
By using something like Green Maps or another similar community application it is possible to record past and on-going projects that could enable future groups to draw from and develop community memory. This could also provide information to future groups that might potentially interface with past projects in order to create a continually expanding web of sustainable design projects.
Similarly, if using patterns as a way to link solutions with community data to design community solutions, it is possible to record the decisions made by these communities for ongoing assessment and possible adaptation.
This is perhaps my primary justification for supporting an information or community knowledge system (CKS) approach to designing pattern-centric community development. This way communities can be better able to monitor and adapt.
I think this became most obvious when reading the book, "Development as Process: Concepts and Methods for Working with Complexity,"which describes an on-going adaptive approach, that seeks to use 'process documentation' as a way to produce feed-back whereby planners and community stakeholders can tweak and address short-comings in their original assumptions.
By integrating this practice with presence of community information systems it seems that people might be better equipped to produce the necessary feedback about their projects in a much more timely manner. It seems to me that one of the primary critiques of Development as Process is the difficulty of obtaining 'real-time' information.
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