Memorable pattern language for configuring sets of websites?

Optimizing Web Surfing Pathways for the Overloaded (Part #8)

Developing a pattern language to configure sets of websites: The much-cited work on pattern language by Christopher Alexander (A Pattern Language, 1977) is especially remarkable in this context because of its unexpected seminal role with respect to computer program design (James O. Coplien and Douglas Schmidt, Pattern Languages of Program Design, 1995).

Whilst the focus with respect to the information sciences is on software design, there is clearly the possibility of adapting such a language to configurations of multiple websites in a knowledge society -- and the patterns whereby they may be fruitfully navigated.

The argument could be considered somewhat ironic in that Alexander's previous work had been focused on the design of a place where one could "feel at home". This sense of "home" is the "quality without a name" which he identified as the quality of "a place to be" (The Timeless Way of Building, 1979). It is in this sense that for a web user the configuration of web sites habitually visited frames that sense of home -- in knowledge space.

One early exercise in response to the psychosocial challenge was the adaptation of the 254 interlinked patterns as originally elaborated by Alexander (A Pattern Language, 1977) into a similar pattern of psychosocial analogues (5-fold Pattern Language, 1984). Alexander's more recent work has stressed a geometrical perspective (Harmony-Seeking Computations: a science of non-classical dynamics based on the progressive evolution of the larger whole. International Journal for Unconventional Computing (IJUC), 2009), as discussed separately (Harmony-Comprehension and Wholeness-Engendering: eliciting psychosocial transformational principles from design, 2010).

Cognitive gearbox understood as nested polyhedral configurations: More striking in envisaging the design of a cognitive gearbox is the nesting of 5 regular polyhedra (within a semi-regular polyhedron) in the following image (reproduced from Embodying Global Hegemony through a Sustaining Pattern of Discourse: cognitive challenge of dominion over all one surveys, 2015).

Rhombic Triacontahedron (green) as a nesting framework (combining the images above)
with Dodecahedron (blue), Icosahedron (red), Cube (grey), Octahedron (yellow), with Tetrahedron (cyan) and Tetrahedron (magenta)
(accessible in virtual reality viewers -- VRML97 version or X3D version)

Platonic polyhedra nested within Rhombic triacontahedron

In the previous discussion of that structure, comparison was made with the classical model of the solar system as depicted by Johannes Kepler.

Nested polyhedral model of solar system of Johannes Kepler Reproduced from Wikipedia entry on Mysterium Cosmographicum (1596)	Imagined Renaissance understanding of the relationship between cognitive spheres

Implications for knowledge cybernetics: In the discussion of the above nesting of the Platonic polyhedral patterns, emphasis was placed on the dynamics between the forms rather than on the configurations understood statically (as depicted). Given the cybernetic work, as framed by the icosahedron with respect to discourse, by Stafford Beer (Beyond Dispute: the invention of team syntegrity, 1994, it is especially interesting to consider the recent work of Maurice Yolles and Gerhard Fink (A General Theory of Generic Modelling and Paradigm Shifts: cybernetic orders, Kybernetes, 2015).

This might be understood as raising the question as to whether the tetrahedral dynamic (in the morphing animations above) could be interpreted in terms of first order cybernetics, that of the cube-octahedron with second order cybernetics, that of the dodecahedron-icosahedron with third order cybernetics, and that of the rhombic triacontahedron-icosidodecahedron with that of the fourth order.

To what extent is the nesting of polyhedral patterns then to be understood as supportive of degrees of self-reflexivity and the interplay between specific, fundamental and generic insights -- a particular comprehension of changing conceptual gear according to circumstances?

In a web-based society, this question is of particular relevance to societal learning, given the following comment by Steve Wadell (Societal Learning: creating big-systems change, Systems Thinker, 2001/2002):

Given their ambitious goals, societal learning initiatives must go well beyond simply coordinating organizations and resources -- often referred to as single-loop learning or first-order change because it occurs within current structures and assumptions. Societal learning requires a shift in mental models and the development of new structures and processes, known as doubleloop learning or second-order change.

Like organizational learning, societal learning deals with exploring the deep, underlying structures that drive behavior, surfacing the basic assumptions we hold that limit our options, and developing innovative approaches to persistent problems... This kind of shift in thinking can spur complex synergies and powerful innovations....Such collaborations can even produce the more rarefied triple-loop learning, which involves rethinking the way we actually think about an issue... In systems thinking terms, the challenge of those involved in societal learning is to understand and address numerous large and complex feedback loops. In development and change management terms, the challenge is to transform learning at a project and intellectual level into broad, sustainable systemwide change.

Memorable assymetric polyhedra: A striking example is provided by the Szilassi polyhedron (one of the Stewart toroids), as discussed separately (Polyhedral Configuration of Questions, 2014) -- topologically a torus, with seven hexagonal faces, each face sharing an edge with each other face, perhaps to be recognized as an extreme form of touching.

Animations of Szilassi polyhedron of 7 faces (4 types), 21 edges (12 types), 14 vertices (7 types) [totalling 42=2x3x7; product=2x3²7³] (paired shapes coloured identically; prepared using Stella Polyhedron Navigator)
Folding together of the two complement nets	Rotation of polyhedron

A striking example is illustrated below, in the light of previous discussion of the claimed fundamental role of the number 37 (Memetic Analogue to the 20 Amino Acids as vital to Psychosocial Life? Number 37 as indicative of fruitful pathways of transformation? 2015).

Animations of a polyhedron named "Wings" with tone values attributed to the faces (in two orientations) Polyhedron with 37 faces (of 19 types), 65 edges (5x13 of 33 types), 30 vertices (of 15 types) (prepared using Stella Polyhedron Navigator)

Future presentation of search results: The results of any web search are now typically presented as a laundry list of items of interest, supposedly ranked by algorithms to highlight those of greatest interest -- notably in the light of filter bubbles applied in terms of the assumed preferences of a particular user.

At some stage search results could be presented (optionally) as polyhedral patterns, notably with the evolution of interactive visualization applications such as Data Driven Documents (d3.js). These could be organized such as to enable a form of zooming between simpler and more complex polyhedra, as suggested above.

Of interest is the distinction that might be made between simpler (as meaning more fundamental) and simpler (as meaning more specific) -- and between complex (as encompassing greater variety) and complex (as implying more integrative).

An interesting challenge for website managers would be how to strive for particular positioning within such patterns -- by extension of current efforts at search engine optimization (SEO), namely the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's unpaid results.

Viral marketing and polyhedral viruses: In a world threatened by viral diseases -- a viral pandemic like influenza -- it is remarkable to note the as yet unexplored degree of correspondence between the icosahedral ordering of both psychosocial mega-problems and of the micro-problems constituted by viruses (Roberto Marabin: Icosahedral Viruses: 3D Reconstruction, 2014). As discussed separarely, wicked problems (so-called because their complexity and intractability) might then be usefully recognized as the pandemics of knowledge society and cyberspace (Encycling wickidity in the light of polyhedral viruses and their mutation, 2015). The metaphor has long been valued in the case of computer viruses and viral marketing.

Inspired by biomimicry, this suggests the value of exploring virology as offering a form of "pattern language" with regard to antigens and antibodies as these might apply to the operation of possible "viral antigens" that could be developed to constrain wicked problems (Reidun Twarock, Mathematical Virology: a novel approach to the structure and assembly of viruses, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A, 2006). Could the optimization of proactive web searches be organized in terms of polyhedral frameworks in order to match wicked problem networks understood as achieving their robustness through polyhedral organization?