PatternSmithing Alliance Blogs

As the core infrastructure is being put together for the site, I have made an initial technical decision that will also enable a (future) marketing campaign.  Without being able to seek his permission, I am tweaking one of René Descartes’s most famous expressions ‘I think, therefore I am‘ to signify what I want to represent a fundamental shift in our relationship to thoughts and creativity.  Admittedly, I think that the term ‘thingk’ is catchy – it finally came to me after six years of using a far more technical term in other work; therefore, I am anticipating that it may give us a useful way to describe  both an expanded approach to the creative process as well as more coherent and reusable artifacts of the creative process.

Once the framework is in place, I want people to be able to exclaim:

I thingk; therefore, I am creating…

as a representation that they are participating in being intentionally connected to the entire process from thought => think => thing or from thing => think and by expressing the entire process they are likewise engaged in inspiring others to create as well.

In order to express that notion across the web, I want people to have an online identity that succinctly expresses that.  I am a big advocate of OpenID and am building provider support for OpenID into the site in the beginning.  Therefore, anyone who has an account will be able to use this URL as an authentication mechanism for OpenID-enabled sites:

http://i.thingk.com/UserName

This URL will also correspond to the user’s public profile which will expose out any Thingks they have released to the public (or if an authenticated thingk.com user lands there, any Thingks they have exposed out to the appropriate group(s) that individual is in or uniquely to them).

Also, as aggregated identities centered around intention become more commonplace — tightly knit groups would be able to appoint delegates who could authenticate under the identity:

http://we.thingk.com/IntentionName

The intention for this is not to simply add to the growing list of URLs that a person uses to identify themselves* in the current internet ecosystem (though in a way it will do that and unfortunately add to that list); instead, it is a way to identify that which is being created by them beyond the current internet ecosystem – which as a whole other dimension we all now participate in to varying degrees is interesting in itself.  This identity represents not only them, but the thoughts which activated them enough to become thinks and have received intention enough that they will on their way to becoming things (or the opposite case things which they have created which have received intention to be expressed as thinks).  In essence, this represents not just the person (in an abstract way), but their intentions being manifested (thingks-in-formation) and the creations they have accomplished (thingks-as-artifact).

* Current examples span blog URLs, social networking for fun sites, feed aggregation sites, professional networking sites, etc.

So, depending on context, it may or may not be appropriate to use this provided online identity.  There are two lines to draw where it will or may be appropriate to use this online identity and a third class where it is up to the discretion of the user:

• The intentional web+ - a grassroots initiative started around this about four years ago and hasn’t gained a significant amount of momentum; however, this project embodies one aspect of the spirit of this movement.  Where people are using technology to actively aid in carrying out intentions (e.g., aggregating information based around a certain intention, or using technology to carry out an intention).  As these sort of sites begin to multiply again, it will absolutely make sense to use this sort of identity as those who see the URL will be able to use it to intentionally aggregate information or use it to find inspiration for their own intentions.  [This will be further amplified by the FluxPoints project later]
• The semantic web - an initiative that is slowly but surely gaining a lot of ground and I believe will soon cause a groundswell of potential on the web.  Due to the fact that semantic web technology is being built-in to Thingk.com from the ground up, semantic information will be exposed at this identity endpoint – so if a user chooses to express this online identity at sites which are likewise rich in semantic markup or have active semantic agents, the mutual information exchange available by simply exercising the identity depending on the context may bring benefit to multiple parties. [This will be further amplified by the FluxPoints project later]
• The third class I spoke about is the myriad places where someone can express identity on the web currently via OpenID- posting a comment on a blog entry, setting up an account on a forum, etc.  Depending on context, it might make sense to use one of several options available for authentication (several are shown below if you comment on this post) instead of this identity and it might make absolutely no sense to use this new identity at all (except of course to spread awareness of the new initiative).

+ Here is the homepage for the intentional web initiative established in 2005: http://intentionalweb.org/

Another post is forthcoming about the place for a site centered around Thingks in the current web ecosystem, as well as long term discussions about where Thingks will be hosted in the future if all goes well (that is, will they have to be hosted at thingk.com forever or like web sites, blogs, etc. can they be eventually decentralized).  Until then, if you’re ready to start wearing the T-shirts or hats, let me know. 

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I am excited to announce the commencement of active development on Thingk.com, which will be the first of several partner sites centered around the activity of bringing ‘thingks’ into reality.  This site is for the community with the intention of inspiring people from all backgrounds and walks of life to engage in creative activity.  Ultimately, it is hoped that as people create ‘thingks’, meaningful patterns will emerge to give new discoveries for life’s works, lifelong endeavours, and previously unimagined collaborations between individuals.

A thingk, quite simply, is both an idea that someone passionately pursued/is pursuing and the thing which it was/is becoming when manifested.  Since someone (we will call them the creator of the idea) is passionate about the idea, we can’t just call it a thought, but instead borrow a present-tense term from David Bohm and call it a think.  Since it existed/exists/will exist somewhere, we also call it a thing.  Combining the two words into a portmanteau, we call it a Thingk.

In order to qualify as a thingk, the following must happen to a person’s creation (whether it starts as a thought or a thing in the beginning is irrelevant) in any order:

• A burst of inspiration or a careful design process must bring a thing into the world* whose existence can be confirmed by a resource identifier.
• A thought or thoughts become so activated in the person’s consciousness so as to be qualified as a think or thinks.
• The intention to create something from an activated think or thinks or the intention to express the thinks behind a created thing must be present.

* The thing can exist physically or virtually but must have a computer-accessible and verifiable international resource identifier.

Thus, once the intention, the thing (whether existent or not), and the activated thought (whether expressed or not) come together we have a Thingk.   Stated another way:

think(s) + intention to create something= thingk

or

thing + intention to express underlying think(s) = thingk

When the think- or thing- component(s) of the thingk is partially or fully intention it is a Thingk-in-formation; once intention becomes reality, and there exists both thinks and a thing, it is now considered a Thingk.

The purpose of this site will be as follows:

• By providing a framework to organize the creative process (with associated tools, privacy mechanisms, and attribution), it is believed that the site will increase the quality of all participants’ creative endeavours.
• By allowing someone to release their work to selected individual(s), group(s), or the public at large, valuable feedback mechanisms will increase the quality of work as well as inspire others to new work.
• Both technology and community are expected to further enhance and encourage the creative process for all participants.
• By getting to the kernel of the creative process, it is desired that things we see in the world are matched with the thinks that inspired them or the thinks we hear in the world are seen manifesting into actual things.
• By allowing individuals to catalog the creative process in (hopefully) painless ways with minimal effort, new interconnections can be found between ideas (thinks), creations (things), people (creators), and the thingks which inspired it all.  In other words, we expect lots of new discoveries in terms of collaborations, career paths, and systems effects we were not even aware of.
• Finally, this site intends to lead all users into deeper exploration with their created Thingks, the Thingks that inspire them, and the resonances they imply.  This is meant to span the lifetime of both Thingk(s) and their creator(s).  It is envisioned that initial thingk(s) [prototypes are encouraged] may expand far beyond the scope originally envisioned.

This site is an application of Static Pattern Engineering technology as well as a member of the PatternSmithing Alliance.  It will be based on Semantic Web technology.

I am actively seeking collaborators, founders, research associates, future users, and future employees.  All feedback is welcome.  Contact me at =Joel.Kotarski.

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