• This will be an invitation only beta, which means:
  • Some colleagues and friends will be asked directly to join – please feel no obligation but your feedback will be greatly appreciated if you can assist.
  • Throughout the last few years, I have been looking at interesting individuals who may be interested in patternsmithing and Thingk persistence – you will be receiving a hand-crafted email as a personal invitation – once again, no obligation please – only do this if it brings you value but if you do your feedback is greatly appreciated.
  • As expressed on this blog, if interested feel free to contact me at the contact form http://xri.net/=joel.kotarski and I will be able to accomodate you.  Also if you think you know someone who would be interested from the category above, please contact me here as well.
  • We’ll probably have limited invitations to spread around among private beta users – these will probably only be on a request-only basis, however, to control capacity initially.
• For those in town, we will most likely host an in-person meeting where we will go over some details about the site and what is being accomplished – for out-of-towners we may also host a teleconference as a separate event.
• Since we will be testing privacy and security (with potential bugs to be found), I ask that you put the kind of ideas you may spontaneously work on but not your actual work and certainly not anything you would consider intellectual property at this point.  Much of the data from the private beta will be wiped clean on launch so that we can fully test; however, I am planning to make an easy mechanism to tag content you wish to transition over to the full system – also, I will be soliciting feedback on making this process as painless as possible for those generally interested in getting value from the work they do in beta testing.
• As always, being asked to participate should not imply obligation to participate, and participating should not imply obligation to give detailed feedback.  Anything you do is greatly appreciated and will be rewarded in some manner.

As I continue to work on the upcoming volume to be published, one of the opening chapters that has emerged concerns seeing the world in terms of patterns.  This thesis (that the world can be perceived, modeled, and treated as an intermeshed collection of patterns) is central to establishing the entire field of static pattern engineering as well as orienting individuals toward the activities (patternsmithing, pattern engineering, and architecting) that arise from it.

One of the problems I have struggled with is that the term Pattern has a lot of connotations surrounding it and most of them are seemingly purposefully and annoyingly vague.  For current examples across the web, see the following google query.  In a future post, I will reveal the formalization of the term pattern that underlies static pattern engineering (intuitive hints have been spread throughout this blog) and  with this formal definition I will give plenty of exercises of seeing the world (including that which is formed, that which is forming, and that which is yet to be formed) in terms of patterns.

Once patterns are defined and examples are identified, it will be important to introduce how forces are operating on this pattern and the terms static pattern, dynamic pattern, and active pattern will come into focus.  At that point, it is hoped it will become clear how and why individuals work on creating, transforming, and operating on patterns in their daily lives and why we need a field and set of activities for working with these patterns directly.  Once this post is published, I’d welcome feedback on it, as I am hoping this will be an intriguing opening for the book and ultimately an introduction to the field for many.

Also, on another note, as a reader please begin registering your interest levels (via the polls available) which topics you would be most interested in reading next, as the frequency of posting on this blog is fairly low, I want to make sure you have a voice and that I am made aware of what you are looking to discover.  As always, contact me at http://xri.net/=joel.kotarski with any questions or feedback.

• The PatternSmithing Alliance (http://patternsmithing.com/) is being established as a centralized organizing and guiding body for the core activities, knowledge, and applications of static pattern engineering technologies.  This site and my activities (including the book under construction) will be considered contributions to the body of work of the Alliance.
• The “ThingK” company (I am finalizing the company name so will just call it that for now) will work on several products and services that not only apply static pattern engineering technologies but also advance the field as a whole.  After research and development, I’ve seen that several viable technologies exist that can enhance people’s lives as well as the field itself – a commercial vehicle will serve the projects well throughout their lifetime to keep their growth and maintenance sustainable.
• The research and development activities on Static Pattern Engineering will still continue by interested members of the Alliance, either as a voluntary effort, projects commissioned/funded by the Alliance or government grants, and/or activities commissioned under the commercial ventures of the “ThingK” company or other participating partners.  This site will continue to track these activities that fall under the first two categories, whilst the commercial aspects will continue to drift away toward channels created by the “ThingK” company.

I wanted to make this sort of a last post that outlines the whole field (as it stands today), because  many of these aspects grew out of this research and development activity.  This blog’s posts, as well as many other posts related to these separate aspects of the field on other sites (where I’ve been busy recently), are now syndicated together at the PatternSmithing Alliance blogs at http://blogs.patternsmithing.com/.   If you are interested in monitoring the entire field and all activities —  not just the research and development aspects, I encourage you to relocate your attention there – these posts will continue to make their way there.

Also, if you are interested in the body of knowledge surrounding Static Pattern Engineering, while waiting for the publication of the first volume, you can visit the PatternSmithing Alliance wiki (link withheld until it fills up more – just created recently) which will continue to reflect the growing body of knowledge and technologies.  From the research and development side, at times the blog will preceed the wiki in terms of knowledge while at other times the wiki will preceed the blog in terms of knowledge.

To begin involvement in the activities of the field, you are encouraged to submit your information at http://patternsmithing.com/.

Finally, I want to briefly discuss the products and services of the “ThingK” company, which started as research projects here and are now in active development:

• The thingk.com web site is the site alluded to earlier surrounding the notion of ‘thingk’ as expressing a more easily graspable term for ’static pattern’.  This will be a free community web site, with a revenue model based on enhancements, that allows any person to begin working with the core tenets of static pattern engineering without any knowledge of the underlying science, research, or activities surrounding it – this was always one of my goals from the beginning.  The PatternSmithing Alliance will recommend the core standards this site will use so that user’s content will always be reusable, expandable, and exportable by them for collaboration with non-commercial interests.  This site is very central to strategy for all of the groups:
  • The research and development activities of the PatternSmithing Alliance (which this site represents) will be interested in expanding the technology and studying how user content and collaboration progresses as case studies in the state of the art of the field.
  • After creators (the users of the site) begin to see the power of persisting and ultimately creating their Thingks, the PatternSmithing Alliance may be a natural avenue for them to continue their progression into learning about the core of the field, first by simple PatternSmithing activities, and then maybe even vocationally as a PatternSmith, StaticPattern Architect, or StaticPattern Engineer.
  • The initial activities of creators (users) are hoped to lead them toward more advanced applications of Static Pattern Engineering : fluxpoints and spawned dreams.
• Whereas thingk.com is a product aimed at people already engaged in the act of creating (even if it prods them to do so) where the target is clearly identified, the DreamSpawn service works with a more nebulous concept – the dreams that begin to fascinate people but often a clearcut direction does not always manifest (sometimes for years).  By leveraging the concept of Thingks (static patterns) and the activities surrouding PatternSmithing, the service purposely guides its clients through training around the technology (and its goals) and the knowledge of PatternSmithing with the clear dedication to watching their dreams become a reality.  This is a very rational process and is only embarked on once a proper analysis and evaluation has been done.
• The FluxPoints project will eventually become a commercial product and service, but is the most advanced merging of static pattern engineering research with computer technology.  Therefore, it will be a joint venture between the research and development activity, the PatternSmithing Alliance, and the “ThingK” company for quite some time.  Essentially, it allows any Thingk (or collection of Thingks) to virtualize further by leveraging an advanced technological infrastructure for collaboration.  This ‘engine’ will be leveraged by the research and development group, the PatternSmithing Alliance, and the “ThingK” company to drive innovations and collaborations.  You can read more about it at any time at the FluxPoints blog (or via the PatternSmithing Alliance blogs which syndicate it).

Thanks.

Thingk.com will be a free community product; however, we are looking to encourage a revenue stream by offering premium tools for crafting the representation of the Thingks on the site and for patternsmithing them into the world.  I have neither the delusion that this company will be capable of inventing all of the possible ways of expressing or creating representations into the world nor the desire to corner that, so we will be looking to offer partners the ability to sell their tools on this site.  Now that brings up a few questions and all of them relate to if the site will immediately become littered with commercialism and the answer is a firm no.  That means the following things outright:

• The desire to give the web community an incredible free basic toolset for persisting, discovering, and using thingks will be fully realized — this base functionality will always be available for free.
• Opportunities to buy more powerful tools will be non-intrusive – the screen real estate will not be littered with it.  It will only be available when you really seek it out, tucked away neatly in the user interface.  Also there won’t be annoying intrusions on experience, trying to prod a user into upgrading – people are quite intelligent enough to seek out things they want.  This is not to imply that it will be difficult to find what you want or that there won’t be a good user interface once you begin seeking out premium tools.
• Users with premium tools will not have an obvious advantage over others, its just a matter of preference.  As a physical analogy, think of an art community where everyone is given a sketchpad, a basic set of pencils, brushes, and paint – the refined artist may choose to purchase an easel, premium paper, brushes, oil paint, etc; however, this doesn’t imply that either will produce better art – it is up to the artist to use the tools given or purchases along with their creativity.

The intention for DreamSpawn is to give the clients who use this service the full array of premium tools as they are made available — which brings up another point: companies and individuals who choose to do so may purchase the full array of tools available (with royalties paid to each of the partners who are represented as well).  This will be done for DreamSpawn for a reason that is explained below:

DreamSpawn is a concept I’ve been trying to tackle for years – probably since I was a teenager.  I wanted people to unlock their full potential but it would take me a long time to see the pieces of the puzzle and even more time to put them together.  I believe that once people reorient their mind toward viewing their larger dreams (which might span a large problem/solution domain) as a set of ThingKs, or thoughts on their way to becoming things, they have a whole new way of tackling the problem — this is typical analysis; however, there is a new spin on it:  By giving the dream itself (and thingks in general) value once persisted, people will begin to move forward with bringing their dreams about.

The other pieces of the puzzle attempt to solve three other problems:

• Dreams and thingks are often kept internal – and often get buried or forgotten.
• People don’t always find the right connections with other individuals and concepts – when this ‘serindipitous event’ happens in life we usually witness the great events (company foundings, product launches, etc) that we all have come to celebrate.
• We all constantly work on skills to complete our vocational work, but all too often we don’t have the general skills or specific schools to create the dreams (set of thingks) that inspire us from time to time.

These needs are addressed by thingk.com, fluxpoints.com, and patternsmithing.com – not respectively or exclusively, but overlapping in interesting ways.  DreamSpawn brings all of this together by flipping it around to one individual – giving incredible attention to that client (and forcing them in turn to give attention to their dreams) to ensure no impedances keep that from happening.  As individuals choose to invest in time, attention, and money into their dreams, I want to give them a literal arsenal of tools to obliterate potential impedances.  I want their creativity to flow and want a full support network to wipe those three bullet points above off the table for reasons why they may look back and regret not creating this or that dream.

This blog entry is not a sales pitch to get you to sign up as a dreamspawn client – in fact, we’re not ready for you – that’s why this is an announcement of the “launch” of the sister site.  This is meant to only give a larger perspective of what’s going on behind the scenes, and I’m choosing to do what future users of this site may or may not choose to do – I am persisting out publicly a set of Thingks I am actively working on to bring about as a reality.  That is, I am releasing the concepts out there to spark interest, keep myself accountable, and get the dream in front of myself and others.  Collaborators, angel investors, future partners, volunteers, and future employees, as always, are always welcome.  Contact me at http://xri.net/=joel.kotarski or on the contact form on DreamSpawn if interested (also, feedback in general is welcome).

Finally, the PatternSmithing alliance — anyone interested in joining this alliance or learning more, contact me as well.

jdk

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. 

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.

Thingk is a union of the words think and thing, and when pronounced sounds deceptively identical to think.  I like it because it embeds a lot of semantic hints that convey what a static pattern is:

• The first word in static pattern, static, comes from Greek and Latin roots for standing, remaining, and implies persistence.  When something persists, we usually identify it (generically) as a thing.
• When you first encounter (or create) a static pattern that resonates with you, it has the effect of gathering such awareness and attention in consciousness that it seems less like a thought and more like a thing.  It usually invokes active mentation and becomes a think in Bohmian terms.  This duality, as it grows, begins to qualify it as a thingk (in the cognitive domain).
• In the physical or virtual domains, before that thingk is manifested, it is just a thought ( think ); however, as you, the creator, drive it toward manifestation, it becomes not just a thought ( think ) but also a thing that exists (stands, remains, persists) with some degree of physical persistence (depending on degree of virtuality).  Yet, behind that now existent thing is the thought(s) that resonate with the creator such that they evoke active mentation and thus are still think(s).  Thus, the manifested static pattern is a thingk spread across multiple domains (cognitive, physical, virtual).
• If you encounter a thing that you can perceive with your senses, there are thoughts that brought it to creation.  When these thoughts and the thing itself invoke resonance in a perceiver, it can be now be described as a thingk.
• When you find a talented individual with a personal connection to the work they create, you can certainly be assured that everything they create has the quality of also being a thingk.
• If you begin to approach the things you work with with the intent to turn them into thingks (or to change your work so that the things you work with have a higher rate of probably of being thingks for you), or you begin to have the intent to find thoughts that resonate enough to become thingks in consciousness and then reified thingks in the cognitive, virtual, and/or physical domains, then the nature of your creative work is transformed.

I intend to not only use this term for describing static patterns in a more easily graspable semantic framework, but also intend to use it drive the fluxpoints project further.  A fluxpoint, by criteria, will be in fact a thingk; however, I am actively working on a partner project to actively get people moving from thought => think => thingk, which will ensure a natural evolution path toward turning those thingks into FluxPoints as well as physical, virtual, and/or cognitive creations.  This will most likely be a free community web site that will allow for active work on static patterns (or thingks) with the intention of bringing them about as creations.

Until then, I still prefer to use the technical term static pattern, but after discussing this more compact and expressive reduction with people who have talked to me about SPs for years, it immediately catches on and they finally ‘get it’.  Nonetheless, this particular journal about static pattern engineering will probably continue to use the technical term – I intend to post a link to the community site once I get it going and that site will probably make scarce use of the technical term, favoring the one described in this post.

Thanks for reading.