A metapattern is a pattern of patterns.

Definition

The concept of a metapattern was introduced by Gregory Bateson in the introduction to his 1979 book Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity.[1] "My central thesis can now be approached in words: The pattern which connects is a metapattern. It is a pattern of patterns. It is that metapattern which defines the vast generalization that, indeed, it is patterns which connect."[2]

Tyler Volk

Tyler Volk, an environmental scientist at New York University expanded on Bateson's description in his 1995 book, Metapatterns: Across Space, Time, and Mind.[3] "To me, a metapattern is a pattern so wide-flung that it appears throughout the spectrum of reality: in clouds, rivers, and planets; in cells, organisms, and ecosystems; in art, architecture, and politics." Volk further defines metapatterns as "functional universals for forms in space, processes in time, and concepts in mind."[4]

As Volk explains in his prologue, "I was fortunate to have studied with Bateson while he was writing Mind and Nature. It was the autumn of 1977, and he was a scholar-in-residence at the Lindisfarne Association in New York City."[5] At that time, Volk was teaching "Visual Science" and "Patterns in Time" as science and humanities courses at the School of Visual Arts.

Volk describes ten metapatterns: Spheres, Sheets/Tubes, Borders, Binaries, Centers, Layers, Calendars, Arrows, Breaks, and Cycles. Education collaborator Jeff Bloom developed a metapatterns website[6] exploring these themes.

Pieter Wisse

The Dutch computer scientist Pieter Wisse proposed a method called Metapattern for conceptual modeling: a technique for meta-information analysis and modeling that emphasizes reusability. The method is described in his book Metapattern: Context and Time in Information Models[7] and other papers.

References

  1. ↑ Bateson, Gregory (1979). Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity. New York: Dutton
  2. ↑ Bateson, Gregory (1979). Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity (Advances in Systems Theory, Complexity, and the Human Sciences).
  3. ↑ Volk, Tyler (1995). Metapatterns: Across Space, Time, and Mind. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231067515.
  4. ↑ Volk, Tyler,(1995) Metapatterns: Across Space, Time, and Mind, page viii-ix
  5. ↑ Volk, Tyler,(1996) Metapatterns: Across Space, Time, and Mind, page viii
  6. ↑ "Welcome to Metapatterns: The Pattern Underground Wiki - Metapatterns".
  7. ↑ Wisse, Pieter (2000), Metapattern: Context and Time in Information Models, Addison-Wesley; 1st edition
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