Societal Dimensions of Engineering, Science, and Technology - SDEST: Conference on Patterns for Shaping the Network Society (Seattle, Washington; May 2002)

“塑造网络社会的模式”是一个雄心勃勃的、有点实验性的项目，它使用基于网络的技术和面对面的场所，以开发基于网络和印刷品的“模式语言”。这种模式语言的目的是反映大规模、不断发展的、世界范围内、高度分散的“社区实践”的综合知识，即那些追求民主化和公民社会使用信息和通信技术的人。“模式语言”将在接下来的一年中使用一个完全开放的过程逐步开发。2002年5月将在西雅图召开一次为期四天的会议，作为这一进程的一个组成部分(http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diacO2).This计划旨在满足人们对开发和维护全世界民主通信和信息系统的一致、共享的研究和行动议程的迫切需求。它建立在网络日益无处不在以及民间社会在世界各地日益重要和存在的基础上。我们的方法试图在大型协作项目中实现技术和社会中介之间的正确平衡。为此，我们正在开发基于网络的应用程序，这些应用程序利用促进及时协作以及人类判断和创造力的技术能力和社会进程。挑战是利用开放和参与性的进程建立一个复杂的信息结构，有效地平衡包容性、高质量、连贯性和及时性的相互冲突的要求。换句话说，过程和产品一样重要。尽管面临着这个巨大的挑战，但我们认为，这个项目实现了重要的目标，并建立在合理的假设和方法之上：即使这个项目没有达到其最终目标，也将产生重要的产品，如会议、会议记录、提交的模式和分析。这一雄心勃勃且史无前例的项目目前正在进行中。截至编写本报告时，在线支助系统的图案输入和编辑部分已开始运作，已提交50多个图案提案。到目前为止，这些提案来自加纳、印度、英国、美国、墨西哥、澳大利亚、德国、瑞典、瑞士、尼日利亚、南非、马来西亚、法国和巴西，因此反映了我们打算在这个项目进行过程中继续参与的广泛社区。在这个过程中，大量重要的问题浮出水面：想法如何演变，人们在合作过程中扮演什么角色，提出了什么法律和其他考虑因素，如何处理知识产权，同步(电子)协作方法如何加强或削弱同步(面对面)协作方法，反之亦然？这种方法是否可移植到其他学科：一种模式语言中有多少模式“属于”，有多少工作可以用技术完成，有多少工作应该由人完成，有多少工作可以在一个完全包容的、开放的小组中完成，以及有多少工作应该由“执行委员会”完成，等等。

"Patterns for Shaping the Network Society" is an ambitious, somewhat experimental program, which uses web-based technology, and in-person venues in order to develop a web- and print-based "pattern language." The aim of this pattern language is to reflect the composite knowledge of a large, evolving, worldwide, highly distributed "community practice," namely those people pursuing the democratization and civic society uses of information and communication technology. The "pattern language" will be incrementally developed over the next year using a fundamentally open process. A four-day conference will be convened in Seattle in May 2002, as an integral part of the process (http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diacO2).This program is intend to address the acute demand for a coherent, shared research and action agenda for the development and maintenance of democratic communication and information systems worldwide. It builds on the increasing ubiquity of the web and the increasing importance and presence of civil society throughout the world. Our approach attempts to achieve the correct balance between technological and social mediation in a large collaborative project. To that end we are developing the web-based applications that leverage the technological capabilities and social processes that promote timely collaboration and human judgement and creativity. The challenge is to develop a complex information structure using an open and participatory process that effectively balances the conflicting demands of inclusiveness, high quality, coherence, and timeliness. The process, in other words, is as important as the product. In spite of this non-trivial challenge we feel that this program addresses important goals and is built upon reasonable assumptions and approaches: even if this program falls short of its ultimate objectives, important products such as the conference, proceedings, submitted patterns, and analysis will be created.This ambitious and unprecedented project is currently underway. As of this writing, the pattern input and editing portion of the online support system is operational and over 50 pattern proposals have been submitted. The proposals, so far, originate in Ghana, India, UK, US, Mexico, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Nigeria, South Africa, Malaysia, France, and Brazil and, hence, reflect the wide-ranging community that we intend to continue to engage as this project goes forward.Throughout the process a large number of important questions come to the fore: how do ideas evolve, what roles to people assume in collaborative processes, what legal and other considerations are raised how is intellectual ownership handled, how do aynchronous (electronic) collaborative approaches reinforce with or detract from synchronous (face-to-face) collaborative approaches and vice versa is the "pattern" structure amenable to collective knowledge building, is this approach portable to other disciplines how many patterns "belong" in a pattern language, how much of the work can be done with the technology and how much should be accomplished with people, how much of the work can be done in a totally inclusive, open group and how much should be done with an "executive committee," etc., etc.