About the Patterns[edit]
The patterns on zodiac.wiki describe common problems and offers practical responses for organizations. By co-developing and co-organizing a pattern language together, the hope is that deeper insight will be revealed.
Background[edit]
What may have the most impact on the future isn't decentralized digital technology alone, but the governance patterns it culturally normalizes. Patterns could be defined as events, methods, or ways of being that recur. They reciprocate their environment. They are something that a world shapes and that shapes a world in turn, like intervals of sloping sand dunes formed from wind currents.
In the 1970s, a group of architects spearheaded by the late Christopher Alexander proposed the idea of a pattern language, a series of small descriptions that could inform how we approach our built environment. For example, the design of a house could be arrived at through connecting patterns, such as planning light on two sides of every room or cultivating a garden growing wild next to a sun facing outdoors.
Rather than suggesting one universal pattern language to govern our built environment, the idea of a pattern language encourages many shared cultural vernaculars. It aims to support “a quality without a name”, a feeling of aliveness, interconnectedness, and autonomy in the built environment we inhabit. This feeling comes through responding to a place, rather than imposing on a place.
That the idea of a pattern language directly led to the creation of what would become perhaps the primary medium for knowledge commons, the wiki, should be well-known internet lore.
Contributing Patterns[edit]
To submit a pattern, visit the Contribution Guide. Please note that how you write the pattern is ultimately your choice. There is no standard template. Additionally, pattern subcategories are intended to be fluid and emergent. We welcome you to help shape how these patterns are presented and linked together.
Ongoing work[edit]
Pattern workshops[edit]
Gnosis Guild will help partner organizations organize and facilitate pattern-generating workshops for their community. A toolkit will also be made available for any organization to host its own pattern-generating workshop. For more information or to request help from Gnosis Guild, join the Gnosis Guild Discord.
CabinDAO pattern development[edit]
Cabin raised funds through Gitcoin to develop patterns for zodiac.wiki. They aim to "contribute a deep set of content to a library of DAO patterns by enabling members of DAO media and research guilds to interview active DAO contributors, formulate common themes into patterns, and publish the patterns for further discussion and curation." Learn more at the Gitcoin fundraising page and visit Cabin's website.
Gnosis Guild pattern development[edit]
Add learnings, share links, and discuss patterns in the relevant channels and threads in the Gnosis Guild Discord. To get notified of relevant updates, choose the @patternmaker role in the #choose-your-role channel.
Weekly syncs[edit]
Current Status: Gnosis Guild is temporarily pausing the Working Group syncs. For updates, join the Gnosis Guild Discord.
The weekly syncs are a great place to discuss and document decentralized organization patterns. Every Friday at 3:30pm UTC (11:30am ET | 5:30pm CEST), the Zodiac Patterns Group meets for 30mn in the Gnosis Guild Discord to workshop patterns for Zodiac.wiki. Anyone is welcome to join these working group calls! Check out the Zodiac Patterns Group Sync Notes for the latest.
