Basically I argue that a higher level socio-technical pattern language is required and that just using something like interface patterns doesn’t cut it for designing social tools. For example, designing at the level of tag clouds is useless if you haven’t designed the human-computational manner in which the folksonomy works.
Pattern Languages for Computer Mediated Communication Design
Three decades ago the concept of pattern languages were introduced in the field of architecture and they have since become widely used in object-oriented programming and HCI. However their use in computing is divergent from Alexander’s original goals on two main points. Firstly, they were largely intended to describe the spaces formed by or for human activities and events. Secondly, they were intended as a way for profession-als and lay people to communicate whilst designing buildings. This chapter suggests that the socio-technical design of social software should rediscover both these principles, firstly in a fuller appreciation of the wider human angle, and secondly in the participative design approach. Indeed, a pattern language approach within a socio-technical framework seems the ideal way to design the next generation of computer-mediated communication applications, as it will do so in a social context and in partnership with end users.