This discussion took place Sept 6, 1999 at a weekly online discussion presented by Trace Online at LinguaMOO.

Cybele says, "pattern language is a system of design used by architects"

Sue says, "i agree with alan - have you ever tried to map a moo? nightmare."

Cybele says, "it is a big book with 250 different building idioms, like balcony , sunroom etc."

entropio says, "try to imagine we're in two-dimensional space, flat as text"

Cybele says, "& designers use it as a vocabulary when designing"

irf [to ASondheim]: well, there are always consequences, but you are saying the originator is untouched. but isn't that the goal, to change the origin?

Sue says, "i am planning to do some work about bachelards Poetics of Space"

Helen says, "Not like biotech: you can change one atom and the whole damn protein falls apart"

Sue says, "same kind of thing"

Helen says, "How odd I was reading about that earlier today!"

ASondheim says, "I'm saying with digital phenomena, changing one byte, say, in a picture, doesn't alter the others - what's altered on the level of content for the viewer is created by a kind of gestural logic - you alter a corner of a face with red and the whole body might look wounded - but this is not really affecting the rest of the image on the digital level at all - "

ASondheim [to Cybele]: "I think the totality's affected there - "

entropio says, "and the soul"

Cybele says, "I am interested in applying sustainability principals to hyperculture."