The Conversation Pattern Language

Conversation Pattern Language is a pattern which describes an overview of conversation for collaboration. These conversations allow the declaration of Contexts, which can be other pattern languages, allowing a group to name its patterns of discourse, as well as evolve them over time. This language allows a conversation to evolve over time, coevolving what we know with what we don't know. Some of these patterns which may shape this process are listed below.

Action: This is the set of actions participants might do within a conversation. This couples the discussion with behavior, so that participants can see what they can do, what others have done, and replicate whatever successful activities
Context: This is a list of the patterns which are used in this conversation. These patterns may be defined in pattern_languages (e.g. uplift-pattern_language , glossaries (UMLS for medical disease information), or dictionaries (standard English dictionary.)
Discussion: Discussions are threaded groups a communication, perhaps email, instant messages, news posting, blog entries, RSS aggregations, or other knowledge objects which are threaded together into a discusion in the context of the conversation.
Expansive Linguistic Shell: Expansive conversations are those which include the Unknowledge pattern language, which allows the shell to use named voids, growing the context of the conversation adaptively.
Greeter: The greeter is a context for greeting newcomers to the conversation. They are introduced to the contexts employed in the conversation, the most active threads of discussion, and given a chance to familiarize themselves with the styles of the group.
Intent: This defines the intent of a conversation, the goals the participants seek to reach as a result of interacting. Different Participants may declare different intents, which is visible to all.
Participant: A list of the participants in a conversation, including agents and people. Participants are tracked by the degree of activity in the conversation, their preferred contexts, reputation, etc.
Policy: This describes the policies which determine the interaction within the conversation, for example, the ability to add participants, the copyright status of the information contributed to the conversation, the privacy policy, acceptable use standards, etc.
Restricted Shell: A Restricted Shell constrains a conversation to know terminologies and contexts.
Shell: The Linguistic shell of a conversation is the set of contexts within which communication is intended. I
Thread: A specific thread within a discussion.
WITT: Conversations may be linked to a stack of Contexts which then shape the conversation. These contexts may be declared at the outset of the conversation, or may be declared during the conversation itself. Conversations which are structured by the patterns contained in the contexts are said to be Witty.

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