{{Primary sources|date=May 2023}} A '''metapattern''' is a pattern of patterns.
== Definition== The concept of a metapattern was introduced by Gregory Bateson in the introduction to his 1979 book ''Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity.''<ref>Bateson, Gregory (1979). Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity. New York: Dutton</ref> "My central thesis can now be approached in words: The pattern which connects is a metapattern. It is a pattern of patterns. It is that metapattern which defines the vast generalization that, indeed, it is patterns which connect."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bateson|first=Gregory |author-link=Gregory Bateson |date=1979 |title=Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity (Advances in Systems Theory, Complexity, and the Human Sciences)}}</ref>
== Tyler Volk == Tyler Volk, an environmental scientist at New York University expanded on Bateson's description in his 1995 book, ''Metapatterns: Across Space, Time, and Mind''.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Metapatterns: Across Space, Time, and Mind|last = Volk|first = Tyler|publisher = Columbia University Press|year = 1995|isbn = 9780231067515}}</ref> "To me, a metapattern is a pattern so wide-flung that it appears throughout the spectrum of reality: in clouds, rivers, and planets; in cells, organisms, and ecosystems; in art, architecture, and politics." Volk further defines metapatterns as "functional universals for forms in space, processes in time, and concepts in mind."<ref>Volk, Tyler,(1995) Metapatterns: Across Space, Time, and Mind, page viii-ix</ref>
As Volk explains in his prologue, "I was fortunate to have studied with Bateson while he was writing ''Mind and Nature''. It was the autumn of 1977, and he was a scholar-in-residence at the Lindisfarne Association in New York City."<ref>Volk, Tyler,(1996) Metapatterns: Across Space, Time, and Mind, page viii</ref> At that time, Volk was teaching "Visual Science" and "Patterns in Time" as science and humanities courses at the School of Visual Arts.
Volk describes ten metapatterns: Spheres, Sheets/Tubes, Borders, Binaries, Centers, Layers, Calendars, Arrows, Breaks, and Cycles. Education collaborator Jeff Bloom developed a metapatterns website<ref>{{cite web |url=http://metapatterns.wikidot.com/ |title = Welcome to Metapatterns: The Pattern Underground Wiki - Metapatterns}}</ref> exploring these themes.
== Pieter Wisse == The Dutch computer scientist Pieter Wisse proposed a method called Metapattern for conceptual modeling: a technique for meta-information analysis and modeling that emphasizes reusability. The method is described in his book ''Metapattern: Context and Time in Information Models''<ref>Wisse, Pieter (2000), Metapattern: Context and Time in Information Models, Addison-Wesley; 1st edition</ref> and other papers.
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://metapatterns.wikidot.com/start Metapatterns wikidot] * Pieter Wisse: [http://www.informationdynamics.nl/knitbits/htm/primer.htm Metapattern Primer]
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Category:Patterns Category:Systems theory