# Working with patterns of commoning The patterns listed here are meant to be used to help commoning come alive. Which ideas you choose to focus on and how you specifically apply them is up to you. # Reflect on your own commoning You can use these patterns to reflect on your own processes or to find language for what you are already doing. For each pattern, you can ask: - Are we already doing this? If yes, how exactly? If not, why not? - Do we want to use this pattern? What do we need to do it? - When was the last time we used this pattern? Is there a narrative history to it? - What patterns do individual members feel are most important? Are there any differences? - What patterns might give your project a new twist? What next step is emerging? - From the perspective of our practice, what is missing in this pattern language and should be added? What new questions arise? # Passing on knowledge The patterns can also help people more easily understand the practice of commoning, especially in workshops and seminars. Some suggestions: - *To get started:* Print the patterns and then choose them at random to begin a conversation about different practices and ideas of commoning. - *To deepen your understanding:* Start from a pattern that is felt to be relevant and then explore related patterns as a way to visualize the larger pattern language. - *To reflect:* Ask participants the “problem questions” for a given pattern and then compare their answers with the ones offered in the pattern summary. - *To have fun:* Play “commons charades” with the pattern names.
A pattern approach also opens up new avenues for research. Researchers can critically examine each pattern to develop additional ones that conceptualize more facets of commoning. This type of inquiry can also focus on other fields of commoning (such as law or people’s inner lives) and mine appropriate patterns of commoning for them. Finally, the pattern language can serve as a research framework that stimulates new research and interview questions, fieldwork, and more.