Patterns of Power information management

The Patterns of Power information management policy is to ensure that readers know which version of pattern description they are reading, and to retain all previous versions.  These pattern descriptions form the core of this website’s resources, and they contain the material that is most likely to be quoted by other writers – so version control can be important, to retain access to the quoted text.

Pattern descriptions are updated individually in response to new ideas, suggestions, or changes in society.  They are all updated, and their Internet links are refreshed, when a new edition of the Patterns of Power books is produced: every few years.

The book Patterns of Power: Edition 2 contains a complete copy of the pattern descriptions which were current at the time of its publication in August 2014.  They were updated in Edition 3, and they were further revised in Edition 3a.  Each description is labelled as to which edition it belongs to.

Edition 4 is currently being produced.  This may take up to a year, but it is useful to publish new versions of pattern descriptions as soon as possible.  During this transition phase, the pages which have already been updated are labelled with the following text:

“This page is intended to form part of Edition 4 of the Pattern of Power series of books.”

Links from Edition 2, and from The Rough Guide, are still supported – directing readers to the appropriate archive material.  Each archive page also has a link to the current pattern listing.  Link redirection is maintained for readers of the first Overview book.  Some new sections and sub-sections have been added since that time, though, so the Edition 3 books have access to more material.

The bibliography and alphabetical index are both updated continuously, and they are not under version control.  The Edition 2 and Edition 3 published contents of both have been archived, however.

The URL structure to support this Patterns of Power information management policy is described here.