Toronto, Ontario; Vancouver, BC.
Green Room. Bright lights in alley led me to find the Green Room, a student hangout bar in the Annex. Was open in the 1970s when I was student, and I never went. Was closed for a long time, then recently reopened. I still don’t drink, so it’s not a real attraction for me. (Toronto) 20111005 20:28Banksy Church St. behind 70 Esplanade. Last Banksy work in Toronto, street art behind plastic protection, graffiti on top. Smaller than I expected. Noticed at Banksy was here. And he survived the wrecking ball , sidebar to What Banksy’s Toronto Pieces Look Like Now, originals at Nick Mount on Banksy (Toronto) 20111007 1844North Vancouver cafeteria view. View of Vancouver skyline across the Burrard Inlet, from cafeteria of North Vancouver office. The man-made scenery looking south isn’t the same as the natural glory of mountains looking north. Still, the harbour view is a better than average fringe benefit of west coast work. (North Vancouver) 20111013 1142Seaplanes at Coal Harbour. iew north with seaplanes docked at Coal Harbour, and North Vancouver beyond. White planes seem to be the standard colour, so the yellow one stands out. (Vancouver) 20111014 1020Muchmusic Nightbox. John St. window of MuchMusic open, @nightboxmusic performing @nml NewMusicLive. Camera jib was swinging wildly inside during the song. Cool fall Tuesday afternoon, so few onlookers compared to summer. Window rolled down a few minutes later. (Toronto) 20111018 1752Fall Dusk Riverdale Park. Looking west over Riverdale Park towards downtown Toronto, cool overcast fall day, but leaves on trees still haven’t turned yellow or red. Living near Lake Ontario, frost comes at us slower. (Toronto) 20111023 1802
Chinese Herbs For Fever. Three bags of undescribed roots and twigs for decoctions after Chinese doctor diagnosed weakness, fever and slight cough. After a last night’s phone call with Telehealth Ontario nurse, I expect a better resolution with this approach instead of visiting the clinic with western medicine. Had woke up feeling better, but fatigue set in within a few hours. I biked very slowly to Chinatown. 20111029 1344
For the November 2023 Systems Thinking Ontario session, historian and policy advisor Dr. Michael Bonner was invited for an interview by Zaid Khan. In organizing the sessions, we’re trying to avoid the trap of systems thinking becoming a discipline, through learning with a sweeping-in process. The session opened on a map of The Sassanid Empire […]
It the systems sciences are an open system, then learning more and more about systems of interest are foundational. This was called a sweep-in process by C. West Churchman, in the heritage of Edgar A. Singer. Jr. A concise definition is found in the entry on “Experimentalism” in the International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics: […]
For the Relating Systems and Design RSD12 symposium on October 14, 2023, members of the Explainers subgroup of the Systems Changes Learning Circle conducted an in-person workshop on “Explaining Systems Changes Learning: Metaphors and translations” at OCADU in Toronto. RSD12 included both in-person sessions and online sessions. In the planning phase for the symposium, our […]
Judith Rosen agreed to give an online presentation for the Systems Thinking Ontario meeting in October 2023, after we converted her in-person meeting at OCADU in August into a discussion circle. Channelling the anticipatory systems approach of her father, mathematical biologist Robert Rosen, Judith has been extended those ideas in her own continuing observation of […]
An article related to the ISSS plenary talk of July 2022 has now passed the peer review process, and is published in early view for Systems Research and Behavioral Science. It should shortly be printed in the November issue of SRBS that serves as the General Systems Yearbook. Update on Nov. 22, 2023: A full-text, […]
In a return to original Systems Thinking Ontario format, we reviewed an (old) systems thinking paper from 1998. Mohammed Badrah served as reviewer. Kelly Okamura was the discussant. The author, David Hawk, was available during the discussion period for extended knowledge. As compared to prior Systems Thinking Ontario sessions with the word “entropy” in the […]
Following the first day lecture on Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1 for the Global University for Sustainability, Keekok Lee continued on a second day on some topics: * Anatomy as structure; physiology as function (and process); * Process ontology, and thing ontology; * Qi ju as qi-in-concentrating mode, and qi san as qi-in-dissipsating mode; and […]
The philosophy of science underlying Classical Chinese Medicine, in this lecture by Keekok Lee, provides insights into ways in which systems change may be approached, in a process ontology in contrast to the thing ontology underlying Western BioMedicine. Read more ›
In conversation, @zeynep with @ezraklein reveal authentic #SystemsThinking in (i) appreciating that “science” is constructed by human collectives, (ii) the west orients towards individual outcomes rather than population levels; and (iii) there’s an over-emphasis on problems of the moment, and…Read more ›
In the question-answer period after the lecture, #TimIngold proposes art as a discipline of inquiry, rather than ethnography. This refers to his thinking On Human Correspondence. — begin paste — [75m26s question] I am curious to know what art, or…Read more ›
How might our society show value for the long term, over the short term? Could we think about taxation over time, asks @carlotaprzperez in an interview: 92% for 1 day; 80% within 1 month; 50%-60% tax for 1 year; zero tax for 10 years.Read more ›
For the @ArchFoundation, #TimIngold distinguishes outcome-oriented making from process-oriented growing, revisiting #MartinHeidegger “Building Dwelling Thinking”. Organisms are made; artefacts grow. The distinction seems obvious, until you stop to ask what assumptions it contains, about the inside and outside of things…Read more ›
The selection of readings in the “Introduction” to Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2, Penguin (1981), edited by Fred E. Emery, reflects a turn from 1969 when a general systems theory was more fully entertained, towards an urgency towards changes in the world that were present in 1981. Systems thinking was again emphasized in contrast […]
In reviewing the original introduction for Systems Thinking: Selected Readings in the 1969 Penguin paperback, there’s a few threads that I only recognize, many years later. The tables of contents (disambiguating various editions) were previously listed as 1969, 1981 Emery, System Thinking: Selected Readings. — begin paste — Introduction In the selection of papers for this […]
In a recording of the debate between Michael Quinn Patton and Michael C. Jackson on “Systems Concepts in Evaluation”, Patton referenced four concepts published in the “Principles for effective use of systems thinking in evaluation” (2018) by the Systems in Evaluation Topical Interest Group (SETIG) of the American Evaluation Society. The four concepts are: (i) […]
How might the quality of an action research initiative be evaluated? — begin paste — We have linked our five validity criteria (outcome, process, democratic, catalytic, and dialogic) to the goals of action research. Most traditions of action research agree on the following goals: (a) the generation of new knowledge, (b) the achievement of action-oriented […]
After 90 minutes on phone and online chat with WesternUnion, the existence of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland is denied, so I can’t send money from Canada. TicinoTurismo should be unhappy. The IT developers at Western Union should be dissatisfied that customer support agents aren’t sending them legitimate bug reports I initially tried the […]
