Calgary, Alberta; Vancouver, BC; Toronto, Ontario; Montreal, Quebec.
YYC baggage wildlife. Hippopotamus in baggage carousel at Calgary international airport. Arrivals promotion of local zoo, then other attraction at other carousels. Something to look at, while waiting for luggage, it’s creative use of public space (Calgary) 20120306 1453Kota Ezawa 2008 Hand Vote. Installation illuminated at night, at Vancouver Art Gallery Outside, Hand Vote (2008) by Kota Ezawa. On Georgia Street, a main stream, between two towers, could be easy to miss if not on foot. (Vancouver) 20120308 1910Tracks west from Commercial Drive. Downtown Vancouver in the distance, late on a rainy afternoon. North of East Broadway, south of Grandview Highway, rail is the faster way into the city centre. Coming on the Skytrain eastbound, it was a long way from the previous station, and the route turned south before continuing east (Vancouver) 20120309 1724Riverdale Cemetery, Parkway, Park. View eastward on warm late winter from Toronto Necropolis, overlooks Don Valley Parkway, and Riverdale Park East in the distance with apartment towards Danforth Avenue. Can see through the trees, but leaves will obscure the view in a few weeks (Toronto) 20120311 1714YUL mini marche. Convenience store at Montreal airport offers selection of wine and beer. Alcohol may be a part of everyday life in the French-heritage province, but in the next province west in Ontario, the retail channel is government-owned stores. My local colleague and American visitor shrugged their shoulders at my noticing the everyday (Montreal) 20120313 1011European Meat leaving Kensington Market. Neighbourhood institution of 53 years, will close business on April 7 in favour of Etobicoke store. I have shopped there since the 1970s, most recently bicycling cross town for quality foods. I’ll have to start looking elsewhere. (Toronto) 20120317 1641MOCCA sculpture. On top of pole, swirling steel bands, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art courtyard. Bright spring day on Queen Street West (Toronto) 20120321 1748Jasper by John Clement in Vancouver. Loops of tubular steel, orange paint stands out on a cloudy March Vancouver midday. Part of the Vancouver Biennale 2009-2011 temporary public art exhibition. Titled Jasper, by John Clement, web site at Firehouse Studio. Installed at corner of Robson Street and Jervis Street (Vancouver) 20120326 1436Trees sculpture, Stephen Ave. Ten stainless steel 20-plus-metre sculptures, built on concrete caissons that extend to almost the same depth underground. On the Stephen Avenue (8th Ave. SW) pedestrian mall at 3rd St. SW in downtown Calgary. Donated by Trizec Hahn Office Properties to the city in 2000, with Cohos Evamy Partners Architect, directed by Jablonsky, Ast And Partners, fabricated by Empire Iron Works (Calgary, Alberta) 20120328 1750
YYC digging. Mounds of earth on the far side of the tarmac at Calgary International Airport. From the runway extension? Construction diversion confused my driving on last trip so that I missed my flight; chose taxi this time (Calgary) 20120329 1236
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 […]
