Vienna, Austria; Danube University Krems; Krems, Austria; University of Surrey; Guildford, UK; London, England; Toronto, Ontario.
Austrian Airlines Toronto to Vienna. Just realised that I’m breaking my personal rule to fly across oceans on a carrier with a Canadian flag. Direct flight for short trip trumped brand preference. Fortunately, the Austrians aren’t known as an aggressive culture. I expect to nap, and wake up in Vienna. (OS 72, still boarding at Pearson International Airport YYZ) 20150702Danube University Krems. Small university campus just one street by two blocks up hill from small town. Attending pattern language conference, PURPLSOC is third within a year. Would have meet practically all Christopher Alexander scholars by now, may focus down in future events with some interested in collaborating. Shortest lead time ever, 8 hours on plane, 3 hours on train, 1 hour to find campus, barely time for lunch, check-in and shower before first speaker started at 2:30 pm. (Danube University Krems, Austria) 20150703Wellenspiel, Krems. Conference dinner by the Danube River in Austria. Weather has been warm, around 30 degrees C and sunny. Mountain altitude, air is clean. Some familiar faces from prior pattern language conferences. (Krems, Austria) 20150704Closing ceremony at PURPLSOC. Network of yarn symbolises colleagues meet over a few short days of intense interaction. Tangle is tossed in parachute to create a knotty mess. First learned this at PLoP 2014 in Illinois. (Danube University Krems, Austria) 20150705S7 platform, Praterstern. Morning commute to airport from Vienna city centre hotel on suburban line S7. Started journey a little earlier than originally planned, discovering that I would be sitting nearly 30 minutes, as trains don’t run more frequently. Austrian efficiency means trains run on time, so the best surprise is no surprise. Flights to London Heathrow will be connecting, lowering airfare and adding miles. (Praterstern, Vienna, Austria) 20150706Glass overhead walkways. From Frank Whittle at south to Alan Turing at north, buildings connected to encourage random interactions between researchers walking and thinking. Design of campus with buildings below 4 stores an antithesis of skyscraper thinking. Statue of Turing on plaza a little further north may be overearnest recognition, as he was never part of this university, and would only come home to Guildford on weekends while a teenager at boarding school. (University of Surrey, Stag Hill campus, Guildford, UK) 20150707
Stainless steel sculpture and fountain. William Pye (1969) “Narcissus”, with spray of water on west side of small lake in northeast Stag Hill campus. Terrain at university is scenic but hilly, signs posted that accessibility may lead to indirect routes. British summer morning is cool, wearing long pants in anticipation of afternoon rain. (University of Surrey, Guildford, UK) 20150708Main entrance to Guildford Cathedral. Angel musicians engraved in glass by John Hutton are inset into bronze doors. One glass panel was vandalised in 2009, and restored by a protégé of the original artist a year later. Guildford Cathedral was consecrated in 1961, one of three modern cathedrals of the Church of England, the others in Liverpool in 1978, the other in St. Albans in 1877. Cathedral is by the south end of the university, had afternoon stroll up and down hills as a break from sitting. (Guildford Cathedral, Surrey, UK) 20150709Bridge NGL 15/X49: Public footbridge beside Guildford Viaduct over River Wey rail crossing reflects British multifunction design, as pedestrians served as well as as trains. Narrow path on south side of New Guildford Line (NGL) starts from Woodbridge Road at the east, to Woodbridge Meadows on the west. Forest naturally shades the path. Route jogs closer to rail built at higher level, going around the Sea Cadets camp. Low stress walk to university in the morning, steps at west end not so welcoming for the cyclist hoisting his ride. (Guildford Viaduct over River Wey, UK) 20150710SIEYP panel: Post #ISIE2015 panel #SIEYP2015 Symposium on Industrial Ecology for Young Professionals looks forward on directions for research. Audience of over 100 graduate students and postdocs could shape the future of the field. Panel includes: Reid Lifset (Yale U.), Ming Xu (U. Michigan), Chris Davis (U. Groningen), Noa Meron (Tel Aviv U.), Weslynne Ashton (IIT), Megha Shenoy (independent, India), Chris Kennedy (U. of Toronto). Afternoon will have self-organizing groups for discussion. (Lecture Block, Stag Hill campus, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK) 20150711Millennium Bridge. St. Paul’s Cathedral across the River Thames, from the third floor cafe of the Tate Modern. Truncated reservation by B&B in Guildford opened opportunity for single Saturday night in London. Museum is one of the few cultural institutions open late. (Tate Modern, London, England) 20150711Saatchi Gallery front ramp: Grandfather watches French child enjoying kickboard, running in circles up the steps and gliding down again and again. Saatchi Gallery opens at 10 a.m. on Sunday, I arrived a few minutes early and sat on a bench next to Duke of York Square, by Sloane Square. After opening, a quick tour of the galleries was worth the trip, evening with the confusion of rerouting to the tube after the British 10K London Run shut down bus services on the streets. When I left the gallery 45 minutes later, the child was still running around in circles, and I noticed others also behaving well on skateboards around the shopping district. (Duke of York Square, London, England) 20150712
Richmond Adelaide Centre Courtyard. A perforated wall and partial shading aims to give a quiet outdoor respite in the shadows of downtown towers. Hidden behind a wall facing a busy westbound one-way street, pedestrians are more likely to find the spaces than drivers teaching by. (Richmond Adelaide Centre Courtyard, Toronto) 20150713
Towards a general theory of living systems, we should be looking beyond the singletons of a hierarchical level, i.e. (i) cell, (ii) organ, (iii) organism, (iv) group, (v) organization, (vi) community, (vii) society, and (viii) supranational level. In a scientific approach, James Grier Miller created a list of hypotheses. In the 1100+ page book, the […]
When exploring the meaning of Living Systems, it’s pretty hard to ignore the major works of James Grier Miller (1916–2002) with a book thus titled. In addition to the 1978 book Living Systems (of 1168 pages!) some additions were published in 1992 in Behavioral Science, the Journal of the Society for General Systems Research. Miller […]
For their community of systems practitioners, Systems and Complexity in Organisation (SCiO) UK invited a presentation at their Virtual Open Meeting in July. Presenting in a 45-minute slot, the slides at http://coevolving.com/commons/2022-07-11-doing-thinking-making-systems-changes were covered in 38 minutes, leaving time for a few questions and comments. The agenda mainly focused on “Doing”, with “Thinking” and “Making” […]
On the path towards a publication in 2023, this plenary talk for the International Society for the Systems Sciences 66th Annual Meeting came with a preamble. Slides were provided in advance at http://coevolving.com/commons/2022-07-08-appreciating-systems-changes, so that details might be later perused at leisure. Here is the agenda for the presentation: A. Rising interest in System(s) Change(s) […]
In which ways are systems changes different from changes? Extending the deep body of knowledge in the systems sciences, rhythmic shifts serve as a gateway for exploration. In a rigourous coevolving of inquiries into (i) doing (praxis), (ii) thinking (theoria), and (iii) making (theoria), a coherent systems approach is being recast and reified. An article […]
System thinking, starting from graduate studies, can be a continuing (if not lifelong) journey. In parallel to a professional career in strategic communications, Zaid Khan has the distinction having studyied systemic design in the OCADU SFI program (2016-2020), under the supervision of Peter Jones. He became a cofounder of the Systems Changes Learning Circle in […]
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 ›
In web conference, #HermanDaly says #EcologicalEconomics used to get attacked from the right, now it's from the left. Panel @revkin @jon_d_erickson @ktkish @sophiesanniti #TimCrowshaw #KatieHorner livestreamed #sustainwhat .Read more ›
Complementing the idea of a @longnow , @nfergus provokes the challenge of a #shortthen as the online social media platforms distract the larger perspectives on history.Read more ›
In the history of science of systems thinking, Debora Hammond related the backgrounds and connections of the founder of the Society for General Systems Research, that is now the International Society for the Systems Sciences. Boulding (1956) plays a large role in framing two orientations towards “general systems theory”. Kenneth Boulding used to distinguish between […]
Geoffrey Vickers saw human systems as different, with moral character distinguishing from natural and manmade systems. Gregory Bateson, in a more general view of systems, saw morality as entering in systems processes.
In this review of a philosophical work written in Chinese, a comparison is made between Chinese philosophy centering on the body, in comparison to Western philosopy centered on the mind. (I found a reference to this book, tracing back from Keekok Lee (2017) Chapter 9, footnote 8.
The translation from English "systems thinking" to French "la pensée systémique" misses meaning. "Approche systémique" has lineage to "Conférences Macy", "General System Theory (Bertalanffy)" and "Gregory Bateson"
When one chooses a guiding philosophy of life -- and the modern world has chosen humanism -- one becomes responsible for all the consequences that flow from that choice. (David W. Ehrenfeld, 1981)
