Toronto, Ontario (including Panamania Arts and Culture Celebration, PanAm and ParaPan Games)
Basketball court mural: Solo player shoots hoops in front of @JamiiEsplanade mural led by Elisa (Shalak Attack) Monreal and Julian Periquet, supported by StreetARToronto. Project was unveiled last month before PanAmGames, colours enduring even on a rainy day. Jamii is Swahili for “community”; the Esplanade was a product of the urban reform movement of the early 1970s, with influences by Jane Jacobs. (David Crombie Park, St. Lawrence neighbourhood, Toronto) 20150804Astro Stage: Greek dancing by @LevendiaX Hellenic Folklore Assoc @Taste_Danforth, near Jones Ave. Pedestrian traffic seems denser at the east end of the street festival, with kiddie rides and more community tents. Since we live within biking distance, the neighbourhood, we can visit when the crowds aren’t there. (Taste of the Danforth, Greektown, Toronto) 20150808Landlocked green space: Discovered Cairns Avenue Parkette, a filled-in ravine where Cairns Creek used to flow south into Small’s Pond before 1935. Surrounded by back yards of houses, it’s a ditch with higher grassy areas enjoyed by dogs and their walkers. Entrance on the west side, no exit any other direction. Historical research explains the strange routing of roads in east end Toronto. (Highcroft Road, Upper Beaches, East Toronto) 20150809. “A brief history of Small’s Pond, used then abused” | Chris Bateman | April 21, 2014 | BlogTO at http://www.blogto.com/city/2012/04/a_brief_history_of_smalls_pond_used_then_abused/Summer at 10pm: Thousands hear @jannarden claim @allisoncornell playing with her favourite musician @npstoronto on stage at #panamania. Relaxing songs and good humour have audience enjoying the time together on a cool August evening. Big screen on main stage has fans across the pond spacing out the crowd. (Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto) 20150811Electronic music: Synthpop @AustraTalks@npsToronto@to2015#panamania pumping bass feels like inside a club, yet the band started on the plaza before the sunset. Haven’t heard so much sequencing live since my university days. Entertaining to watch for times when none of three keyboards had hands on keys. Even most drums were electronic. My greying hair was not representative of the audience. Austra is Ryan Wonsiak (keyboards), Maya Potestski (drums), Katie Stelmanis (vocals and keys), Dorian Wolf (bass and keys). (Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto) 20150812Escorted transport: Ontario Provincial Police motorcycle brigade clears way for buses with ParaPan athletes. Must be on their way to closing ceremonies. Uniformed police at Front Street intersections holding back pedestrians. Buses looked empty, so spectators probably went downtown early to get good seats. (Front Street, east of Jarvis Avenue, Toronto). 20150815
Carnival and vendors alley: Sunday late afternoon sees Waterfront Night Market already in action, from the supermarket directly south. Biked through heavy traffic in Portlands for supermarket shopping, finding lots of pedestrians looking for entertainment. Free sample booths inside store were fully manned. When the parking lot gets taken over for an event, where does T&T expect their customers to load their groceries into cars? (T&T Supermarket, Cherry Street, Toronto Portlands) 20150816 MOCCA Courtyard: Dean Baldwin (2015) “Queen Street Memorial Fountain”, one of three parts of the “Queen West Yacht Club” installation. Running water trickles, steps away from Queen Street West and the streetcar. Picnic tables outside give the opportunity to hang out in a convivial scenario, in the final weekend before the MOCCA closes doors at this location, and moves farther west. (Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto) 20150822 Edward Gardens: Annual visit to renew vows for the 30th time, with three sons still in town. Cool summer day encouraged more leisurely walk. We watched the ducks in the stream, and had a woodchuck cross our path, that our city-raised sons hadn’t seen live, before. Fewer visitors to the park on a Monday afternoon. (Edward Gardens, Don Mills, Toronto) 20150824Island airport ferry: A new path not taken, as the tunnel to the Island Airport is an option for pedestrians. Drivers who want to park on the Island can still wait for the ferry. The ship sailed just as we approached the water. (Toronto Island Ferry) 20150825HarbourfrontCentre TaiwanFest: Neo-psychedelic indie rock @EchoBand Echo announced songs in Mandarin, and had audience dancing in their seats. Detailed instructions of directions for hands, up, down, left, right. Much of the audience wouldn’t understand the lyrics, but music plus demonstrations are a universal language. Taiwan Fest also had The Art of Seating, Pan-Asian Culinary Competition, and the Holy Sheep from LunarFest. (Harbourfront Centre, Toronto) 20150829Harbourfront Centre: As part of Taiwan Fest, the Holy Sheep exhibit encouraged visitors to take their photos as a celebration of the Year of the Sheep. The plastic white sheep (and one black sheep) last appeared at the Vancouver Art Gallery in February for Lunar New Year. (Harbourfront Centre, Toronto) 20150829
TheRex: Last night of @RexHotelToronto @TaraKannangara @Colin_Story @MackLongpre #ChrisPruden #JulianAB Sundays residency of August. Two sets, new CD on sneak preview in advance of official release. Tara Kannangara (vocals, trumpet), Colin Story (guitar), Chris Pruden (piano), Julian Anderson-Bowes (bass), Mackenzie Longpre (drums) (Rex Hotel, Toronto) 20150830
Within the Systems Thinking Ontario community, we were fortunate to have Nenad Rava step up to explain how the Sustainable Development Goals came to be, and relate them to systems change. This May session of Systems Thinking Ontario was a quick follow-on for the March edition on Ecological Limits to Development: Living with the SDGs. […]
The book Ecological Limits to Development: Living with the Sustainable Development Goals, published in 2002 by Routledge, was released as open access in 2023 by Taylor-Francis for readers who don’t have access to a university library. For the March edition of Systems Thinking Ontario, we were honoured to celebrate the release with editor-coauthors Kaitlin Kish […]
A special issue on “Sustainable, Smart and Systemic Design Post-Anthropocene: Through a Transdisciplinary Lens” in the Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics edited by Marie Davidová, Susu Nousala, and Thomas J. Marlowe has been released. In that issue, the journey of the Systems Changes Learning Circle from 2019 through 2022 is reviewed. The editorial team, […]
In the ISSS 2022 Plenary talk, the first 25 minutes were a blast through (a) the rising interest in system(s) change(s); (b) appreciative systems (Vickers); (c1) the philosophy of architectural design; (c2) the philosophy of ecological anthropology; (c3) the philosophy of Classical Chinese Medicine; (c4) the philosophy of rhythms; and (d) methods of multiparadigm inquiry, […]
The theme for the February online meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario was sparked from the discussion from the January session on Root Metaphor and World Hypotheses. What does it mean to have a theory? How does sensemaking contribute to this? Gary Metcalf volunteered to guide a conversation on these topics. Two prereadings were to serve […]
Philosophy underlies the distinction in the three volumes of the Tavistock Anthology: founded on the World Hypotheses of Stephen C. Pepper, the Socio-Psychological Systems Perspective and the Socio-Technical Systems Perspectives are based on Organicism, while the Socio-Ecological Systems Perspective is based on Contextualism. This thread on contextualism can be traced from the association between E.C. […]
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 […]
