Toronto, Ontario.
Nathan Phillips Square: Afternoon traffic jam amongst skaters on the rink, while roads are empty and most businesses closed for New Year’s Day. Pedestrian volume high in the Eaton Centre across the street, more browsers than buyers enjoying an indoor stroll. Temperature above freezing and sun encouraged bicycle ride, bundled up with winter wear. (Nathan Phillips Square, Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20170101Roberts Library: When the e-version isn’t available, a quick trip to the library stacks works. University is still quiet after holiday season, yet there’s still some people on computer terminals after 9 p.m. When I was an undergrad, I visited this section frequently. (Robarts Library, 11th floor, St. George Street, University of Toronto, Ontario) 20170103Toronto Public Library, Queen Saulter Branch: Neighbourhood walk to pick up book and DVD, chest cold having discouraged leaving the house in a week. Neo-classical building was designed by E.J. Lennox, serving as Postal Station G from 1914 to 1975. Renovated in 1979, the library and community centre is a landmark in South Riverdale. (Toronto Public Library, Queen Saulter Branch, 765 Queen Street East, Riverside district, Toronto) 20170114OCADU: Systems Thinking Ontario first meeting of New Year discussing some topics looking forward, reviewing the format of sessions in history. Repeated contextual presentation from 2012 including the map of ignorance, postnormal science, and the design in inquiring systems. (Lambert Lounge, OCADU, McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20170118India Paan: Sugar cane and grilled corn outside, but server inside on grey above-freezing January Sunday. Pedestrian traffic light, with a few families coming out after lunches. (India Paan, Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20170122
875 Queen Street East: Former Woodgreen Pharmacy building gone, wall of former Woodgreen Red Door Shelter in deconstruction. Had never been inside building, soon there won’t be any structure to see. (875 Queen Street East, southwest corner at Logan Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20170122Lebanese Bakery: Had zaatar toasted in big oven for afternoon snack, then took home a small stack bagged for takeout. Counter and display cases are a small storefront compared to the large industrial operation in the back. Creative venue for business meeting away from downtown rush hour traffic. (Lebanese Bakery, Lawrence Avenue East, Wexford district, Scarborough, Ontario) 20170124College Street at University Avenue : Glass tower of MarsDD West Tower completed late 2016 follows style of Ontario Power Building completed 1975. Southwest corner was originally called Hydro Place in my undergraduate student days. These modernist buildings contrast with lower storey structures in the neighbourhood. (College Street at University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20170125Pho Thien Phat: Vase with flowers mounted and wooden horse mosaic mounted on wall of modest Vietnamese restaurant in strip mall. Plaza has a multicultural bonanza of international cuisine alternatives. Another obscure venue for a casual business meeting. (Pho Thien Phat, Flemingdon Park Shopping Centre, Don Mills Road, North York, Ontario) 20170126Jimmie Simpson Park: Bleak snowy day for Chinese New Year, a few skaters on the rink. Discouraged from travelling cross town to Spadina, where Year of the Rooster festivities are in the Dragon Centre Mall. Weather forecast sees a return to winter, having enjoyed a brief reprieve with warmer temperatures. (Jimmie Simpson Park, Queen Street East, Riverside district, Toronto, Ontario) 20170128Ted Rogers School of Management: ADP Sales Competition @Ryan_Ing @RyersonSI pitch to 2 mock customers + 2 additional judges. Last presentation of the day, he woke up audience with jokes about fixing headaches with a pill bottle, and then closed with Why ADP? (Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20170131
Ted Rogers School of Management: ADP Sales Competition @Ryan_Ing @RyersonSI awarded second place prize, selected among 6 finalists. Invited family and friends to observe, and share in dinner festivities. (Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20170131
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 […]
