Toronto, Ontario; Shanghai, PR China; Kalamazoo, Michigan
Pearson Airport T1: Between Gates E77 and E78, colorful glass cylinders enclosing light bulbs, suspended from overhead arches. Design by Norr Architects for OTG, a company operating high-end restaurants at the airport, including Hemant Bhagwani’s Marathi Indian. (Terminal 1, Pearson International Airport, Toronto, Ontario) 20170401Shanghai Pudong Airport: Whimsical rooster themed installation on middle of airport, lightens the spirit on the long walk from the airplane, through immigration, to the Maglev train. Impressed on short ride hitting 430 km/h peak, before slowing down at western terminus. (Pudong International Airport, Shanghai, PR China) 20170402Zhangwu Sichuan: Dinner for Qingming Tomb-Sweeping Day, since public holiday on a Monday still has most people off work. Chose Sichuan resto near Tongji University, left half of dishes filled with red peppers too spicy to eat. (Zhangwu Sichuan, Shanghai, PR China) 20170403People’s Park Pond: Father with small net skimming somethings from top of pond, and placing into small bucket for son. Game players involved in own activities in the background. Tuesday is still an extended Qingming weekend holiday, the park was popular with families. (People’s Park, Shanghai, P R China) 20170404Shanghai Gallery of Art: Yin Xiuzhen 2005 TVT-Rocket installation of three cloth towers, extends from third floor in light well up to 6th. Gallery is open to public, and closer to the Bund, but maybe the Whampoa Club upstairs enjoys less traffic. (Shanghai Gallery of Art, Three.on the Bund, Shanghai, P R China) 20170404Rockbund Art Museum: Song Dong 2017 Back Image, screen plus 50 benches. Extensive show covering long career over 6 floors. Well curated contemporary art venue, building walls show a sense of humour with dimensions marked everywhere. (Rockbund Art Museum, Huangpu Qu, Shanghai, P R China) 20170404
College of Design and Innovation, Tongji U.: Ph.D. seminar @snousala on Quantitative Methods. What is the difference between data, information, and knowledge? Describing the context before diving into big data tools. (College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, P R China) 20170405Tongji U: One of many bikeshare clusters on the sidewalk boulevards in Shanghai. Mobike orange, Ofo yellow and Xiaoming blue services don’t have dockng stations, it’s easy for a subscriber to scan a barcode with a mobile phone to unlock the clamp, ride away, and drop off near destination. High volume cheap bikes everywhere are a sharp contrast to the North American style of higher quality infrastructure spread further apart. (Tongji University, Shanghai, P R China) 20170406Jz Club: Thomas Stabenow presents Li Xiaochuan, world touring famous bassist lending legitimacy to local trumpeter. Went to wrong venue in the Former French Concession, had to take taxi to meet SN late. Jazz Club is truly underground, maze of tunnels opens up unexpectedly into courtyard. (Jz Club, Julu Road, Shanghai, P R China) 20170406Baker & Spice: Convenient intercept meeting in Former French Concession, with scholars coming from Canada/Finland, China/Finland and Netherlands/Canada. Multi-hour discussion in the relaxed corner of a bakery cafe, with a toddler racing circles on a tricycle. Will consult calendars for next face-to-face with extended colleagues. (Baker & Spice, Former French Concession, Shanghai, P R China) 20170407Buynow Xujiahui: Shopped for Lenovo Yoga Pad Android, tired of hoisting powerful ThinkPad X230T around. Lightweight pen-based device matches OS on mobile phone, screen larger and can sketch notes. New alternative to netbook, without Windows or Mac OS. Full experience of registering purchase with tax authorities. (Buynow, Xujiahui, Shanghai, P R China) 20170407Yangdian Taoist Temple: Upper and lower level rooms each house one or more deities representing a variety of qualities, ringing two large buildings in the courtyard centre. Gate fee gave me a bundle of joss sticks, I followed the cue of others to light them, bow four directions, and then stand the sticks up in an urn of ashes. Musicians playing, priests chanting, echoing through the large compound. (Royal Qinci Yangdian Taoist Temple, Pudong, Shanghai, P R China) 20170408
Royal Qinci Yangdian Taoist Temple:
Woman bowing 3 times in 4 directions with joss sticks that are then left to smoke in the brazier. Couple taking paper foil joss paper from a bag, for deposit into a cylindrical brazier. From a distance within the temple, wind and string musicians can be heard, while priests’ voices are unamplified. (Royal Qinci Yangdian Taoist Temple, Pudong, Shanghai, P R China) 20170408
Chinese herb pot: Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner prescribed extra large quantity of herbs, with diagnosis of bronchitis and fatigue from travel to Asia. Three bags, each to be decocted for 45 minutes for a first serving, and then with added water on a second day. Electric clay pot was originally bought by son #2, as a better alternative to simpler steel pot on stove. (Riverside district, Toronto, Ontario) 20170409Sugar Loaf Bakery: Pastries made on-premise available mid-morning, but breakfast sandwiches out, so friend had the last croissant warmed with ham and cheese. Good conversation in a quiet corner at the back, catching up on news missed over the last month. It seems as though I visit venues that are more distant, than the places just down the street. (Sugar Loaf Bakery, Queen Street East, Riverside district, Toronto, Ontario) 20170412Hua Sheng: Busy day in Spadina Chinatown, where Good Friday isn’t an observed holiday. Since local stores on the east side are mostly closed, biked cross town on a sunny day to pick up Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa cough syrup. Looking for some symptomatic relief at home. (Hua Sheng, Chinatown, Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20170414Distillery Loop: TTC driver enjoying clear weather, pausing streetcar before scheduled northbound departure. Southern terminus of the Cherry Street line is a flat wide open, usually unoccupied yet unavailable for other purposes. The 514 line started running along King Street in June 2016, complementing the 504 line that runs farther east, and then north. (Distillery Loop, Cherry Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20170415
Queen Street Dental Centre:
Watched 3-D printing of a dental crown made in 9 minutes in the neighbourhood office. Had chipped crown last installed in 2005. Dentist built up to original shape, and then use computer copy function. Onsite production saves cost of impression for temporary, and setting up room for second visit. Manufactory still expensive, maybe 5 to 7 year payback. (Queen Street Dental Centre, Queen Street East, Riverside district, Toronto, Ontario) 20170418
OCADU Richmond Campus: Full house at Systems Thinking Ontario, @DaveMallery explaining thermodynamics as a foundation for ecological economics. More of a challenge than I would inflict on a grad school class, this session was organized on request by the group while I was away. As I was skimming the prereadings, I came to appreciate how much systems theory I have internalized over 20 years. (OCADU, 205 Richmond Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20170419OCADU Richmond Campus: MuSIASEM briefing @uomo_macchina channelling @MarioGiampietro Kozo Mayumi method of accounting for analyzing socio-ecosystems, to simulate possible patterns of development. Presenting at Systems Thinking Ontario, guest visit from McGill University. Characterizing metabolic patterns of Socio-Ecological Systems. (OCADU, 205 Richmond Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20170419Sky Dragon Resto: Lowkong Society Spring Festival dinner, second course of BBQ meats being served. More casual than the fall festival, maybe a signal that winter is over. (Sky Dragon Restaurant, Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20170423Woodbine Beach: Mounds of earth signal that lagoon is man-made, and the beach is renewed each spring for warm weather recreation. Public park opened in the late 1970s was originally a marsh, with major dredging in the 1920s. (Woodbine Beach, Ashbridges Bay, Toronto, Ontario) 20170427
Shwarma King : Slight diversion for Middle Eastern buffet, surprised at homemade dishes in large variety. Oriental cuisine a welcomed change from Asian cooking, fits our family demands for dairy-frer, gluten-free lunch. Resto seems family-operated, shows that food fast didn’t have to be fast food. (Shwarma King Buffet, Kalamazoo, Michigan) 20170430
Welcomed to join in on Community Potluck Dinner, but I came to listen to #MagdaBaraczya singing and playing jazz on piano. Neighbourhood known as #ThePocket is in east Riverdale, with entry only via Jones Avenue to the west, bracketed by GO/Via train tracks to the south, TTC Greenwood Yard to the east, and one way […]
Flower heads looking dishevelled on cold spring day with #RiverdaleArtWalk organized by #ArtistsNetwork. No rain, but many people were donning hats, toques, and gloves. Lots of baby strollers and dogs on leash. (Jimmie Simpson Park, Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20250531
Community event #ActorsSocial coinciding with Asian Heritage month, casual backroom stage with mirror revealing audience. Script by #PhyllisCameronUng originally written as a 48-hour challenge for 3 male actors. Story of brothers missing sister. (Society Clubhouse, College Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20250528
Cabbagetown Farmers Market on Tuesday afternoons. Easy stroll through local produce and food vendors. Spring temperatures see shoppers without jackets, and in shorts. (Riverdale Park West, Winchester Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20250527
Exploring the Chinese Canadian Archives at UToronto with #JuneChow and #MorrisLum. Permitted handling of maps, photos and brochures from geographer David Chuenyan Lai collection from U. Victoria, on Chinatowns across Canada, if hands were washed. Current research into Dragon Centre mall opened in Agincourt in 1984, now in decline with review for redevelopment. (Thomas Fisher […]
Second floor Sala Da Pranzo @Doors_OpenTO used to be main courtroom of Adelaide Street Courthouse (1853 - 1900). View from third floor Il Covo Degli Artisti, originally home for Arts and Letter Club (1910-1920). Jail cells in basement now wine cellar, and a women's washroom. (Terroni, Adelaide Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20240524
n shed at foot of Jarvis Street on harbour, stockpiles of raw sugar at @Doors_OpenTO . Ships from Honduras and Brasil sail up St. Lawrence River, unloading 7 tonnes at a time. Conveyors over and under transport material to other buildings, separating white crystals from molasses syrup. (Redpath Sugar Refinery Queens Quay East, Toronto, ontario) […]
On Friday May 23rd 2025, the Ceol Kids band played the top 25 tunes selected by donations. https://www.leespalace.com/event/ceol-kids-fundraiser Ceol Kids is a diverse group of musicians who came together for a surprise party a few years ago. The plan was to take 30 random songs from the ipod of the guest of honour, and perform […]
On Friday May 23rd 2025, the Ceol Kids band played the top 25 tunes selected by donations. https://www.leespalace.com/event/ceol-kids-fundraiser Ceol Kids is a diverse group of musicians who came together for a surprise party a few years ago. The plan was to take 30 random songs from the ipod of the guest of honour, and perform […]
On Friday May 23rd 2025, the Ceol Kids band played the top 25 tunes selected by donations. https://www.leespalace.com/event/ceol-kids-fundraiser Ceol Kids is a diverse group of musicians who came together for a surprise party a few years ago. The plan was to take 30 random songs from the ipod of the guest of honour, and perform […]
At the post-meeting dinner after the February Systems Thinking Ontario session, Anna Chekhman mentioned that she was teaching a third-year course on Designing Future Systems at York University. I offered to give a lecture, and we set a date for a few weeks later. The CSRP Institute 2024 Banathy Conversation validated that the Systems Changes […]
Two years after submitting an academic manuscript and responding to double-blind reviews, “Rethinking work, with the pandemic disruption” has now been published in the International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior (IJOTB) as earlycite. The article has a DOI (Document Object Identifier), and should be streamed with an official volume and issue number soon. The […]
The 128th meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario was convened in person. The classroom was filled with current students, alumni, our regular participants, and a few curious newcomers. Moderated by Zaid Khan, the conversation was sparked by Stephen Davies and myself (David Ing) on the evolving styles in learning systems thinking. Stephen has been leading SFIN-6011 […]
The “Understanding Systems” SFIN-6011 course is a requirement in the master’s program in Strategic Foresight and Innovation at OCADU. For winter 2025, the class is now led by Stephen Davies, breaking the incremental evolving of content since 2008. While still on faculty at OCADU, the original course designer Peter H. Jones is now a Distinguished […]
In the 1970s, five ways of knowing were established by C. West Churchman in The Design of Inquiring Systtems. In the 1990s, his student Ian Mitroff carried on the tradition and extended that work in The Unbounded Mind. Now in the 2020s, the technology of Generative AI opens up opportunties to query or request responses […]
For readers with an interest deeper than the 15-minute presentation given in August, the Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Socio-Technical Perspectives in Information Systems (STPIS 2024) have now been formally publishied. The invited paper on “Reifying Socio-Technical and Socio-Ecological Perspectives for Systems Changes: From rearranging objects to repacing rhythms” was reviewed by the […]
Rhythm and pitch are primordial to language. Susan Rogers, after a career becoming Prince's recording engineer, turned to complete a PhD in psychology focused on music cognition and psychoacoustics.Read more ›
David L. Hawk (American management theorist, architect, and systems scientist) has been hosting a weekly television show broadcast on Bold Brave Tv from the New York area on Wednesdays 6pm ET, remotely from his home in Iowa. Live, callers can join…Read more ›
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 ›
Timothy F.H. Allen, president of International Society for the Systems Sciences 2008-2009, passed away peacefully in his home, surrounded by his family, on May 1, 2025. With his work on ecosystem ecology, I learned more about living systems than anyone else in the systems community. After his retirement, he was proud of putting together a […]
In 2024, WordPress Studio was released, making installation on a local computer simpler. The instructions were modified from MacOS to Ubuntu Linux, by Daniel Kossmann, “How to install WordPress Studio in Ubuntu Linux” | Jun 15, 2024 at https://www.danielkossmann.com/how-to-install-wordpress-studio-ubuntu-linux/ I already had NVM installed, but in Terminal, with the result “command not found”. In the […]
The appreciation of change is different in Western philosophy than in classical Chinese philosophy. JeeLoo Lin published a concise contrast on differences. Let me parse the Introduction to the journal article, that is so clearly written. The Chinese theory of time is built into a language that is tenseless. The Yijing (Book of Changes) there […]
In trying to place the World Hypotheses work of Stephen C. Pepper (with multiple root metaphors), Nicholas Rescher provides a helpful positioning. — begin paste — Philosophical perspectivism maintains that substantive philosophical positions can be maintained only from a “perspective” of some sort. But what sort? Clearly different sorts of perspectives can be conceived of, […]
Finding proper words to express system(s) change(s) can be a challenge. One alternative could be diachrony. The Oxford English dictionary provides two definitions for diachronic, the first one most generally related to time. (The second is linguistic method) diachronic ADJECTIVE Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “diachronic (adj.), sense 1,” July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3691792233. For completeness, prochronic relates “to […]
