Toronto, Ontario (summer, all within bicycling distance of home)
Pho House: Casual Canada Day dinner out in neighbourhood resto, at leisure. Sons used to eat lunch at this location in high school days. The business across the street moved in, when the other Viet business moved out. (Pho House, Gerrard Street East, Toronto) 20170701Wong’s Ice Cream: Took home vegan coconut mango sticky rice ice cream + vegan lemongrass lime sorbet, after we sampled a variety of flavours. Wanted to take a packed pint of the former, but small daily production lots meant two scoops of two flavours instead. New business only opened in neighbourhood in the past few months. (Wong’s Ice Cream, Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20170701Nathan Phillips Square: Universal Breaking League on the Pond Stage for Battle for the North two-on-two competition, as part of Canada Days celebration. Big screen alternating with musical acts on the Main Stage. Large crowds out for Sunday evening, statutory observance will be on Monday. (Nathan Phillips Square, Bay Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20170702HTO Park: Mama Duck 61-foot rented by Province of Ontario for 3 day Redpath Waterfront Festival from Craig Samborski, attracting major crowds. The “World’s Largest Rubber Duck” was last shown in Tacoma, Washington; next stop is Owen Sound. Copyright dispute with 105 foot Rubber Duck at Saint-Nazaire, France, by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. (HTO Park, Harbourfront, Toronto, Ontario) 20170703Sugar Beach: Ride by DY along Waterfront Trail from Portlands to HTO Park and back was the first time in many years. Canada Day weekend a less than ideal time on the bike paths, as so many pedestrians obliviously inattentive. (Sugar Beach, Queens Quay East, Toronto, Ontario) 20170703Danforth Mennonite Church: Cute book house for Little Free Library, by well-kept front garden on major east-west city street. Mennonite Community opened church in 1911, and urban development has filled in around it. Through mutual ties in Ethiopia, the building is shared since 2011 with the Freedom Gospel Church who worship in the Amharic language. (Danforth Mennonite Church, Woodbine-Lumsden neighbourhood, Danforth Avenue East, Toronto, Ontario) 20170704Trillium Park: Bridge over the lit ravine walls with Moccasin Identifiers, northbound at dusk from Ontario Place towards the Martin Goodman Trail and Lakeshore Boulevard. Biked south through the CNE grounds with barricades in progress for the Indy race in two weeks, then east by the marina. (Trillium Park, Ontario Place Boulevard, Toronto, Ontario) 20170705Scrap Metal Gallery: Augustas Serapinas (2017) “Four Sheds”, reclaimed woods, nails and wallpaper reassembled from existing shed on Barr’d Islands, Fogo Island, destined to be demolished. East wall illuminated by lights from adjacent installation by Abbas Akhavan (2013) “Study for a Garden”. Collaboration in “Belonging to a Place” exhibition by Fogo Island Arts. (Scrap Metal Gallery, Dublin Street, Bloordale Village, Toronto, Ontario) 20170708Lowkong Society: Bimonthly meeting of family village society, with elders over 80 years old getting greater involvement by younger under 60. New members on the board of trustees, started definitional discussion on governance and membership. (Lowkong Society, Huron Street, Chinatown, Toronto, Ontario) 20170709Trinity Square Park: Noon @DowntownYonge @esltrio #playtheparks under the canopy on a sunny summer day. Playing instrumental versions of familiar tunes, more pop than jazz. Took a request to play bossa nova, responded with a Jobim medley. Bassist and drummer challenged keeping up on short guitar solo of Bright Size Life. (Trinity Square Park, Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20170711Vari Centre: Lightning talks at GTALUG Greater Toronto Area Linux User Group are being recorded on video. First time attending, I offered to talk for 5 minutes on Desktop Environments, followed by 5 minutes for questions. Others are technically deeper. Linux isn’t my full time job, but I’ve spent the past 10 years of my life using it. (George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre, Ryerson University, Church Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20170711Woodbine Park: Dance platform in front of Son de Cuba Orquestra at Beaches Jazz Latin Carnival, for audience who can’t sit still to the beats. Many families in lounge chairs enjoying the music and weather, fenced off area for beer garden to the south. Such an embarrassment of riches for music festivals this summer, so little time. (Beaches Jazz Latin Carnival, Woodbine Park,
Jackfruit 20 lb.: More effort to cut up jackfruit than we expected. With the whole family at home, we picked up the fruit for dessert after dinner in Chinatown. (Riverside neighbourhood, Toronto, Ontario) 20170717
Riverside: Jackfruit 20 lb. after Chinatown family dinner, with all sons at home. Their grandfather had never tried jackfruit before, it grows in Vietnam, not China. Boiling seeds, they are supposed to taste like potato. (Riverside district, Toronto, Ontario) 20170717Tabule: Accept invitations when a friend calls to meet for lunch! First met AL when we moved back to Toronto in 1984, and we haven’t kept in good contact over the years. Noontime rain showers changed original plans, he suggested a destination in my neighbourhood. (Tabule, Riverside district, Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20170720The Power Plant: Ydessa Hendeles (2016) Blue Beard, in the Fleck Clerestory, viewed from the second floor. Heroine is the victor in a power struggle in a short marriage, from which she escapes. Normally bright venue is totally shrouded with curtains for the exhibition of “The Milliner’s Daughter”. (The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Harbourfront, Toronto, Ontario) 20170720Hacklab.to: Linux in the Park GTALUG potluck BBQ, diverse group sharing the common language of technology. Hamburgers, italian sausage, brownies, cherries, watermelon in a dry period between two rain showers. (Hacklab.to, Parkdale, Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20170722Queen Jones Pawnbroker: Dealing on a used bike, AKY negotiated a bike helmet and a better seat with seat post. Moving here from Vancouver, wanted a bike for winter. Chose lighter model without front shocks. Also tried out guitar amplifier, but will defer to another day. (Queen Jones Pawnbroker, Leslieville, Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20170726Design Exchange: Northern Touch exhibition includes late 1960s Electrohome and Clairtone stereos, all Canadian manufacturing (except for German and English turntables). Enthusiastic guided noontime tour on the last Friday of the month, enlightening visitors on things they may not have known were designed in Canada. Upstairs former Toronto Stock Exchange currently a wide open space, building registered as historic. (Design Exchange, Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20170728
Natrel Pond: Paddleboat congestion around the fountain at the Natrel Pond. Busy summer Saturday, lineups for 15-minute rentals. Water is only thigh deep, saw a boater jump out to change direction by pushing. (Natrel Pond, Harbourfront, Queen’s Quay West, Toronto, Ontario) 20170729
For those who haven’t read the 1965 Emery and Trist article, its seems as though my colleague Doug McDavid was foresighted enough to blog a summary in 2016! His words have always welcomed here, as Doug was a cofounder of this web site. At the time of writing, the target audience for this piece was […]
In the famous 1965 Emery and Trist article, the terms “causal texture” and “contextual environment” haven’t been entirely clear to me. With specific meanings in the systems thinking literature, looking up definitions in the dictionary generally isn’t helpful. Diving into the history of the uses of the words provides some insight. 1. Causal texture 2. […]
Towards appreciating “action learning”, the history of open systems thinking and pioneering work in organization science, the influence of Action Learning Group — in the Faculty of Environment Studies founded in 1968 at York University (Toronto) — deserves to be resurfaced. 1. Trist in Canada 2. Environmental studies, and contextualism in organizational-change 3. Action learning, […]
The news that Doug McDavid — my friend, colleague, and one of the original cofounders of the Coevolving Innovations web site in 2006 — had passed, first came through mutual IBM contacts. More details subsequently showed up on LinkedIn from Mike McClintock. Doug left us on May 9, while working at his desk, likely in […]
One of the challenges with the development of pattern languages is the cross-appropriation of approaches of techniques from one domain (i.e. built physical environments) into others (e.g. software development, social change). The distinction between pattern language and form language is made by Nikos Salingaros. Design in architecture and urbanism is guided by two distinct complementary […]
The 1995 article by Spinosa, Flores & Dreyfus on “Disclosing New Worlds” was assigned reading preceding the fourth of four lectures for the Systemic Design course in the Master’s program in Strategic Foresight and Innovation at OCAD University. In previous years, this topic was a detail practically undiscussed, as digging into social theory and the phenomenology […]
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 ›
Social ecology and environmental psychology described @dstokols @Social_Ecology , interviewed by @katiepatrick . References #WilliamsJames on attention. Book on Social Ecology in the Digital Age released in 2018.Read more ›
Concerns on #personaldata should be reframed as interpersonal, says @sheldrake , less the nodes and more the edge connections. “I want to take back control” superficial, @hartzog says control doesn’t scale. Agency is about negotiation in the world, more rhizomatic…Read more ›
Doing science should be wayfinding (pathfinding), says #TimIngold , gaining grounding in the art of paying attention, towards research as the pursuit of truth. Truth is more than objective facts, where science and art are embraced with materials, so that we can see the quality inside the natural world as it forms, rather than as […]
We should be more vigourous, says @MazzucatoM , in debating differences between value extraction and value creation, and between profits and rents. Lecture at Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford U., January 2019Read more ›
Proponents of #SystemsThinking often espouse holism to counter over-emphasis on reductionism. Reading some definitions from an encyclopedia positions one in the context of the other (François 2004).
Saying “it doesn’t matter” or “it matters” is a common expression in everyday English. For scholarly work, I want to “keep using that word“, while ensuring it means what I want it to mean. The Oxford English Dictionary (third edition, March 2001) has three entries for “matter”. The first two entries for a noun. The […]
It's been challenging to find sources that specifically define two-word phrases -- i.e. "systemic change", "systematic change", "systems change" -- as opposed to loosely inferring reductively from one-word definitions in recombination. MartinReynolds @OpenUniversity clarifies uses of the phrases, with a critical eye into motives for choosing a specific label, as well as associated risks and […]
The term "environmental" can be mixed up with "ecological", when the meanings are different. We can look at the encyclopedia definitions (François 2004), and then compare the two in terms of applied science (i.e. engineering with (#TimothyFHAllen @MarioGiampietro and #AmandaMLittle, 2003).
While many outside of the field of architecture like the #ChristopherAlexander #PatternLanguage approach, it's not so well accepted by his peers. A summary of criticisms by #MichaelJDawes and #MichaelJOstwald @UNSWBuiltEnv is helpful in appreciating when the use of pattern language might be appropriate or not appropriate.
Systems thinking should include not only thinking about the system, but also its environment. Using the term "field" as the system of interest plus its influences leaves a lot of the world uncovered. From the multiple definitions in the International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics , there is variety of ways of understanding "field".
