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
Douglas Austrom and Carolyn Ordowich shared some reflections developed jointly with Bert Painter (Vancouver, BC) on some draft humanistic principles, the three Tavistock perspectives, and a meta-methodology with Systems Thinking Ontario. Proponents of Socio-Technical Systems design refer back to the 1960s-1980s research of Fred Emery and Eric Trist of the Tavistock Institute. Calls to reinvent […]
Doug Schuler joined the monthly Systems Thinking Ontario meeting for a conversation about the potential for patterns and pattern languages to help address wicked problems on a large scale, via technology, loose coordination, and social commitments. Doug was exposed to the original A Pattern Language in the mid-1970s. It aimed to generate towns and buildings […]
Literacy has been proposed as an understanding of a small number of pervasive principles appropriate to making informed personal and societal decisions. Systems literacy includes an understanding of systems that influence you, and your influence on systems. Peter Tuddenham has been leading an initiative on Systems Literacy across a variety of systems organizations, particularly with […]
The Creative Systemic Research Platform (CSRP) Institute, led by Susu Nousala and Jelena Sucic, is distinctive in approaching systemic design from a bottom-up, longitudinal perspective. The co-presidents were able to join us in conversation at a Systems Thinking Ontario session, remotely from Finland and Switzerland, at a significant time disadvantage. Many approaches to systemic design […]
To appreciate how systemicists worldwide collaborate, Gary S. Metcalf joined Systems Thinking Ontario for a conversation. Gary served as president of the International Society for the Systems Sciences 2007-2008, and of the International Federation for Sysrtems Research 2010-2016. From 2003 to 2018, he was a graduate instructor in Organizational Systems and Research on the faculty […]
While the term “theory of change” is often used by funders expecting an outcome of systems change for their investment, is there really a theory there? The November 2020 Systems Thinking Ontario session was an opportunity for Peter H. Jones (OCADU) and Ryan J. A. Murphy (Memorial U. of Newfoundland) to extend talks that they […]
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 his system of system concepts, Russell Ackoff made the distinction between reformation and transformation in many of his lectures. Here are two written sources. From Redesigining Society (2003) … Systemic Transformation A system is transformed, as contrasted with reformed, when its structure or functions are changed fundamentally. Such changes are discontinuous and qualitative, quantum […]
While Ackoff’s definitions of goals, objectives and ideals have been republished (and rewritten) multiple times, the 1972 definitions were derived from his original dissertation work. Accordingly, in addition to the human-readable definitions, some mathematical notation is introduced. — begin paste — OUTCOMES 2.30. End (an immediate intended outcome) of a subject A in a particular […]
The fifth way of knowing, as described by West Churchman, is a Singerian inquiring system. (This fifth way of knowing is more colloquially called Unbounded Systems Thinking in Mitroff and Linstone (1993)). The book On Purposeful Systems (Ackoff and Emery, 1972) was derived by Ackoff’s dissertation that was controversially coauthored with West Churchman. Purpose can […]
Understanding Process-Function Ecology by Ashwani Vasishth leads to luminaries in the systems sciences, including C. West Churchman, Eugene P. Odum and Timothy F.H. Allen.
As an irony, the 2020 book, The Innovation Delusion by #LeeVinsel @STS_News + #AndrewLRussell @RussellProf shouldn’t be seen as an innovation, but an encouragement to join @The_Maintainers where an ongoing thought network can continue. The subtitle “How Our Obsession with the New has Disrupted the Work That Matters Most” recognizes actual innovation, as distinct from […]
An online social network reproduces content partially based on algorithms, and partially based on the judgements made by human beings. Either may be viewed as positive or negative. > The trade-offs came into focus this month [November 2020], when Facebook engineers and data scientists posted the results of a series of experiments called “P(Bad for […]
