Toronto, Ontario
Heartland: Annual Superbowl party hosts serve traditional BBQ burgers and frankfurters. This year was not as cold as some years. Some friendly faces from previous years, some new faces expanding the circle. (Heartland, Mississauga, Ontario) 20180204UToronto iSchool: Service Systems facilitation-presentation by UToronto iSchool graduate students. Getting closer to the current edge of research, so the variety of sources is lower. Citing people whom I know well. (UToronto iSchool, Bissell Building) 20170207UToronto iSchool: Generative pattern language presentation-facilitation by UToronto iSchool graduate students. Started with an example of context-problem-solution, and showed how Christopher Alexander evolved the definitions over time. Citing research up to the bleeding edge at recent conferences. (UToronto iSchool, Bissell Building) 20180207Glorious Chinese Cuisine: Family lunch order becomes complicated, as Special A BBQ Duck and Special C Tilipia comes with 6 + 5 dim sum items, but not choices are acceptable. Waitress came back multiple times, new on the job. Weekday event scheduled because weekends are so busy. (Glorious Chinese Cuisine, Denison Street, Markham, Ontario) 20170208St. Michael’s Family Practice: Medical checkup says no weight gain in the 45 days since cast for Achilles tendon injury was put on. Many years since my last full physical exam, high cholesterol runs in the family, blood pressure is up. Looking forward to behaviour change, made some appointments at clinics, could take 6 months before results. (St. Michael’s Hospital, Family Practice Unit, Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20170209UToronto iSchool: After wrapping up my last lecture of the course, DY saw a poster for Valentine’s Day iTea for iSchool faculty, staff and students, and opted to hang out for 15 minutes in the classroom we just vacated. Picking out some candy into take out cartons, the scrum ran through supply quickly. We don’t usually celebrate February 14. (UToronto iSchool, Bissell Building) 20180214Martin Family Centre: Southern exposure into ambulatory care centre, Donnelly wing (renamed from Queen wing in 2013, dating back to 1928) to the west and south, and the Bond wing dating back to 1892 to the east. Construction in the heart of downtown Toronto has to deal with major legacy constraints. (St. Michale’s Hospital, Martin Family Centre for Outpatient Services, Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario). 20180215Martin Family Centre: Right ankle to be in cast for 2 more weeks, says Dr. Khoshbin. Removed two wedges, foot will be level with ground. Good progress on Achilles tendon healing, but little response to squeezing lower calf leading to an autonomic reflex. Inside the house I should walk without crutches, outside the house, I should use crutches. After 6 weeks with foot pointed down, the cast should now support the foot pointing up into normal position. I will sleep with the cast on for a few more days, and then switch to wearing it for daytime only. Textbook recovery following Fowler Kennedy protocol from Western University. (St. Michael’s Hospital, Martin Family Centre for Outpatient Services, Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20180215Regency Resto: Indian buffet to celebrate AKY’s offer of admission to UToronto Ph.D. program, not Chinese New Year dinner. Also on waitlist for another department, and waiting for responses from other universities, funding may be negotiable. (Regency Restaurant, Little India, Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20180216Open Innovation Learning: Presentation is ready, and softcopy book arrived in time for official launch tomorrow night. The printed paper isn’t that expensive, but the ePub is the way to go. The physicality of 690 A4 pages may be easier on the eyes, but the volume is heavy to hold. http://openinnovationlearning.com . (Riverside neighbourhood, Toronto, Ontario) 20180220OCADU: Friendly audience for book launch of Open Innovation Learning @OCADU Auditorium, special session of Systems Thinking Ontario. Demystifies the breadth and depth of research written over 3 years of doctoral studies, stretching back from the 1886 Berne Convention on copyright, to IBM years 1993-2011. Publication is open access reference work, best medium is ePub http://openinnovationlearning.com . Photo courtesy of Chris R. Chapman, @DerailleurAgile (OCADU Auditorium, McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20`180221OCADU: Sketchnoting @playthink of book launch for Open Innovation Learning at Systems Thinking Ontario. Key ideas captured in real time over a 55-minute lecture given for the first time. https://twitter.com/playthink/status/966521254642683904 Open access book at http://openinnovationlearning.com . (OCADU Auditorium, McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20180221OCADU: Systems Thinking Ontario panel with Tim Lloyd @perelgut following book launch presentation of Open Innovation Learning. Audience members extending the theory building to make sense in application area relevant to themselves. Open access book at http//openinnovationlearning.com . (Photo courtesy of Noah Ing). (OCADU Auditorium, McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20170222OCADU: Signing postcard for @petri at book launch for Open Innovation Learning. Open access book is free at http://openinnovationlearning.com , so the traditional momento from an author book signing is modified for the 21st century. A physical book can be published on demand, but it’s better to save some trees! (OCADU Auditorium, McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20180222OCADU: Physical publication, cover by @celinalaurette “Escape from Plato’s Cave” a reality at book launch for Open Innovation Learning at Systems Thinking Ontario. She’s a graduate of the design program at OCADU, so reception was like a homecoming. More practical medium is the open access ePub at openinnovationlearning.com . (Photo courtesy of Noah Ing). (OCADU, McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20180222SystemsThinkingTO: Dialogue mapping @DerailleurAgile exercise, Compendium software still works well. Reviewed the full meaning of wicked problems, and some of the history with Horst Rittel, West Churchman and Christopher Alexander. (SystemsThinkingTO, King Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20180222The Theatre Centre: Installation @TheatreCentre@gxcentrik Gabrielle Lasporte Modern Batik brightens up interior. Relaxed cafe/bar with theatre-goers awaiting entry, in the former 1908 Carnegie Library building. (The Theatre Centre, Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20180225The Theatre Centre: Conclusion of #NoForeigners Derek Chan @Aprillx@fuGENTheatre@HongKongExile closing performance. Inventive production with shadow puppets in front of five monitors voiced by live actors, last moments sees real humans in front of the big screen come out of the dark. Full house, with a bright winter Sunday outside. (The Theatre Centre, Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20180225Sumac Creek Health Centre: Paul Shields (2017) “Comfort” and “Reason” paintings featured in quiet corner of a neighbourhood facility of St. Michael’s Hospital. Minor procedure with a way-overqualified surgeon as a followup to a family practice physical checkup a few weeks ago. In the Canadian medical system, an unexciting visit is welcomed. (Sumac Creek Medical Centre, St. Michael’s Hospital, Regent Park Boulevard, Toronto, Ontario) 20180226
Cineplex Eglinton: Experimented with Black Panther in a 2D IMAX conventional room. Enjoyed the movie, but can’t say that the image quality was noticeably better than on a regular screen. Seat was about 1/3 from the front, dead center, so screen filled field of view. For a 4pm Tuesday movie, there were less than 20 customers, so viewers may have targeted the 7pm 3D version. (Cineplex Eglinton Town Centre, Lebovic Avenue, Scarborough, Ontario) 20180227
The idea of managers being proactive only dates back to 1964, as classes of functions described by Abraham Zaleznik: homeostatic, mediative, and proactive. Predispositions may or may not be altered through educational development.
Fit the people around an organization; or an organization around the people? Working backwards, say @MitroffCrisis + #HaroldLinstone, from current concrete choices to uncertain futures, surfaces strategic assumptions in a collective decision, better than starting with an abstract scorecard to rank candidates.
Should we do, or not-do? Russell Ackoff, over many years, wrote about (negative) potential consequences: There are two possible types of decision-making mistakes, which are not equally easy to identify. (1) Errors of commission: doing something that should not have been done. (2) Errors of omission: not doing something that should have been done. For […]
The final publication of the October 2016 Relating Systems Thinking and Design Symposium workshop "Some Future Paths for Design Professionals: DesignX and Systemic Design" was published as “Systemic Design Agendas in Education and Design Research” in FormAkademisk, following 2 years of rewrites, reviews and revisions.
Federated wiki is deployed on a node.js server, an environment which has become available on some cPanel shared hosting providers. Here are some instructions written while restoring a wiki site originally installed in 2014-2015 on a cloud provider.
Reading The Undoing Project, by Michael Lewis, reminded me of a PhD course at UBC with Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, before they were recognized as Nobel prize candidates.
Before judging democratic systems over authoritarian, examine the functioning of governments through its diplomats, where plutocracy has an alternative in meritocracy, says @mahbubani_k @longnow @asiasocietysfx. [1:19:30] … when people compare the American government with the Chinese government, they say: “This…Read more ›
The story of #JosephNeedham by @simonwwriter, about the scholar behind the 27-volume Science and Civilisation in China starting in 1954 and continuing after his death in 1995. Arriving in China in 1942, Needham discovered gunpowder, printing and the magnetic compass…Read more ›
Talk at @gtalug on Let’s Learn Tech Online @torontolibrary with @p2pu @CiscoNetAcad @TorontoESS. Linux Unhatched online course conducted in groups of 8 to 12, meetings twice per week in person. Non-technical facilitator encourages peers to work out understanding together. Found…Read more ›
The WordPress O2 plugin with P2-Breathe theme results in a Facebook-like or Twitter-like streaming interface. The idea was first presented in 2013, evolving from the P2 theme in 2009 (originally launched as Prologue in 2008) when hosted on wordpress.com. “Beau…Read more ›
Talk at the Centre for Human Ecology, Glasgow, announced at http://www.che.ac.uk/tim-ingold-talks-about-the-sustainability-of-everything-10th-sept-2016/ Video posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncLv9Gk7XrI and https://vimeo.com/182572764 This digest was created by editing the text transcript generated by Youtube. View the video yourself for a more authentic reproduction. Lapses, grammatical…Read more ›
In deciphering Yin-Yang and Five Elements (Five Phases) thinking, #Kaptchuk (1983) has a footnote and then an appendix that clarifies the way forward for appreciating foundations of Chinese medicine favouring the former.
The field theory in psychology by #KurtLewin 1943 derives from classical field theory (viz. electromagnetism and gravitation), predating quantum field theory (viz. subatomic particles). For psychology, Lewin wrote in 1943 how history (and a subjective view of the future) matters. It is correct that field theory emphasizes the importance of the fact that any event […]
Many who cite #KurtLewin haven't read the original 1947/1951 writings, say @strategybuild @ToddBridgman @kgbphd with the "refreezing" part of "unfreezing → changing → refreezing" emerging in a subsequent career of an idea that can be traced genealogically and archaeologically.
Human organizations may learn from wolves, with groups of 2 to 6 taking down elk, and cooperative expert groups of 9 to 13+ taking down larger bison. #DanielMacNulty, #AimeeTallian #DanielRStahler #DouglasWSmith (2014).
Meeting effectiveness is reduced after 7 people are involved, say @BainInsights consultants #Blenko, #Mankins, #Rogers. Follow the Rule of Seven for meetings. Who should come to a meeting is always a sensitive issue, and the basic precept is often “The more the merrier.” But more is rarely better when it comes to making decisions. Our […]
