Tongji U. College of Design and Innovation: Photo day for Creative Systemic Research Platform, first as the whole team, and then with smaller groups for images that might be used in digital enhancement. Scheduled in a small overlap of travel schedules with people coming in and out of town. In a design school, there’s a professional photography studio, and multiple professional photographers, resources to which I’m unaccustomed. (Tongji University College of Design and Innovation, Fuxin Road, Yangpu, Shanghai, PR China) 20190402Tongji U. College of Design and Innovation: Ph.D. students for Quantitative Methods in Design course requested a reprise visit after formal classes ended last week, to discuss with Professor Yi Heng CHENG, who has been travelling. Having experienced the intensive 3-week course, with two full days of group work preparing for presentation, students said they learned a lot, and actually asked Professor Susu Nousala if the session be longer. The formal course is only one step on the journey for graduate studies, ongoing conversations with the faculty can continue for a lifetime. (Tongji University College of Design and Innovation, Fuxin Road, Yangpu district, Shanghai, PR China) 20190402 Rockbund Art Museum: Tobias Rehberger (2018) “Free Coffee Free Parking Freedom” installation from fifth floor @Rockbund, as part of “If You Don’t Use Your Eyes To See, You Will Use Them To Cry”. Signage embodies an information paradox, where availability without charge may encourage an unrestrained liberty to consume or get more. Our visit coincided with the museum opening for the day, so a rapid visit of 30 minutes with no crowds. (Rockbund Art Museum, Huqiu Rd, Huangpu Qu, Shanghai, PR China) 20190403PVG Terminal 2: Lineup with baggage x-ray is standard not only to enter airport terminal, but also railway station, and even municipal metro. Travel time from French Concession to PVG was 55 minutes with a reserved taxi driver. Another hour added for the building queue, checking in luggage, clearing exit border security, and hand luggage x-ray scan. After 23 days away, looking forward to a return to normalcy at home, after a 12-hour time zone change. (Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Terminal 2, PR China) 20190404Ngoc Yen: Dinner amongst systems sciences research colleagues, organized on 5 hours notice with JR passing through for onward flight tomorrow. Discussed current projects and plans for upcoming conferences, we’ll end up spending more time together outside of Toronto than at home. Unexpected quality Vietnamese food in a suburban industrial district. (Pho Ngoc Yen Restaurant, Kamato Road, Mississauga, Ontario) 20190409Westin Harbour Castle: Open source culture @RedHat says @realmikecardy includes (i) collaboration; (ii) transparency (both access and the ability to act); (iii) shared problems are solved faster; and (iv) working together creates standardization. Red Hat Day on Microservices, Containers, APIs and Integration extends long tradition towards open organizations, consistent with my research on http://openinnovationlearning.com/ (Westin Harbour Castle, Queen’s Quay, Toronto, Ontario) 20190411Woodbine Beach: Big red chair is double-sized, not so functional for relaxing when facing away from the bay. Bright, sunny day attracts pedestrians onto the boardwalk, but it’s still cold enough to wear full-finger gloves on the bicycle. (Woodbine Beach, Toronto, Ontario) 20190413Bill Boyle Artport Gallery: Chair, side table and lamp @HarbourfrontTO brought together as Oscar Kwong (2018-2019) Companions, in mundane functionality and rationality. Drawings on the wall suggest alternative interactions by human beings with the inanimate objects. Part of The View from Here exhibition. (Bill Boyle Artport Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, Queen’s Quay West, Toronto, Ontario) 20190419Bill Boyle Artport Gallery: Inside a glass case @HarbourfrontCentre, Auli Rautiainen (2018) Mutation Series is kiln-formed glass that doesn’t show the gloss or fluidity normally associated with the material. Part of the Nordic Glass exhibition, curators must be rotating the collection over time. (Bill Boyle Artport Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, Queens Quay West, Toronto, Ontario) 20190419Innis Town Hall: Marquis event with #LucySuchman on Apparatuses of Recognition @JHIevents @UofTInfoFaculty Situational awareness criticizing the core doctrine of command and control with (i) the training situation; (ii) remote control to separate the soldier from the combat; and (iii) autonomous weapon systems. Video replay at https://www.facebook.com/iSchoolToronto/videos/342667976597711/ . (Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto, St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20190422Toronto Red Hat Users Group: Understanding evolution of technology via #WojciechSerafin #RHUG #RedHat, with initial pledge to use the term Containers rather than the popular label of Docker. Appreciating implementations of the Open Container Initiative on Linux, with Buildah, Skopeo and Podman. A hint of the future with Quarkus as Kubernetes Native Java. Taking personal responsibility for continuing learning, the world changes. (Toronto Red Hat Users Group, Arctiq, Britain Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20190423Toronto Reference Library: Second day @changepaths @Challengfactory @fernlebo #TheTalentRevolution book launched @torontolibrary, where the authors often met. Five drivers shaping a revolution the world of work: (i) demographics of longevity, with baby boomers; (ii) career ownership, shift in power between employees and employers; (iii) freelance economy, gig mobility; (iv) platform environments, B2B and B2C; (v) AI and robotics, in potential freed up in human impact. Employers have been slow to respond to the changes. (Toronto Reference Library, Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20190424SystemsThinkingTO: Productivity challenge says #BrianWatson @ConestogaC with low GDP per capita growth and part time employment percentage increasing. High rate of youth unemployment in the midst of a national labour shortage. Compared a race of four individuals on a relay, compared with a systems approach of a rugby team responding to obstructions by passing the ball to win. (Systems Thinking TO, Loyalty One, King Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20190425 Royal Ontario Museum: Dinosaur @ROMtoronto called Zuul (face like the monster from 1984 Ghostbusters film), species Destroyer of Shins (crurivastator) with a sledgehammer-like tail. Bony armour, four horns on the skull, preserved skin. Discovered in northern Montana, in badlands near the Alberta border. Galleries are good venue for walking and talking with a friend, closing out a busy week. (Royal Ontario Museum, Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario) 20190426George Brown College Waterfront Campus: From 7th floor @GBCollege, statue facing away from Toronto Harbour Eastern Channel. Full Saturday Google GDG Cloud Toronto meetup, with hands-on lab to earn GCP Essential badge. (George Brown College Waterfront Campus, Dockside Drive, Toronto, Ontario) 20190427Lowkong Society: Spring festival dinner for the family clan featuring dancers and singers with the food. Waited until courses 6 and 7 for dishes within vegan constraints, others at the table were nearly full by then. (Dim Sum King, Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20190428
The second session of the Systemic Design course in the OCADU SFI master's program was an opportunity to share the current state of knowledge on Systems Change, in light of recent interest in Systems Change and Theory of Change.
A workshop with David L. Hawk at the CANSEE meeting in May 2019 led to an invitation to publish an article, "Ecology and Economy: Systems Changes Ahead?" in WEI Magazine.
Questions about governance of online social communities led to launching on the Open Learning Commons and the Digital Life Collective, while issues of content moderation on a Facebook Group has reignited.
Organizations interested in scaling up (or scaling out) might revisit methods and tools associated with a process framework for mass-customizing service delivery engagements developed at IBM in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.
The history of the IBM Advanced Business Institute and Palisades Executive Conference Center from the 1990s into the 2000s is related from a first-person perspective.
The February 2019 Systems Thinking Ontario meeting was an opportunity to bring those unfamiliar with the work of Christopher Alexander on methods revealed in the Eishin School and Multi-Service Centers projects.
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 ›
Most destructive analogy last 100 years @DavidGelernter @econtalker : Post-Turing thinkers decided that brains were organic computers, that computation was a perfect model of what minds do ... and that mind relates to brain as software relates to computer Read more ›
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 ›
Does “the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago and the second best time is now” date back further than 1988? It is time to look long and hard at the value of the urban forest and create the broad-based efforts — in research, funding and citizen participation — needed to improve […]
Workshop led by @RohanAlexander and @prof_lyons at #CASCONxEvoke on "Barriers to Data Science Adoption: Why Existing Frameworks Aren't Working". For discussion purposes the challenges are grouped within three themes: regulatory; investment; and workforce.
“You are entitled to your own opinions, but not to your own facts” by #DanielPatrickMoynihan is predated on @Freakonomics by #BernardMBaruch 1950 “Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts”. Source: “There Are Opinions, And Then There Are Facts” | Fred Shapiro […]
Satire can be an antidote, says Prof. #PaulBabbitt @muleriders , to #bullshit (c.f. rhetoric; hypocrisy; crocodile tears; propaganda; intellectual dishonesty; politeness, etiquette and civility; commonsense and conventional wisdom; symbolic votes; platitudes and valence issues).
If we don’t first know “what is system is”, how do we approach an intervention? #MichaelCJackson OBE and Dr. #LuisGSambo appreciate the difference between “systems thinking” (plural) and “system dynamics” (singular), and suggest expanding theory with Critical #SystemThinking in Health Systems Research. An ignorance of history is, if anything, even more pronounced among those authors […]
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