Toronto, Ontario; Vancouver, BC
Chester Hill Lookout: Cool autumn morning shows leaves starting change colours in view northwest towards Beltline Trail and Moore Park. In the foreground, Evergreen Brick Works should be quiet on a weekday, and the Don Valley Parkway is below capacity for morning rush. Overlook had a few clusters of neighbours presumably enjoying the clear weather. (Chester Hill Lookout, Chester Hill Road, Toronto, Ontario) 20201001Grange Park: Grass around #HenryMoore 1966-1969 Two Large Forms, contrasts with the hard sidewalk at the original installation of 1974 on the southwest sidewalk of McCaul Street and Dundas Street. In summer 2017, the sculpture was moved onto the Grange property. To the east, the Sharp Centre for Design at OCADU was first opened in 2004. (Grange Park, Toronto, Ontario) 20201005Former Bayview Avenue onramp from River Street: The entry between Queen Street and King Street descended onto Bayview Avenue before 2011, after which the Flood Protection Landform routed traffic south towards the new Corktown Commons. Parkette seems temporary, with fences and construction machines at the bottom of the slope. The green space should eventually get a name when redevelopment is completed. (River Street, between Queen Street and King Street, Corktown, Toronto, Ontario) 20201017Clarence Square: Cut tree trunk with branch, light showing through hollows in two dimensions, closed on the bottom. In a park by busy streets, did planners or city workers design to leave a small point of interest next to the mature tree? Dog run to the south, many pedestrians with canines happy to see each other. (Clarence Square, Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20201021Logan Avenue, south of Queen Street East: Unnamed laneway eastbound to Morse Street, blocked for paving. In parallel, local neighbours promoting Laneway Park-ing project for greening the public street behind commercial buildings leading to residential right-of-ways. We’re on the west side of Logan Avenue, where redevelopment at the end of the street transformed our laneway. (Laneway south of Queen Street East, from Logan Avenue to Morse Street, Riverside, Toronto, Ontario) 20201022Toronto Pearson Airport: Maple Leaf Lounge isn’t the same, in the pandemic. On way to Vancouver, may visit family, if they can bear the social isolation count below 6 in BC. (Maple Leaf Lounge, Domestic, Toronto Pearson Airport, Ontario) 20201023Twin Falls Bridge: The Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge was closed, so we walked further downwards to the fixed crossing to the south. Long wooden stairs down, and boardwalk planks meant steadier balance. No real photo opportunities in the canyon, we followed the paths well above the flowing water below. (Twin Falls Bridge, Lynn Valley Ecology Centre, North Vancouver, BC) 20201025Lighthouse Park: Practically as far west in continental Canada as possible. Hike to the overlook of the Port Atkinson Lighthouse was posted as 10 minutes down, and 25 minutes back up to the parking lot. Pedestrian route through old growth forest, thick trunk hemlock trees with more than 500 rings. (Lighthouse Park, West Vancouver, BC) 20201025Lord Strathcona School: Strolling with Chinatown memories back to the 1960s, remembering the elementary school for KY, TW and DI. Sons getting history of the family, first-hand accounts of growing up in the neighbourhood. Population was practically all Chinese in those days, houses nearby are now gentrified. (Lord Strathcona School, East Pender Street, Vancouver, BC) 20201025Strathcona: Walked from front of building to the east side, to appreciate the multi-level unit that was home to a family of 9. Decades later, everyone has now moved out of the neighbourhood, most with families of their own. Recalling the places called home, within a few blocks of each other, and the distances walking to school. (718 Campbell Avenue, Vancouver, BC) 20201020Simon K.Y. Lee Senior Care Home: Window visit with DY’s mother, as we aren’t the designated family visitor for the month to the eldercare facility. She recognized us through the glass, and was happy to see us. Helpful staff at the centre said that she knew we were coming from Toronto, as we had phoned ahead to make arrangements. (Simon K.Y. Lee Senior Care Home, Carrall Street, Vancouver, BC) 20201026Kitsilano: Reminiscing back to July 1984, when DY moved into my apartment, followed in the next month as an uncommitted girlfriend leaving Vancouver for an uncertain future in Toronto. I had lived in the apartment with the big picture window since November 1982, as a graduate student at UBC. The building looks much the same today, although the West 4th Avenue commercial strip has since densified. (1960 Waterloo Street, Kitsilano, Vancouver, BC) 20201026Vancouver Art Gallery: Alienated by the Euro-Canadian style of the period, #EmilyCarr (1935) “A Rushing Sea of Undergrowth” adopted the expressive power of the forest in a deliberately limited palette of greens and blues. In later reflection, she said that she was interested in the abstraction of #LawrenHarris, but chose to retain her vision of being of nature, rather than next to it. Part of the exhibition of “Rapture, Rhythm and the Tree of Life”. (Vancouver Art Gallery, Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC) 20201027Vancouver Art Gallery: Showing “nothing”, #ZhuJinshi (1977) “The Tao of Rice Paper II” sees folds of sheets hanging over bamboo in a floor-to-ceiling installation. The artist sees abstract as really from Western philosophy and aesthetics, not from the Tao of Chinese philosophy. Part of the “Common Language exhibition. (Vancouver Art Gallery, Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC) 20201027Richmond Art Gallery: Serigraph #GuXiong 1993 “Cafeteria #3” originally shown in the 1994 exhibition The Basement, reflecting the experience of working as a new immigrant working in the UBC cafeteria. Originally from Chongqing, now a professor of Fine Arts at UBC. Gallery just reopened with show celebrating 40th anniversary. (Richmond Art Gallery, Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC) 20201028Gulf of Georgia Cannery: Just outside the National Historic Site, a working fishing boat maintaining its nets. Inside was a rather complete history of British Columbia canning from pre-European days, through the World Wars, to the 1970s when production ended. Full-scale model of canning production line, with progress demonstrating technological advances. (Gulf of Georgia Cannery National History Site, Fourth Street, Steveston, BC) 20201028UBC Belkin Gallery: Musical score background, with wood-burning fire ring and tripod stools, #TaniaWillard (2018) “Surrounded / Surrounding”. Leather seats have words etched into the leather. The Sounding exhibition is a combination of visual and aural installation, we observed mostly artifacts and social distancing sensibilities. (Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC) 20201029Seymour’s Pub: Trio #WinstonMatsushita, #WynstonMinckler, #ToddStewart in casual north shore venue. Pianist had studied jazz at UToronto, moved back home to Vancouver. Small group of music enthusiasts separated from clientele more interested in big screen sports or socializing. (Seymour’s Pub and Grill, Lillooet Road, North Vancouver, BC) 20201029Tightrope Impro Theatre: Concluding award in Gorilla Theatre show @TightropeImpro, counting bananas over forfeits for directors of each scene. Five performers in protective face masks, our family were front and centre at a table socially distanced from other audience attendees. Walking through Chinatown to arrive at venue revealed the district has become popular with hipsters, filling restaurants both inside, and on outside patios. (Tightrope Impro Theatre, East Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC) 20201030Kitsilano Beach: Volleyball courts full on a sunny day, next to English Bay, with the mountains of the north shore as background. Leisurely stroll west to Elsje Point, and then west to Point Grey Park. Bright days like this leads visitors to forget the grey days from November through March. (Kitsilano Beach, Vancouver, BC) 20201031
While it’s important to appreciate the systems thinking foundations laid down by the Tavistock Institute and U. Pennsylvania Social Systems Science (S3, called S-cubed) program, practically all of the original researchers are no longer with us. Luminaries who have passed include Eric L. Trist (-1993), Fred E. Emery (-1997), and Russell L. Ackoff (-2009). This […]
In order to move forward, the Systems Changes Learning Circle has taken a step backwards to appreciate the scholarly work that has come before us. This has included the Socio-Psychological Systems, Socio-Technical Systems and Socio-Ecological Systems perspective, from the postwar Tavistock Institute for Human Relations. The deep dive on “Causal texture, contextualism, contextural” takes us […]
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 […]
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 ›
Social Systems Science graduate students in 1970s-1980s with #RussellAckoff, #EricTrist + #HasanOzbehkhan at U. Pennsylvania Wharton School were assigned the Penguin paperback #SystemsThinking reader edited by #FredEEmery, with updated editions evolving contents.
Resurfacing 1968 Buckley, “Modern Systems Research for the Behavioral Scientist: A Sourcebook” for interests in #SystemsThinking #SocioCybernetics #GeneralSystemsTheory #OrganizationScience . Republication in 2017 hardcopy may be more complete.
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).
