Toronto, Ontario
Riverdale Farm: Lamb looking off into the woods, meditating, while the rest of the crowd is busy grazing. In the pen, the mature sheep are wearing thick coats, due for shearing. The farm is still closed for the pandemic shutdown, only a view visitors outside on a sunny morning. (Riverdale Farm, Carlton Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20200601Commerce Court: Bronzes cast by #DerrickStephanHudson (2002) Tembo, Mother of Elephants, on loan from collection of #LouOdette. The life-sized cow, trailed by two calves, was scaled up the smaller statues originally collected from Florida. In the mixture of a 1931 Beaux Arts north tower, the three 1983 towers west east and south by I.M. Pei have the wildlife headed for the pond and fountain. (Commerce Court, Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20210602Laneway, Leslieville: Project by @lanewayproject seems complete, with stripe replacing drab pavement, south of Queen Street East, from Logan Avenue eastbound towards Morse Street. Proposed as the “Leslieville Laneway Park-Ing”, did I miss an official launch, or are we awaiting pandemic reopening? This byway is not yet named, while the next block west is Louis Kesten Lane. (Laneway south of Queen Street East, from Logan Avenue east to Morse Street, Leslieville, Toronto, Ontario) 20200604391 Yonge Street: Not an art installation, but three concrete piers with rebar in a gravel field, for reuse from the prior building? From the 1950s to 1970s, Bassel’s Restaurant was a classy pre-theatre diner, taking up 3 storefronts on Yonge Street. Hoardings now block the view of 3 Gerrard Street East, as the YSL (Yonge Street Living) Residences site as been abandoned, and Cresford Development is in receivership. From O’Keefe Lane, the open pit construction deepens to the south, frozen in time. (391 Yonge Street, 3 Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20210605Lower Don Recreation Trail: Bike path partially obstructed by construction crew working in a small trench extending south under Lakeshore Boulevard East under steel plates, into the Port Lands proper. Gardiner Extension still looms overhead. (Lower Don Recreation Trail, East Harbour, Toronto, Ontario) 20200607Jeff’s No Frills: Second jab of AstraZeneca vaccine, in the same grocery store pharmacy as the first immunization 12 weeks ago. In the 15-minute observation period, I could feel my pulse rising, and slight headache starting. Appointment was punctual, with no other patients before or after me. Taking 2 days off work, in case of side effects. (Loblaws Pharmacy at Jeff’s No Frills, Carlaw Avenue, Riverdale, Toronto, Ontario) 20210609Toronto Coach Terminal: Morning sunshine streams through skylights of the platform bays in the intercity bus terminal built in the Art Deco style in 1931. Greyhound service ceased in May 2020, and the lease on the building expires in July 2021. Peeking in front windows, the waiting room was vacant, with just one security guard in the unlit space. (Toronto Coach Terminal, Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20210611Dufferin Grove Park: Variety of cobblestones on the figure-eight #JennaMorrison Memorial Reflexology Foot Path, installed in 2014. Handrails around each loop allow walkers to maintain balance while getting feet massaged, but toddlers and children don’t seem to need them. Park is cool and shady on a hot day early in summer. (Dufferin Grove Park, Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20210612Distillery District: Spring Stations exhibition by #JackLeather + #CharlieLeather (2021) From Small Beginnings had white pine saplings on lower shelves, that visitors must have taken home for replanting. When the installation ends, the wood slats will be reused for something else. Competition winners originally were to be shown for Winter Stations at Woodbine Beach, deferred with the pandemic shutdown. (Gristmill Lane, Distillery District, Toronto, Ontario) 20210615Riverside neighbourhood: Saturday afternoon family garage band, as sons asked what I wanted to do pre-Father’s Day. Nephew has been convening Wednesday night jam band in nearby studio, so we took the opportunity to play in daylight, with pizza for dinner. Since son #3 has taken over bass I haven’t played in over 35 years, I’ve indulged in getting a red Roland Go Keys GO-61K, and am learning songs popular post year 2000. (Riverdale neighbourhood, Toronto, Ontario) 20200619 Photo by DY.138 D’Arcy Street: Spadina Chinatown #CommunityFridge @cf___to woefully empty, as it was in a visit a few weeks ago. Arrival on bicycle today had group of elderly Chinese ladies coming out, even before I could open the cabinet door. Cross-town commute is extra exercise, passing over the 348 Pape Avenue location where the fridge has sadly been removed. (138 D’Arcy Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20200620RendezViews: Morning calm @RendezViewsTO patio converted from parking lot designed by @CollectiveBrew, view south to CN Tower, southwest to glass towers of Simcoe Place and Festival Tower. By late afternoon, crowds seeking beverages and camaraderie will fill the gated area. Surrounding streets are blocked with road construction encourage pedestrians. (RendezViews, Richmond Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20210622
Queen Street East at Logan Avenue: Overhead wires have been at this city intersection since the 1880s, presumable replaced many times over. Second truck parked across the street was detaching cables, the poles further east have neater braids. This tough urban streetscape might be improved by burying underground, but one block south used to be a marsh, suggesting geological as well as economic practicalities. (Queen Street East at Logan Avenue, Riverside neighbourhood, Toronto, Ontario) 20210628
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 […]
