Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania: View from second floor down into archeological artifacts and original walls dating back to the 1400s, destroyed the Russian invasions in the 1650s. In the 2000s, the palace was reconstructed as part of nation-building after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. During the Grand Duchy periods 1500s-1600s, the palace was favoured not only by the Dukes of Lithuania whom maintained political distinctiveness, but also the King of Poland who established a commonwealth through the marriage of royalty. (Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Vilnius) 20230401
Bridge of Uzupis: Entering the Republic of Užupis on International Liars Day, border agents stamped our passports as we crossed the Vilnia River into the bohemian art district The theme for the 25th anniversary of the self-proclaimed republic is a protecting and nurturing angel, whose trumpet proclaims fellowship and faith in openness. We found the wall with the English version of the Užupis Constitution that encourages tolerance in Lithuania, including Man has the right to make mistakes. (Bridge of Užupis. Vilnius, Lithuania) 20230401
Uzupio Meno Inkubatorius: Opening day for #IrmaLescinskaite personal exhibition Painting (Tapyba) at #UžupioMenoInkubatorius. Entering the building with windows covered for a dark space, the canvas frames were not affixed to the walls, but suspended with straps tethered from the ceiling, and illuminated with spotlights. Instead of walking up to the artwork, walking around the abstract splashes of colour adds dimensionality to the experience. (Užupio Meno Inkubatorius, Vilnius, Lithuania) 20230401
Gediminas Castle Tower: On a rainy Sunday morning, started the ascent from the east side near the river, up a steep cobblestone path, joining to a set of wooden stairs where we paused to catch our breaths. The first brick castle was built in 1409, and as a symbol for the city, collapse and was rebuilt many times over 700 years. The three-storey tower, as it now stands, was re-architected in 1933 guided by archeological reearch. (Gediminas Castle Tower, Vilnius, Lithuania) 20230402
Cathedral Square, Vilnius: Sunday market on a rainy second day of a connection visit, hat still wet from yesterday. Approached from Gedimino Prospektas, on the way to Vilnius Cathedral. Not in a shopping mood. (Cathedral Square, Vilnius, Lithuania) 20230402
Gerrard – Ashdale: Live Qawwali led by @SufiShahidKhan in early evening @GerrardIndiaBaz Ramadan Kareem. Learning about another heritage culture, within bicycling distance on the east side of town. Observed local politicians posing for publicity photos. (Gerrard – Ashdale, Little India, Toronto, Ontario) 20220419
Lower Don River Trail: Bicycling east through the Bala Underpass has southbound path marked as closed to December 2023. Construction machines on top of raised earth downstream foreshadows future Don River Park, wrapped around rail yards and the forthcoming Ontario Line. Enjoying early spring weather on an aimless bicycle route. (Lower Don River Trail, Toronto, Ontario) 20220416
Sugar Beach: City dwellers lounging on chairs facing southwest towards Toronto Harbour in late afternoon, enjoying the sunset. It’s still spring in Toronto, so high fluctuations of temperatures meant bright sun, but I was biking around with scarf and mitts. Saw some die-hard runners in shorts with bare legs at 10 degrees C. (Sugar Beach, Dockside Drive, Toronto, Ontario) 20230427
Within the Systems Thinking Ontario community, we were fortunate to have Nenad Rava step up to explain how the Sustainable Development Goals came to be, and relate them to systems change. This May session of Systems Thinking Ontario was a quick follow-on for the March edition on Ecological Limits to Development: Living with the SDGs. […]
The book Ecological Limits to Development: Living with the Sustainable Development Goals, published in 2002 by Routledge, was released as open access in 2023 by Taylor-Francis for readers who don’t have access to a university library. For the March edition of Systems Thinking Ontario, we were honoured to celebrate the release with editor-coauthors Kaitlin Kish […]
A special issue on “Sustainable, Smart and Systemic Design Post-Anthropocene: Through a Transdisciplinary Lens” in the Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics edited by Marie Davidová, Susu Nousala, and Thomas J. Marlowe has been released. In that issue, the journey of the Systems Changes Learning Circle from 2019 through 2022 is reviewed. The editorial team, […]
In the ISSS 2022 Plenary talk, the first 25 minutes were a blast through (a) the rising interest in system(s) change(s); (b) appreciative systems (Vickers); (c1) the philosophy of architectural design; (c2) the philosophy of ecological anthropology; (c3) the philosophy of Classical Chinese Medicine; (c4) the philosophy of rhythms; and (d) methods of multiparadigm inquiry, […]
The theme for the February online meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario was sparked from the discussion from the January session on Root Metaphor and World Hypotheses. What does it mean to have a theory? How does sensemaking contribute to this? Gary Metcalf volunteered to guide a conversation on these topics. Two prereadings were to serve […]
Philosophy underlies the distinction in the three volumes of the Tavistock Anthology: founded on the World Hypotheses of Stephen C. Pepper, the Socio-Psychological Systems Perspective and the Socio-Technical Systems Perspectives are based on Organicism, while the Socio-Ecological Systems Perspective is based on Contextualism. This thread on contextualism can be traced from the association between E.C. […]
Following the first day lecture on Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1 for the Global University for Sustainability, Keekok Lee continued on a second day on some topics: * Anatomy as structure; physiology as function (and process); * Process ontology, and thing ontology; * Qi ju as qi-in-concentrating mode, and qi san as qi-in-dissipsating mode; and […]
The philosophy of science underlying Classical Chinese Medicine, in this lecture by Keekok Lee, provides insights into ways in which systems change may be approached, in a process ontology in contrast to the thing ontology underlying Western BioMedicine. Read more ›
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 ›
The selection of readings in the “Introduction” to Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2, Penguin (1981), edited by Fred E. Emery, reflects a turn from 1969 when a general systems theory was more fully entertained, towards an urgency towards changes in the world that were present in 1981. Systems thinking was again emphasized in contrast […]
In reviewing the original introduction for Systems Thinking: Selected Readings in the 1969 Penguin paperback, there’s a few threads that I only recognize, many years later. The tables of contents (disambiguating various editions) were previously listed as 1969, 1981 Emery, System Thinking: Selected Readings. — begin paste — Introduction In the selection of papers for this […]
In a recording of the debate between Michael Quinn Patton and Michael C. Jackson on “Systems Concepts in Evaluation”, Patton referenced four concepts published in the “Principles for effective use of systems thinking in evaluation” (2018) by the Systems in Evaluation Topical Interest Group (SETIG) of the American Evaluation Society. The four concepts are: (i) […]
How might the quality of an action research initiative be evaluated? — begin paste — We have linked our five validity criteria (outcome, process, democratic, catalytic, and dialogic) to the goals of action research. Most traditions of action research agree on the following goals: (a) the generation of new knowledge, (b) the achievement of action-oriented […]
After 90 minutes on phone and online chat with WesternUnion, the existence of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland is denied, so I can’t send money from Canada. TicinoTurismo should be unhappy. The IT developers at Western Union should be dissatisfied that customer support agents aren’t sending them legitimate bug reports I initially tried the […]
