Chicago, IL; Toronto, Ontario; Fairfield, IA; Des Moines, IA; Deadwood, SD; London, UK; Oxford, UK.
Jetway B24 at the end of the OHare universe. Arrival on commuter plan from Cedar Rapids, to discover gate at very end of airport, by fences with access road into terminals just on the other side. Fortunately, connection scheduled of 2 hours, and flight to Toronto leaves from Gate B14. (Chicago) 20140501Pine Hills Cemetery. Family and friends gathered to honour the life of Violet Ing. Lots of stories about the past and memories. (Scarborough, Ontario) 20140505PanAm Athletes Village under construction. Canary District, Cherry Street by Front Street, with unfinished apartments in the background. Roads are blocked to traffic while streetcar tracks are being put in, but construction workers at the end of day don’t pay much attention to a cyclist (Toronto) 20140507Corktown Commons playground ready for children. Aqua colored soft playground surfaces in quiet playground on a cool late Thursday afternoon. Road construction and unfinished apartment buildings mean families not yet nearby. View north to Adelaide overpass. (Toronto) 20140508Monday night family dinner out. Seating for 6, ordered for 8. Way too much good, leftovers predictable. (Markham) 20140512Alfresco dining in Iowa. Heartland tradition of thick burgers from local beef on Fridays, Curbside Grill by Chef Curtis by the Hy-Vee supermarket, over by the gas bar. Cooked to order slightly pink might not meet big city bylaws. Retreated to cafe for warmth in unexpectedly chilly May. (Fairfield, IA) 20140516Intercept for breakfast. Early morning, then two hours drive west in Iowa to meet in person, after months of teleconferences. Last minute plans on meetings in South Dakota over breakfast. (Des Moines) 20140519Deadwood History and Information Center. Learned that during the Gold Rush, Deadwood had the largest Chinatown outside of San Francisco. Historian said last building demolished some decades ago, leading to formation of historical society. (Deadwood, SD) 20140522Queue for platform 9-3/4. Everyone wants to join Harry Potter at Hogwarts at permanent installation at King’s Cross station. Renovations at station now all done. (London, England) 20140525Lounge at Egrove Park. Residence for executive education at Said Business School at Oxford U. is quite tranquil when not in session. Bedrooms are architecturally interesting, but luggage up and down stairs annoying. (Oxford) 20140529
Radcliffe Observatory, Green Templeton College on Flickr. Dinner for Oxford Futures Forum on oldest continually operating meteorological station on Britain. Chef reputed to get superior ratings after each course than professors (Oxford) 20140530
Researching the philosophical foundations of systems theory to understand the meanings of “causal texture, contextualism, contextural” from the Tavistock legacy led to philosopher Stephen C. Pepper. The philosophical lineage and contributions of Pepper were the focus for the January online meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario. A deep reading of Pepper’s work (over a month!) was […]
The first Systems Thinking Ontario session for 2023 is scheduled for January 9, on “Root Metaphors and World Hypotheses”. This is philosophical content, for which a guided tour and discussion will be better than attempting a solo reading of the World Hypotheses wiki on the Open Learning Commons. Upon announcing the session on social media, […]
The October online meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario presented an opportunity for an update on progress made by the Systems Changes Learning Circle by 2022. A slide deck had been prepared an in-person seminar at the Universitat de Barcelona Graduate Programmes in Business, organized by Ryan C. Armstrong, one week earlier. Our regular monthly meeting, […]
Just before starting a trip to Spain, I received an invitation from Ryan C. Armstrong at the Universitat de Barcelona Business School to give some lectures. The students in the bachelor’s programme in international business had a short mention of systems thinking in the first lecture of the operationa management class. With that brief entry, […]
While the adaptive cycle and panarchical connections reflect the possiblity of movement from one stable state to another, it’s possible to get “stuck” in a disfavoured trap. Social ecological systems involve both natural systems and human systems. After widespread recognition of the 2002 Panarchy book, reflections in 2010 revealed further development of the theory and […]
In order to appreciate the influence of resilience science and panarchy on ongoing research into systems changes, revisiting foundational works sometimes resurfaces insights. In the 2002 Panarchy book, Chapter 15 provides a summary of findings. In the course of the project hat led to this volume, we identified twelve conclusions (Table 15-1) in our search for […]
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 ›
An online version of a special issue of Paunch (1980) on "Root Metaphor: The Live Thought of Stephen C. Pepper" has been preserved on the internet Archive
Attributed to Hippocrates is the use of the term kairos in observational methodology, and the presentation of significant findings. Just to be scholarly, Hippocrates is generally reported as a institution, rather than a person. Although Hippocrates is generally accepted as the father of medicine, few have recognized, or even realized, the extent to which he […]
Autopoiesis, as coined by Humberto Maturana, is in the contextualist root metaphor of Stephen C. Pepper, rather than the organismic root metaphor, say #HowardMancing and #JenniferMarstonWilliam .
