Toronto, Ontario. (A whole month without leaving town, since Don Mills and Scarborough are Metropolitan Toronto)
Toronto, Ontario.
Nathan Phillips Square: Afternoon traffic jam amongst skaters on the rink, while roads are empty and most businesses closed for New Year’s Day. Pedestrian volume high in the Eaton Centre across the street, more browsers than buyers enjoying an indoor stroll. Temperature above freezing and sun encouraged bicycle ride, bundled up with winter wear. (Nathan Phillips Square, Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20170101Roberts Library: When the e-version isn’t available, a quick trip to the library stacks works. University is still quiet after holiday season, yet there’s still some people on computer terminals after 9 p.m. When I was an undergrad, I visited this section frequently. (Robarts Library, 11th floor, St. George Street, University of Toronto, Ontario) 20170103Toronto Public Library, Queen Saulter Branch: Neighbourhood walk to pick up book and DVD, chest cold having discouraged leaving the house in a week. Neo-classical building was designed by E.J. Lennox, serving as Postal Station G from 1914 to 1975. Renovated in 1979, the library and community centre is a landmark in South Riverdale. (Toronto Public Library, Queen Saulter Branch, 765 Queen Street East, Riverside district, Toronto) 20170114OCADU: Systems Thinking Ontario first meeting of New Year discussing some topics looking forward, reviewing the format of sessions in history. Repeated contextual presentation from 2012 including the map of ignorance, postnormal science, and the design in inquiring systems. (Lambert Lounge, OCADU, McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20170118India Paan: Sugar cane and grilled corn outside, but server inside on grey above-freezing January Sunday. Pedestrian traffic light, with a few families coming out after lunches. (India Paan, Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20170122
Moments March 2015 weeks 3-4: Toronto, Ontario; Niagara Falls, NY; Allendale, NJ; New York City (Manhattan), NY
Toronto, Ontario; Niagara Falls, NY; Allendale, NJ; New York City (Manhattan), NY
Former Unilever site . East of Don Roadway, north of Lakeshore Boulevard East, south of the Adelaide Street onramp, there’s 29 acres to be redeveloped, up to 60 acres with city and other private properties, says “Jobs, transit and the future: How an empty lot at the foot of Toronto could transform it” | Elizabeth Church | March 14, 2015 | Globe & Mail at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/jobs-transit-and-the-future-how-an-empty-lot-at-the-foot-of-toronto-could-transform-it/article23461556/ (Toronto) 20150515Systems Thinking Ontario March 2015. Session on Systems and Resilience Redux: Deciphering Panarchy (Some More) extended discussion from last month. Some attendees had not pre-read article, so interpreting figures without visual aids was like described video on television. Returning attendees thought that extra time spent on the same theme helped unwrap the mystery, and the month in between gave time for consideration. (Systems Thinking Ontario, OCAD U. Lambert Lounge) 20150318SFI class fishbowl. Inner circle of discussants on systemic design methods, with outer circle of observers who can swap into inner. Smaller group enables richer interaction amongst active participants, questions build amongst students paying attention. (Strategic Foresight and Innovation program, OCAD U., Toronto) 20150319Niagara Falls from Rainbow Bridge. On drive to NYC, stopped for hour walk through Niagara State Park. Oldest park on the U.S., quiet on a March Friday. First time to see falls on the American side, we have seen the more commercial Canadian side frequently. (Rainbow Bridge, Niagara Falls, NY) 20150321Celery Farm. Nature preserve with pond mostly still frozen. Watched mallard duck couple getting fat on sunfish in surface ice, and just through a small hole. Snapping turtles may be driving fish to the top. (Celery Farm Natural Area, Allendale, NJ) 20150322Times Square. Sunday spring stroll down 7th Avenue, at temperature above freezing. Loose weekend before a Monday morning meeting. Benefits of a friend with a Manhattan apartment. (New York City) 20150322
Moments in February 2015, weeks 1 to 3, around Toronto.
Toronto, Ontario
Pearl Court. Toronto is one of the few places where you can have dim sum while it’s snowing outside, observed EKI. Family lunch before an upcoming birthday where adult children don’t care so much about the celebration anymore. Relaxed conversation about life. (Gerrard Street East, Toronto) 20150208Systems Thinking Ontario Feb. 2015. Special session on “Systems and Resilience: Deciphering Panarchy”, with exceptional request that all attendees preread the 2001 Holling article. Rich discussion, with varying views on the helpfulness of diagrams to either clarify or confuse the text. (OCAD U., Toronto) 20150218
Crustaceans in tank. Crab towering over lobsters may have slightly longer life, as restaurant had double lobster special. Family dinner with visiting niece fulling in for errant son. Winter day slightly less cold, with snowfall slowing traffic uptown. (Perfect Chinese Restaurant, Scarborough, Ontario) 20150221
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 […]
