An indoor start to the year, with the combination of cold weather and pandemic restrictions coincident with writing a journal article to deadline at the end of the month.
Toronto, Ontario
Pearson International Airport Terminal: Drop off for evening flight on Turkish Airlines to Istanbul, to meet with clients in celebration, travelling with one big suitcase. Departures area saw cars triple-parked, either for the last Sunday of the holiday season, or the first Sunday of the new year. He was at home while we were travelling for a week, now our third floor will be quite for a week. (Pearson International Airport Terminal 1, Toronto, Ontario) 20220102Toronto Chinese Archway: Diagaonally from Hubbard Park, the gate to East Chinatown is framed by lamp posts and overhead electrical wires. Landmark unveiled in 2009 is on the northwest side of the district, so I don’t normally see it when I come shopping in the area. Bright clear winter day correlates with cold temperature, Riverdale Library was open for service. (Toronto Chinese Archway, Hamilton Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20220108
Riverside neighbourhood: Natural sculpture in back yard, with well-anticipated snowfall of 35cm overnight for 8 hours. Mayor asked citizens to stay home so that ploughs could clear roads, while planned in-person school attendance was deferred into online learning becoming a snow day. Opportunity for outdoor exercise, shovelling in back and front of house for a few hours, levelling out snowbank tops to reduce the height of peaks. (Riverside neighbourhood, Toronto, Ontario) 20220117
Reduced exercise outside with a cold and snowy February, with excursions out of the house to warm places with family, friends and colleagues.
Toronto, Ontario
Heartland: Annual Superbowl party, a tradition running back decades to years when our children were toddlers. Some familiar faces, and we’re drawing in new friends every year. Arrived in time to watch the backyard barbeque operating in above-freezing temperatures. (Heartland, Mississauga, Ontario) 20190203Mozilla: Kickoff meeting for #P2P #DWeb Toronto, hosted by @dcwalk_, group comfortable in the couches @mocotoOH. Presentations on #FederatedWiki #FriefunkLeverkusen #Fediverse drew conversations on building smaller communities of interest, with privileges and responsibilities of conscious governance. (Peer-to-peer and Decentralized Web Toronto, Mozilla, Adelaide Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20190207Royal Myanmar: Dinner with @StallmanRM @FSF inviting the activists @CivicTechTO to gain some insight into discussions on privacy concerns @QuaysideToronto, We outlined but didn’t delve into the complexity of three levels of government involved in @WaterfrontTO. #RichardStallman enjoys diverse cuisines in the variety of cities he visits, with commutes to obscure locations a minor inconvenience. (Royal Myanmar, Horner Avenue, Etobicoke, Ontario) 20190208 CC-BY David Ing 2019Lalibela: Ethiopian lunch means eating without cutlery, and using fingers. Relaxed Saturday family gathering, relaxing and catching up on everyone’s work week. The grilled tibs are always memorable. Breaking up whole grilled fish with bare hands gives a caveman feel. (Lalibela, Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20190209Riverside neighbourhood: A single candle on a cake is sufficient. The family consumed third and then fourth servings of a wonderful homemade vegan banana cake, with frosting less sweet than commercial offerings. A little later, the house was quiet with everyone taking naps to recover from hectic work lives. (Riverside neighbourhood, Toronto, Ontario) 20190209OCADU sLab: Formal welcome #SystemsThinking Ontario @redesign. #PatternLanguage legacy via former 1970s-era Berkeley students of #ChristopherAlexander, deeper reading of 1967 Systems Generating Systems http://coevolving.com/commons/20190211-systems-changes-learning-alexander-legacy sparked thinking of attendees. (Systems Thinking Ontario, Strategic Innovation Lab, Richmond Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20190211The Rex: Displaced #DesignWithDialogue on What Matters led by @redesign turned into #DineWithDialogue with live jazz channelling attendees to listen more intently in small groups. University building was unexpectedly locked down completely for statutory holiday. We can handle the unexpected, moving one block north. (The Rex, Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20180218CSI Annex: Pitch night #AgentsOfChange @ClimateCSI @csiTO winners @BIOPolynet $10000, @spentgoods $6000, @app_feedback $4000, selected by judges based on 5-minutes presentations over finalists @FreeGeekToronto and @freshrents. Thirteen 90-second standup speeches were voted on by the audience of 300 attendees. Event attracted many non-CSI members, as a great way to generate interest. (Centre for Social Innovation Annex, Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20190222
SystemsThinkingTO: Frustrations in law firms @KarenSkinner @DavidFSkinner @GimbalCanada leading to lean improvement. Exercise in drawing a pig, first try is free form, second try following a long page of text specifications, third try following a sketch. Instead of words, easier to follow a map or modify a standard template. Not everything needs to be a specialized art. (Systems Thinking TO, Loyalty One, King Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20190225
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 […]
What might a non-anthropocentric view of sustainability look like? This would probably include regeneration of species alongside others in the ecosystem. With some recent presentations, an idea that resonates with audiences is the “The Second Life of Trees”, credited by Tim Ingold (2002) to John Knight (1998). Ingold sees continuity of life not only of […]
Towards a general theory of living systems, we should be looking beyond the singletons of a hierarchical level, i.e. (i) cell, (ii) organ, (iii) organism, (iv) group, (v) organization, (vi) community, (vii) society, and (viii) supranational level. In a scientific approach, James Grier Miller created a list of hypotheses. In the 1100+ page book, the […]
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 .
