Distractions, reflections

Distractions, reflections

David Ing, at large … Sometimes, my mind wanders

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    • Strategic Communications + The Brand Stack, Zaid Khan + David Akermanis (ST-ON 2020/09/14)
      Two Major Research Projects (MRPs) — they might be called master’s theses elsewhere — by Zaid Khan and David Akermanis reflect the Systemic Design agenda within the OCADU program on Strategic Foresight and Innovation (SFI).    To graduate, all SFI students complete an MRP.  With many subjects and techniques covered during SFI studies, only a […]
    • Beyond the Tavistock and S-cubed legacy
      While it’s important to appreciate the systems thinking foundations laid down by the Tavistock Institute and U. Pennsylvania Social Systems Science (S3, called S-cubed) program, practically all of the original researchers are no longer with us.  Luminaries who have passed include Eric L. Trist (-1993), Fred E. Emery (-1997), and Russell L. Ackoff (-2009).  This […]
    • Socio-Technical Systems, Service Systems Science
      In order to move forward, the Systems Changes Learning Circle has taken a step backwards to appreciate the scholarly work that has come before us.  This has included the Socio-Psychological Systems, Socio-Technical Systems and Socio-Ecological Systems perspective, from the postwar Tavistock Institute for Human Relations.  The deep dive on “Causal texture, contextualism, contextural” takes us […]
    • Causal Texture of the Environment
      For those who haven’t read the 1965 Emery and Trist article, its seems as though my colleague Doug McDavid was foresighted enough to blog a summary in 2016!  His words have always welcomed here, as Doug was a cofounder of this web site.  At the time of writing, the target audience for this piece was […]
    • Causal texture, contextualism, contextural
      In the famous 1965 Emery and Trist article, the terms “causal texture” and “contextual environment” haven’t been entirely clear to me.  With specific meanings in the systems thinking literature, looking up definitions in the dictionary generally isn’t helpful.  Diving into the history of the uses of the words provides some insight. 1. Causal texture 2. […]
    • Trist in Canada, Organizational Change, Action Learning
      Towards appreciating “action learning”, the history of open systems thinking and pioneering work in organization science, the influence of Action Learning Group — in the Faculty of Environment Studies founded in 1968 at York University (Toronto) — deserves to be resurfaced. 1. Trist in Canada 2. Environmental studies, and contextualism in organizational-change 3. Action learning, […]

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    • The Innovation Delusion | Lee Vinsel, Andrew L. Russell | 2020
      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 […]
    • Republishing on Facebook as “good for the world” or “bad for the world” (NY Times, 2020/11/24)
      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 […]
    • 1969, 1981 Emery, System Thinking: Selected Readings
      Social Systems Science graduate students in 1970s-1980s with #RussellAckoff, #EricTrist + #HasanOzbehkhan at U. Pennsylvania Wharton School were assigned the Penguin paperback #SystemsThinking reader edited by #FredEEmery, with updated editions evolving contents.
    • 1968 Buckley, “Modern Systems Research for the Behavioral Scientist: A Sourcebook”
      Resurfacing 1968 Buckley, “Modern Systems Research for the Behavioral Scientist: A Sourcebook” for interests in #SystemsThinking #SocioCybernetics #GeneralSystemsTheory #OrganizationScience . Republication in 2017 hardcopy may be more complete.
    • Wholism, reductionism (Francois, 2004)
      Proponents of #SystemsThinking often espouse holism to counter over-emphasis on reductionism. Reading some definitions from an encyclopedia positions one in the context of the other (François 2004).
    • It matters (word use)
      Saying “it doesn’t matter” or “it matters” is a common expression in everyday English. For scholarly work, I want to “keep using that word“, while ensuring it means what I want it to mean. The Oxford English Dictionary (third edition, March 2001) has three entries for “matter”. The first two entries for a noun. The […]

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  • moments. daviding.com

    Random selections from the past year
    Kitsilano -- Reminiscing back to July 1984, when DY moved into my apartment, followed in the next month as an uncommitted girlfriend leaving Vancouver for an uncertain future in Toronto. I had lived in the apartment with the big picture window since November 1982, as a graduate student at UBC. The building looks much the same today, although the West 4th Avenue commercial strip has since densified. (1960 Waterloo Street, Kitsilano, Vancouver, BC) 20201026
    Reminiscing back to July 1984, when DY moved into my apartment, followed in the next month as an uncommitted girlfriend leaving Vancouver for an uncertain future in Toronto. I had lived in the apartment with the big picture window since November 1982, as a graduate student at UBC. The building looks much the same today, although the West 4th Avenue commercial strip has since densified. (1960 Waterloo Street, Kitsilano, Vancouver, BC) 20201026
    Toronto Eaton Centre -- On Saturday afternoon before Christmas, might have normally expected busy shoppers on Yonge Street. With Province of Ontario declaring a grey zone, retail stores can offer only curbside pickup, not the usual mode for an urban mall. Drizzling rain discourages the street performers often on the sidewalk. (Toronto Eaton Centre, Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20201219
    On Saturday afternoon before Christmas, might have normally expected busy shoppers on Yonge Street. With Province of Ontario declaring a grey zone, retail stores can offer only curbside pickup, not the usual mode for an urban mall. Drizzling rain discourages the street performers often on the sidewalk. (Toronto Eaton Centre, Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20201219
    Lord Strathcona School -- Strolling with Chinatown memories back to the 1960s, remembering the elementary school for KY, TW and DI. Sons getting history of the family, first-hand accounts of growing up in the neighbourhood. Population was practically all Chinese in those days, houses nearby are now gentrified. (Lord Strathcona School, East Pender Street, Vancouver, BC) 20201025
    Strolling with Chinatown memories back to the 1960s, remembering the elementary school for KY, TW and DI. Sons getting history of the family, first-hand accounts of growing up in the neighbourhood. Population was practically all Chinese in those days, houses nearby are now gentrified. (Lord Strathcona School, East Pender Street, Vancouver, BC) 20201025
    Don Roadway -- Roadblock southbound into the Portlands now blocked to vehicular traffic, with ongoing construction. Don Roadway is being rebuilt to a higher elevation, so that major rainfalls flooding the Keating Channel won't spill over into the lands on the east side of the road. It's a dull afternoon for bicycling. (Don Roadway, Portlands, Toronto, Ontario) 20200430
    Roadblock southbound into the Portlands now blocked to vehicular traffic, with ongoing construction. Don Roadway is being rebuilt to a higher elevation, so that major rainfalls flooding the Keating Channel won't spill over into the lands on the east side of the road. It's a dull afternoon for bicycling. (Don Roadway, Portlands, Toronto, Ontario) 20200430
    Very Fine Seafood Cuisine -- Sister coming to town reserved time for family dinner. Ten courses with Peking duck, multiple fish dishes, and vegan selections. Joking about fusion tendencies, cranberries with duck, roasted potatoes with beef, lobster deep fried. Other local family out of town, otherwise we would have needed two banquet tables. (Very Fine Seafood Cuisine, Milliken Boulevard, Scarborough, Ontario) 20200229
    Sister coming to town reserved time for family dinner. Ten courses with Peking duck, multiple fish dishes, and vegan selections. Joking about fusion tendencies, cranberries with duck, roasted potatoes with beef, lobster deep fried. Other local family out of town, otherwise we would have needed two banquet tables. (Very Fine Seafood Cuisine, Milliken Boulevard, Scarborough, Ontario) 20200229

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