October had more bicycling cross-town as fall temperatures declined, plus a 6-day trip to Portland Oregon for pattern language conferences.
Toronto, Ontario; Portland, Oregon; Markham, Ontario
CSI 192: At Climate Ventures space @csiTO for afternoon meeting. Discussed programs, research, potential peer circle topics. Open to new ideas for the new cohort. I’m thinking that starting small may work better for emerging methods. (Centre for Social Innovation, 192 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20181004Harbourfront Centre: Finnish style in Mervi Haapakoski (2018) Untitled hot-sculpted glass and driftwood stands out in Nordic Glass displays. Reminds me that this is the first calendar year in more than a decade when I haven’t been in Helsinki. Exhibit reminisces on Orrefors, Iitala and Kosta Boda mid-20th century. Poignant that the glass artist originally at Taik moved to Canada, and recently to Cape Breton. (Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario) 20181005 Thanksgiving dinner: Opening home to extended family and friends, for a non-turkey menu. Main course of Chinese beef stew, plus vegan mushrooms with beancurd sticks (foo jook), gai lan (broccoli), fuzzy melon (dit gwa) soup, beet-carrot salad. Vegan pumpkin pie and coconut milk ice cream to accommodate dietary restrictions. Of all attendees, I was the one who liked turkey most, before I gave up meat. (Riverside neighbourhood, Toronto, Ontario) 20181007Old Vic: Thanksgiving Day @VicCollege_UofT with some graduate students of History and Philosophy for Science and Technology in the office, late afternoon. Front door to building was locked. Scooped nephew up to bike downtown for jazz and turkey dinner. (Victoria College, University of Toronto, Charles Street, Toronto, Ontario 20181008Design with Dialogue: Journeys to Systems Change session led by @redesign, sketched by @playthink@dwdTO. Prereading based on report on @si_exchange meeting at Wasan Island in June. (Lambert Lounge, OCADU, McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20181010Matty Eckler Rec Centre: Cast ballot in advance poll for municipal election. Second of four days, before official voting day in 11 days. Convinced I’m not going to change my mind, no line-up and three marks on a long sheet of paper took 2 minutes. (Matty Eckler Recreation Centre, Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20181011University College: Not usual West Hall for @UCBookSale, as major renovation blocks the way to many rooms. Selected a few systems books that are hard to find. Slightly disconcerted to find an edition inscribed from one researcher to another, both whom I’ve known and are no longer with us. (Laidlaw Library, University College, University of Toronto, Ontario) 20181012HackLabTO: Remote @HackLabTO celebration of @longnow 50th anniversary of Whole Earth Catalog, @MrEricBoyd served homemade chocolate cake. Comparing August 1972 edition of The Last Whole Earth Catalog with the 1986 Ten Years of Coevolution Quarterly, with 2013 Cool Tools, and with 2006 World Changing. (HackLabTO, Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20181013Sony Centre: Internet of Drones camera hovering over model field #IBMInnovate, displayed on large screen. Catching up on evolving technologies, found a few familiar faces I haven’t seen in a while. (Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, Front Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20181018 Seeley Hall: Second day alumni book sale @Trinity_College busy at midday, line up to check out. Recognized some of the books from the five boxes donated earlier in the year. Picked up some volumes not readily available from the library, trying to not fill up our basement. (Seeley Hall, Trinity College, Hoskin Avenue, University of Toronto, Ontario) 20181019CSI 192: First Climate Ventures peer circle on Systems Thinking @csiTO. Sketching on flipchart sheet as a reference artifact to keep track of conversation on the complex versus the complicated. Informal meeting was scheduled on short notice, we’ll try to meet Monday afternoons every three weeks. (Centre for Social Innovation, 192 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20181022Portland International Airport: MAX light rail train to Portland city center from airport is a low-stress 30-minute ride through industrial parks and along freeway. Fare is economical, and staff is friendly. Major turning loop at Gateway NE 99th Transit Center has a theme park feel. (Portland International Airport, Portland, Oregon) 20181024PUARL – University of Oregon: Gamemaster @chrisimweb@PLoPcon leads participants in a chair-switching exercise. Most of the first full day has been focused in four parallel writing groups, thinking together in smaller circles. Conference is intimate and relaxed. (Portland Urban Architecture Research Lab, University or Oregon, NW Couch Street, Portland, Oregon) 20181024 PLoP 2018: Morning team-building exercise @PLoPCon of balancing a tennis ball with each only lending a fingertip, to move together without dropping, towards the door. in-person experiences with colleagues enable learning more than the purely rational review of pattern languages in writer’s circles later. (Pattern Languages of Programs, University of Oregon, Couch Street NW, Portland, Oregon). 20181025PLoP 2018: Afternoon energizing dance led by @MaryLynnManns@PLoPCon to wake up attendees expending mental energy. Catering of snacks has been excellent, so opportunities to physically burn calories are welcomes. (Pattern Languages of Programs, University of Oregon, Couch Street NW, Portland, Oregon) 20181025PLoP 2018: Focus group @PLoPCon on A Pattern Language Canvas for Real Time Innovation led by Wolfgang Stark from U. Duisburg-Essen. Seeking feedback on pattern language in cards in beta, translated into English from German. (Pattern Languages of Programs, University of Oregon, NW Couch Street, Portland, Oregon) 20181025PLoP 2018: Traditional closing ceremony @PLoPCon, tossing ball of yarn to connect to other attendees remembered in the meeting. After the threads have fully unravelled, the web is tossed in the parachute. (Pattern Languages of Programs conference, University of Oregon, NW Couch Street, Portland, Oregon) 20181026PUARL 2018: Plenary @wardcunningham, Yodan Rofe and @michaelwmehaffy on “A Pattern Language for Rapid Urbanization: Launching a Digital Pattern Language Repository”. After taking turns at podium, received questions from the audience. (Portland Urban Architecture Research Lab International Conference, NW Couch Street, Portland, Oregon) 20181026PUARL 2018: Fishbowl panel on The Future of Pattern Language moderated by Wolfgang Stark, initially with Hajo Neis, Yohan Rode, Susan Ingham and Richard Sickinger. (Portland Urban Architecture Research Lab International Conference, NW Couch Street, Portland, Oregon) 20181027Suwannaphum Thai: Dinner meeting with @takashiiba, Wolfgang Stark and Richard Sickinger to discuss Purplsoc 2019, one year away. We’re all attending PUARL, that alternates pattern language meetings in years and continents. None of us getting to see much of the town, with the day packed with plenaries and workshops. (Suwannaphum Thai, SW Pine Street, Portland, Oregon) 20181027PUARL 2018: Closing fishbowl review of conference, starting with the youngest at the meeting. Generally positive response, some disappointment at small crossover to PUARL from PLoP attendees. Finishing up near 5pm on a Sunday afternoon, those departing for earlier flights were forgiven. (Portland Urban Architecture Research Lab International Conference, NW Couch Street, Portland, Oregon) 20181028 Pioneer Courthouse Square: Signpost citing distances includes some destinations en route home via air flights. Rainy Sunday dusk walk from U. Oregon on the north, into the city center at south revealed wide streets with light traffic and few pedestrians. (Pioneer Courtyard Square, SW 6th Avenue, Portland, Oregon) 20181028YVR: Direct shuttle buses from U.S. arrivals immigration to domestic Canadian gates removes prior anxieties of racing across the YVR terminal, and having to go through x-ray security a second time. A human guide giving directions is welcomed, but an exterior route outside the terminal could be chilly in winter. This expediting suggests the terminal layout might not have been as well done as originally thought. (Vancouver International Airport, British Columbia) 20181029CASCON: Qubits #casconquantum by @jessicapointing explained with two-sided donuts that flip. Applications of exponential complexity that are computationally hard in binary von Neumann architecture may be tractably linear with quantum computing. Today’s quantum hardware is still at the state where vacuum tubes were in the 1950s, we might expect coevolving knowledge development in coming decades. (CASCON, 28th Annual International Conference on Computer Science and Software Engineering, Hilton Suites, Markham) 20181030 CASCON: iCity workshop #cascon with Jesse Coleman @TO_Transport + Judy Farvolden @UofTTRI, with @CodeZebra moderating. Analytics and visualization in progress with the King Street Transit Pilot, towards end of collecting data to enable evidence-based decision-making at City Hall. (CASCON, 28th Annual International Conference on Computer Science and Software Engineering, Hilton Suites, Markham) 20181031
Highland Farms: Ontario-grown Flemish Beauty pears in abundance, later in October than I expected. Local grocery chain is an autumn destination for a Proustian memory of the tree at my grandfather’s house in the 1960s, at the southeast corner of Beverley Street and Cecil Street. I picked pears of this variety in the late 1970s when I was an undergraduate student at UToronto, but the City removed the tree in the early 1980s. (Highland Farms, Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, Ontario) 20181031
Toronto, Ontario; Munich, Germany; Krems, Austria; Vancouver, BC
Toronto, Ontario; Munich, Germany; Krems, Austria; Vancouver, BC
EditDX: Soap kettle interior illuminated @EditDX, in the former Lever Brothers plant. History of industry in a massive abandoned factory near urban centre celebrated, rather than hidden. (EditDX, 21 Don Roadway, East Harbour, Toronto, Ontario) 20171003EditDX: New Urban Crisis @Richard_Florida @EditDX is growing inequality between winner-take-all cities and places in a poverty trap. Instead of iconic buildings and starchitecture, need a communing architecture, not a cutoff architecture. Retraced life history from Newark to Pittsburgh to Toronto. Digest at https://ingbrief.wordpress.com/2017/10/02/20171002-1305-richard-florida-urban-futures-keynote-editdx/ (EditDX, 21 Don Roadway, East Harbour, Toronto, Ontario) 20171002EditDX: Brigitte Shim @alexbozikovic @EditDX making ancient invisible fishing weirs visible. Mnjinkaning Fish Fence Circle by bridge at the Narrows between Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. (EditDX, 21 Don Roadway, East Harbour, Toronto, Ontario) 20171002UToronto iSchool: Digital @gamespacenl @ischool_TO Platformization of Cultural Production research on 3 pillars of business studies, political economy and platform studies. Multisided markets, with gaps for deeper inquiry into economics, governance and infrastructure. Research in progress, students in classes at Scarborough College partially immersed in ongoing knowledge development. (Faculty of Information iSchool, St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20171003EditDX: Good design @alicerawsthorn @EditDX has usefulness, beauty and integrity in light of sustainable development goals (unlike 1969 Olivetti Valentina typewriter in museums). Design is an agent of change that can help us to make sense of what is happening, and to turn it to our advantage … if society allows it to do so. Digest at https://ingbrief.wordpress.com/2017/10/08/20171008-1310-alice-rawsthorn-good-or-bad-design-editdx/ (EditDX, 21 Don Roadway, East Harbour, Toronto, Ontario) 20171008EditDX: Free lunch @EditDX Feeding the 5000 demo of cutting global food waste in half by 2030, as Sustainable Development Goal. Made from ingredients that would have been discarded, enjoyed fall minestrone and potato focaccia bread. Separate queue for vegans. Amidst volunteers, white hats from @GBCChefSchool. (EditDX, 21 Donway Road, East Harbour, Toronto, Ontario) 20171008Lalibela: Had turkey a few weekends ago, so Thanksgiving of Ethiopian cuisine an unusual choice as dairy-free, and the teff in injera is gluten-free. Combined with AKY’s birthday falling on same day, another way to celebrate as a family. Front window still open with fall relatively warm. (Lalibela, Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20171009Cineplex 4DX: Enjoyed Matinee of Blade Runner 2049, 4DX experience a change from our preference for 2D. The 3D effect was subtle, may not repeat the bucking seat, blowing air and cool water sprays. In hindsight, would have preferred the larger screen of Imax. Epic movie! (Cineplex VIP, Yonge-Dundas, Toronto, Ontario) 20171010Riverside: Woke up to urban foresters trimming branches in front of our house. The linden tree is officially owned by the city. Pruning away from the tangle of electrical wires is a service funded by tax dollars. True fall temperatures this week, and dusk comes early. (Riverside neighbourhood, Toronto, Ontario) 20171012Pinakothek der Moderne: At top of stairs, Olaf Menzel (2002) Reise Nach Jerusalem, made of acrylic, plastic and strobe light. Morning stroll through contemporary section and design, not so interested in modern. Took a little while to figure out that I had been to this art museum before, about a decade ago. (Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany) 20171018Danube U. Krems: Fall colours on Alaunbach stream from deck beside controlled flow through the campus of Danube U. Krems. Walking up from city centre hotel, pedestrian access to path beside the local prison. First day of Purplsoc conference, remembering some familiar faces, discussing with other semi-famous in the field. (Purplsoc conference, Danube University Krems, Austria) 20171019Heuriger Weingut Hambock: Local winery restaurant for conference dinner. White wine served in pitchers, complemented by buffet of smoked meats and bread. This neighbourhood tavern near the old town is hidden on a residential street. Attendees come from a wide variety of geographies. (Heuriger Weingut Hambock, Krems, Lower Austria) 20171020Kremser Gasse: Across from St. Polten train station is an attractive shopping street that I might visit, if I had more time. This town is the state capital on the main line between Munich and Vienna, and more developed than the destination of Krems where our conference was held. This brief stop was the first of three this evening to position for a plane westward tomorrow. (Kremser Gasse, St. Polten, Lower Austria) 20171021YYC: Canadian designed YYC Link passenger shuttle has human drivers, and no wait for ride. Shaves minutes off changing terminals. Amazed that 60 minute connection including immigration and terminal changes is comfortable. (YYC, Calgary, Alberta) 20171022Hyatt Regency Vancouver: View southwest towards the University Endowment Lands of the Burrard Peninsula, from the 34th floor in the West End. Skyscrapers in foreground in contrast to trees in the distance. For now, sitting away from the windows, remembering visitors often get distracted by the view. (Hyatt Regency, Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC) 20171023PLoP 2017: Intro to Writers Workshop @rpg Richard P. Gabriel. Inspired by U. Iowa since 1936, style evolving. Originally group leader was like a traffic cop around discussion, more maturity now should have leader serving as a teacher, asking questions and giving clarity on process and content. In this first session learning by showing, inner circle discussing the paper, with outer circle of observers. (PLoP Pattern Languages of Programs, colocated with ACM SPLASH, Hyatt Regency Vancouver, BC) 20171023PLoP 2017: Workshop @plopcon @daviding with @HeleneFinidori @chrisimweb “Negotiating Order with Generative Pattern Language” taking a more theoretical bent. May repeat next year, after discussants have an opportunity to catch up reading Christopher Alexander (2012) “The Battle for Life and Beauty of the Earth”. High-level sensemaking. Slides at http://coevolving.com/commons/20171023-negotiating-order-with-generative-pattern-language . (PLoP Pattern Languages of Programs, colocated with ACM SPLASH, Hyatt Regency Vancouver, BC) 20171023Vancouver Art Gallery: Neil Campbell (1992/2017) East, a site-specific wall painting dominates visitors walking by. Tuesday night visit unfortunately saw many galleries closed as exhibitions are changing, for an opening later in the week. (Vancouver Art Gallery, Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC) 20171025PLoP 2017: Traditional closing of event, participants calling names and tossing yarn to connect to colleagues old and new. Games with parachute limited by low ceiling in the hotel. (PLoP Pattern Languages of Programs, colocated with ACM SPLASH, Hyatt Regency Vancouver, BC) 20171023Caveman Cafe: Paleo vegan dinner low in carbs, emphasizing proteins and greens. We split the Caveman pizza and a Lamburgini sandwich made with cassava bread. Servers behind the counter attentive to needs, advising on suggestions, in a semi-chaotic lines jumping around delivery as hand-made timing. (Caveman Cafe, E. Pender Street, Vancouver, BC) 20171026Kitstaya: Relaxed lunch in neighbourhood where I lived 1982-1984. I met DY back then, and KY and TW were still dating. Nostalgic, and a lifetime ago. (Kitstaya, West Broadway, Kitsilano, Vancouver, BC) 20171026UBC University Blvd: Rain or shine rail jam @UbcSkiAndBoard club trucked in snow on a cool fall day. Student climbed to top of bales of hay, and then slid downhill to grind a rail skateboard style. Discovered this was the 10th annual event, a wild spectacle that eastern Canadians find bizarre. Another change in UBC since I studied here in the 1980s. (University Blvd., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC) 20171027Sunset Beach: Bernar Venet (2007) 217.5 Arc x 13, unpainted Corten steel , installed in 2013 as part of Vancouver Biennale public art. In the background, ships moored in English Bay. (Sunset Beach, Vancouver, BC) 20171028Granville Island: Pyramids of berries seem to be a new standard in produce presentation, exhibited by multiple vendors. Nostalgic of grad school days when I would come for a quick shopping trips on quieter weekdays. Leisurely weekend stroll as an old married couple. (Granville Island Market, Vancouver, BC) 20171029Shady Island Seafood: Dinner at dusk by Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf. Walked down shoreline to the Britannia Shipyards National Historic Park, observing restorations of buildings of Japanese and Chinese fishing workers back to the 1900s. (Shady Island Seafood, Bayview Street, Steveston Village, Richmond, BC) 20171028Lonsdale Quay: Rode Seabus to the north shore, climbed up four flights of stairs to a crow’s nest by the Quay Market for a view southwest to Coal Harbour. We chose to wear fall coats, many locals seem to be in denial of the changing seasons, some still braving shorts. (Lonsdale Quay, North Vancouver, BC) 20171029Bene Sushi: North shore experience of carefully prepared sushi with piano jazz playing over the speakers. Conversation with old friends picking up where we left off, trying to remember how many years since the last visit. (Bene Sushi, Marine Drive, West Vancouver, BC) 20171029
Libby Leshgold Gallery: Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan (2017) “Bound: Project Another Country”, luggage and rope. Gallery just opened last week in new building. opened in September, fortunate timing for our west coast visit. (Libby Leshgold Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC) 20171030
Beyond city-building as urban planning is the idea of a Music City. This sees development of cultural life across a wide variety of arts, alongside economic benefits brought to the region. At the 119th meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario in March 2024, socio-cultural designer Adam Hogan and musician-designer Ziyan Hossain joined moderator Zaid Khan in conversation. […]
Having reached year 6 of an espoused 10-year journey, the Systems Changes Learning Circle is (again) convening monthly Dialogues on Social Innovation at the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto. Starting up in 2019, the Circle was convening regularly in the Climate Ventures space at 192 Spadina Avenue. The pandemic interrupted in-person meetings, and the […]
EQ Lab runs Dialogic Drinks, “the kind of philosophical discussion you have in a coffee shop or bar”, twice per week. Wtih this group interested loosely in questions on leadership, I was invited to host an online session on March 12 (evening in Hong Kong and Singapore, really early in Toronto) and on March 14-15 […]
At the 118th meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario in February 2024, behavioral scientist Cameron D. Norman and design strategist Tara Campbell were invitied for a conversation guided by Zaid Khan. The panelists are both alumni of the Strategic Foresight and Innovation program at OCADU. Some time ago, they had conducted a research project on evaluation […]
An article on “sciencing and philosophizing”, coauthored by Gary S. Metcalf and myself, has been published in the Journal of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, following the ISSS 2023 Kruger Park conference in South Africa, last July. There’s a version cacned on the Coevolving Commons. This article started in a series of conversations […]
For the January 2024 Systems Thinking Ontario session, educational game designer Scott DeJong and innovation designer Geoff Evamy Hill joined a conversation moderated by Zaid Khan. Mutual interests in the new field of educational design and games were at the core of the discussion. This was an opportunity for systems thinkers to expand their knowledge on […]
David L. Hawk (American management theorist, architect, and systems scientist) has been hosting a weekly television show broadcast on Bold Brave Tv from the New York area on Wednesdays 6pm ET, remotely from his home in Iowa. Live, callers can join…Read more ›
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 ›
Finding proper words to express system(s) change(s) can be a challenge. One alternative could be diachrony. The Oxford English dictionary provides two definitions for diachronic, the first one most generally related to time. (The second is linguistic method) diachronic ADJECTIVE Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “diachronic (adj.), sense 1,” July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3691792233. For completeness, prochronic relates “to […]
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 […]
