Source: https://i2s.anu.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cybernetic_glossary.pdf
Author Archives: antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor
Marco Valente on LinkedIn sparked another big discussion on ‘Complexity theories and Systems Thinking: parallels and differences’…
This was over a year ago, but in a recent discussion with Dave Snowden on twitter, it got resumed… I can’t recommend the article per se (though it seems entirely honestly and constructively meant) but the comments are Quite Interesting:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:article:8370213503392053397/?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(article%3A8370213503392053397%2C6323841743901036544)&replyUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(article%3A8370213503392053397%2C6553869821061267456)
Autopoiesis Today – Milan Zeleny – and whole of Cybernetics Forum from the American Society for Cybernetics 1981 special autopoeisis issue
https://www.univie.ac.at/aoc/asc/Periodica/X_2_3_1981.pdf#page=9
Limits to growth – Meadows et al, 1972 – full book (pdf)
Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice
Source: Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice
A journal for relationally attuned and systemic social constructionist practitioners and practitioner-researchers with a commitment to social responsibility in community, leadership, therapy, education, organisations, health and social care.
Current Issue
Vol 2 No 1 (2019): Volume 2, Issue 1
Published: 2019-04-23
Editorials
Articles
Revivals
Reflective Turns
System Effects from Dr Luke Craven
Source: System Effects
When trying to change the world around us, we tend to assume everyone experiences the world in the same way.
That assumption is spectacularly—and scientifically—wrong.
Individuals’ lives are complex, unique and varied. The tools and methodologies we use to understand and address the issues impacting individuals must recognize that complexity.
System Effects helps decision makers respond to complex problems while at the same time embracing the uniqueness of individual experience.
Introducing System Effects
System Effects is a research methodology developed by Dr Luke Craven at UNSW Canberra, that captures the varied nature of individual experience to enable better intervention design. The System Effects platform was developed by Kumu in collaboration with Luke.
Drawing on soft systems, fuzzy cognitive mapping, and graph theory, System Effects can be used to ask a range of questions about a given issue, focusing on how different impacts, barriers, and enablers exist and are perceived within the system that surrounds it.
By beginning from the user-understanding of complex systems, the methodology helps re-centre lived experience in social science and policymaking practice.
System Effects supports the design of effective interventions by giving decision-makers tools to understand patterns that emerge across groups and communities, while at the same time emphasising the varied nature of individual experience.
How does it work?
Starting from a common focus, participants are asked to explore the barriers, impacts, and enablers present in their own lives. The result of this process is a personal systems map that captures the individual’s unique understanding and experience of the issue.
We can then layer these individual maps to build a picture of the wider community experience. Aggregating maps this way ensures no individual variable or causal connection is ignored, while highlighting the shared experiences emerging at the population-level.
By beginning from the user-understanding of complex systems, the methodology helps to re-centre lived experience in social science and policymaking practice.
How can it help me?
The results of the System Effects process can be used to:
-
Inform policy and program design
How can policies most effectively address complex systems, given the diversity of individual experience?
-
Guide intervention implementation
How can the implementation of policies and programs be effectively tailored to the systemic dynamics of particular contexts?
-
Evaluate systemic impacts
How can we assess the systemic impact of particular interventions and their interactions with the contexts in which they are deployed?
How has it been used before?
System Effects is being applied to a wide range of issues by national, state, and local decision makers across the world.
- Understanding the barriers to job market entry in Oslo, in partnership with the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV)
- Understanding the systemic impact of disaster events in Sydney, in partnership with Resilient Sydney and the NSW Office of Emergency Management
- Supporting social workers to deliver systemic care to persons facing homelessness in Newcastle, UK, in partnership with Newcastle City Council
- Supporting the development of policy to prevent food borne disease in Cambodia, in partnership with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and USAID
- Supporting effective environmental stewardship in New York, in partnership with the US Forest Service
Run your own System Effects survey
System Effects surveys are available through our online platform for $700/survey*. Each survey explores a single dimension (impacts, enablers, or barriers) of a particular focus and includes an unlimited number of responses.
If you would like help facilitating the survey process, we offer consulting services at $200/hour or $2000/day. Please email info@systemeffects.com to discuss options and explore which route is best for your project.
* All prices in USD
Shifting the conversation from symptoms to systems
preload
Guardians vs. Gardeners: Relocating wolves to help balance ecology — Ideas from CBC Radio (Highlights) — Overcast
More on the continuing saga of wolves – too many, not enough, just right, artificial or natural (see also parachuting cats).
Guardians vs. Gardeners: Relocating wolves to help balance ecology
March 12, 2019
Frequilibrium and the myth of patient safety…
Who designed the roof currently over your head? There’s several tonnes of it, dangling there. Who built the roof and how qualified or experienced were they? There are all sorts of designs, materials and ways of putting it together. How likely are you to survive that bloody big thing landing on your head?
To be honest, nobody cares. You’ve probably never given those questions a single thought, ever, despite the number of roofs you’ve been under. Unless of course, you design and build the odd roof, or you’re one of those very rare people who have been under one when it collapsed and survived. Nobody really cares about safety in general and neither should they, because in normal life safety is passive, it’s a hygiene factor at best. Safety is also weirdly context dependent. What’s safe one day is not the next day and nothing obvious has changed. When safety…
View original post 2,800 more words
Systems thinking: a cautionary tale (cats in Borneo) – YouTube
A classic
Find more details in this book “Parachuting Cats into Borneo”: https://goo.gl/JsRJ74 Learn about sustainability for free with short animation videos! Find all sustainability videos and join the community on http://sustainabilityillustrated.com and http://www.youtube.com/learnsustainab… Subscribe to receive the latest videos: http://alturl.com/jc8u6 Become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/sustainability. Extra info & links below… Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sustain_Illustr Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sustainabilit… Videos are created by Alexandre Magnin using years of experience drawing and working as a sustainability consultant with businesses and communities: http://www.amcreative.org ** This video about systems thinking tells the story of “Operation Cat Drop” that occurred in Borneo in the 1950’s. It is a reminder that when solutions are implemented without a systems perspective they often create new problems. Thank you to The Natural Step Canada and all our patrons for supporting us. Resources: http://catdrop.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operatio… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_… If you are interested to learn more about systems thinking, check out the Top 15 Systems Thinking Books http://agile.dzone.com/news/top-15-sy… and follow Gene Bellinger @SystemsThinking. Narration: Sarah Brooks Music “The Messenger” by Silent Partner Thank you to our volunteer for Portuguese subtitles: André Ribeiro Winter
SysBoK – a systems body of knowledge, from SCiO (work in progress)
SysBoK is a connected Systems Thinking Body of Knowledge from Systems & Complexity in Organisations (SCiO), www.scio.org.uk.
Rather than attempting to define rigidly the key concepts in Systems Thinking, SysBoK is designed to explore the relationships between these concepts, in particular which are Precedents to a Systems Thinking concept, and which are Dependent Derivatives. This model also includes examples and references for each concept.
Source: SCiO SysBoK v1 • Default view • Kumu
Seeking a small cohort of people to co-learn the RedQuadrant Way ‘tool shed’
A rare personal interest post for me here!
Want to expand your impact in transforming organisations? I’m looking for a small cohort of people to co-learn and help to polish the RedQuadrant Way ‘tool shed’ – meta-contextual, transdisciplinary, systems/complexity informed consulting. There’ll be a cost, but a lower cost because of engagement requirements.
Contact me if you’re interested in participating — benjamin.taylor@redquadrant.com
Source: Seeking a small cohort of people to co-learn the RedQuadrant Way tool shed
The Cybernetics Group 1946-1953 constructing a social science for postwar America – Steve Joshua Heims, 1991 (full book)
Source: https://monoskop.org/images/2/26/Heims_Steve_Joshua_The_Cybernetics_Group_1991.pdf
The Genesis of Complexity by Ralph H. Abraham – 2002
The Genesis of Complexity by Ralph H. Abraham
Visual Math Institute
Santa Cruz, CA 96061-7920 USA
abraham@vismath.org, www.ralph-abraham.org
Dedicated to Heinz Pagels
Abstract.
The theories of complexity comprise a system of great breadth. But what is included under this umbrella? Here we attempt a portrait of complexity theory, seen through the lens of complexity theory itself. That is, we portray the subject as an evolving complex dynamical system, or social network, with bifurcations, emergent properties, and so on. This is a capsule history covering the 20th century. Extensive background data may be seen at www.visual-chaos.org/complexity
[good links]
[pdf]
David Chapman on Twitter: “How cognitive science and artificial intelligence went wrong in the ‘50s (excerpt from the Bateson-Mead discussion): from an interactionist approach to a mentalist one. …
I can’t put this better than David in the thread below – but the whole transcript – under the wonderful title ‘for God’s sake, Margaret’ – is well worth a read! http://www.oikos.org/forgod.htm
Goethean science – Wikipedia
Source: Goethean science – Wikipedia
Systems Community of Inquiry 
You must be logged in to post a comment.