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.
Vol 2 No 1 (2019): Volume 2, Issue 1
Published: 2019-04-23
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.
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.
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.
The results of the System Effects process can be used to:
How can policies most effectively address complex systems, given the diversity of individual experience?
How can the implementation of policies and programs be effectively tailored to the systemic dynamics of particular contexts?
How can we assess the systemic impact of particular interventions and their interactions with the contexts in which they are deployed?
System Effects is being applied to a wide range of issues by national, state, and local decision makers across the world.
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
More on the continuing saga of wolves – too many, not enough, just right, artificial or natural (see also parachuting cats).
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
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 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
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
Source: https://monoskop.org/images/2/26/Heims_Steve_Joshua_The_Cybernetics_Group_1991.pdf
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]
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
Source: Goethean science – Wikipedia
A good introduction and a sensible overview (apart from a *really* annoying sliding text gimmick). Of course, it frustrates me that there are only a couple of their key quotes from before 1980, and that they seem to have entirely missed the origins of complexity in systems thinking – which is odd given the 111 esteemed contributors. I dunno. But it’s a nice site.
Source: Complexity Explained
McGinnis, M. D., and E. Ostrom. 2014. Social-ecological system framework: initial changes and continuing challenges. Ecology and Society 19(2): 30. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06387-190230
Source: Ecology and Society: Social-ecological system framework: initial changes and continuing challenges
[Also https://www.tias-web.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Frameworks-for-SES-analysis_CB-small.pdf
Frameworks for analyzing social-ecological systems
Claudia R. Binder, Claudia Pahl-Wostl, Christian Knieper
Concepts, frameworks and methods for the comparative analysis of water governance
October 28 to November 6, 2015]
Insight, part of a special feature on A Framework for Analyzing, Comparing, and Diagnosing Social-Ecological Systems
The social-ecological system (SES) framework investigated in this special issue enables researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds working on different resource sectors in disparate geographic areas, biophysical conditions, and temporal domains to share a common vocabulary for the construction and testing of alternative theories and models that determine which influences on processes and outcomes are especially critical in specific empirical settings. We summarize changes that have been made to this framework and discuss a few remaining ambiguities in its formulation. Specifically, we offer a tentative rearrangement of the list of relevant attributes of governance systems and discuss other ways to make this framework applicable to policy settings beyond natural resource settings. The SES framework will continue to change as more researchers apply it to additional contexts; the main purpose of this article is to delineate the version that served as the basis for the theoretical innovations and empirical analyses detailed in other contributions to this special issue.
WWF’s annual Kathryn S. Fuller Science for Nature Symposium convenes scientists and entrepreneurs in science, policy, business, and development to stimulate conservation dialogue for actionable knowledge and dynamic learning for a priority conservation issue. The 2018 Symposium, presented in collaboration with National Geographic inspired thinking on why and how to integrate principles of systems theory in conservation. We brought together a diverse array of leading experts to challenge our current way of working—and to devise creative solutions to complex conservation and development challenges in the context of our dynamic planet. Learn more here: worldwildlife.org/fuller2018.
Systems Community of Inquiry 
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