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Reifying Socio-Technical and Socio-Ecological Perspectives for Systems Changes | STPIS | 2024-08-16

September 13, 2024
2 Comments

The Socio-Technical Systems (STS) perspective, dating back to the studies of Eric L. Trist and Fred E. Emery, was on the reading list of organizational behaviour classes in my undergraduate and master’s degree programs.  It wasn’t until 15 years later, when I got involved with the systems sciences and David L. Hawk, that the Socio-Ecological Systems (SES) perspective became more prominent in my worldview.  This emphasis is likely true for most audiences, where Socio-Technical is prominent, and Socio-Ecological is in the background or out of mind.

For the 10th International Conference on Socio-Technical Perspectives in Information Systems (STPIS’24) scheduled in Jönköping, Sweden, for mid-August,  I was invited to contribute a paper,   My travel plans didn’t take me to the Nordics this summer, so the organizers scheduled me for a remote online presentation.

Since the STPIS workshop has official proceedings, my thinking was mostly on completing a manuscript, that is available as a preprint.   The manuscript reviews the Trist and Emery histories, and then gets philosophical in proposing a shift from mainstream principles into a process-first approach regrounded with a postocolonial bridge to Classical Chinese foundations.  My concern on the short presentation was getting a message across to workshop attendees, with only a short slot.  My colleague Peter Bednar reported what I couldn’t see online.

Dear David, thank you for your amazing and thorough presentation. It was interesting, and deep. I always learn something from your stuff.

… Read more (in a new tab)

The Socio-Technical Systems (STS) perspective, dating back to the studies of Eric L. Trist and Fred E. Emery, was on the reading list of organizational behaviour classes in my undergraduate and master’s degree programs.  It wasn’t until 15 years later, when I got involved with the systems sciences and David L. Hawk, that the Socio-Ecological Systems (SES) perspective became more prominent in my worldview.  This emphasis is likely true for most audiences, where Socio-Technical is prominent, and Socio-Ecological is in the background or out of mind.

For the 10th International Conference on Socio-Technical Perspectives in Information Systems (STPIS’24) scheduled in Jönköping, Sweden, for mid-August,  I was invited to contribute a paper,   My travel plans didn’t take me to the Nordics this summer, so the organizers scheduled me for a remote online presentation.

Since the STPIS workshop has official proceedings, my thinking was mostly on completing a manuscript, that is available as a preprint.   The manuscript reviews the Trist and Emery histories, and then gets philosophical in proposing a shift from mainstream principles into a process-first approach regrounded with a postocolonial bridge to Classical Chinese foundations.  My concern on the short presentation was getting a message across to workshop attendees, with only a short slot.  My colleague Peter Bednar reported what I couldn’t see online.

Dear David, thank you for your amazing and thorough presentation. It was interesting, and deep. I always learn something from your stuff.

… Read more (in a new tab)

Resequencing Systems Thinking | U. Hull Centre for Systems Studies | 2024-05-13

August 10, 2024
0 Comments

On my May trip through the UK, I accepted an offer to lead an Expert-Led Session at the University of Hull.  I had previously been a Research Fellow of the Centre for Systems Studies, but haven’t travelled to the Hull for some years.  As we worked out the arrangements, I found out that the seminar wasn’t just an hour lecture, but a complete afternoon.

The Systems Changes Learning Circle is now in year 6 of an espoused 10-year journey.  The target audience of graduate students and faculty, with the luxury of time for lecturing and discussing, allowed for an extended exposition of our learning on systems changes.  The ouline covered:

  • A. Initiating
  • B. Philosophizing
  • C. Theorizing
  • D. Practising
  • E. Continuing

This series of 4 recordings is available as a playlist on Youtube.  We started off mostly with reviewing slides, and then had progressed to more interactive discussion later in the day.  With the audio recordings, the presentation slides (including movies) were resynchronized as post-production.

This presentation segments are downloadable from this website, as well as from the Internet Archive .

Video May 13, 2024 — H.264 MP4
Part 1
(58m02s)		 [20240513_1231_UHull_Ing ResequencingSystemsThinking_Part1of4_1203kpbs.m4v]
(HD 1203kbps 573MB)
[on the Internet Archive]
  • 00:00 Welcome by Amanda Gregory
  • 03:15 A. Initiating
  • 09:35 B. Philosophizing
  • 10:52 B1. ↓ Metaphilosophy; ↑ Postcolonial Constructionist
  • 29:53 B2. ↓ Behavioral Structuralist; ↑ Ecological Processualist
  • 38:08 B3. ↓ Progress → Ideals; ↑ (Con)textualism-Dyadicism
  • 56:23 B4. Exercise: ↓ Structure then process; ↑ Process then structure
Part 2
(27m58s)		 [20240513_1350_UHull_Ing ResequencingSystemsThinking_Part2of4_0968kbps.m4v
… Read more (in a new tab)

On my May trip through the UK, I accepted an offer to lead an Expert-Led Session at the University of Hull.  I had previously been a Research Fellow of the Centre for Systems Studies, but haven’t travelled to the Hull for some years.  As we worked out the arrangements, I found out that the seminar wasn’t just an hour lecture, but a complete afternoon.

The Systems Changes Learning Circle is now in year 6 of an espoused 10-year journey.  The target audience of graduate students and faculty, with the luxury of time for lecturing and discussing, allowed for an extended exposition of our learning on systems changes.  The ouline covered:

  • A. Initiating
  • B. Philosophizing
  • C. Theorizing
  • D. Practising
  • E. Continuing

This series of 4 recordings is available as a playlist on Youtube.  We started off mostly with reviewing slides, and then had progressed to more interactive discussion later in the day.  With the audio recordings, the presentation slides (including movies) were resynchronized as post-production.

This presentation segments are downloadable from this website, as well as from the Internet Archive .

Video May 13, 2024 — H.264 MP4
Part 1
(58m02s)		 [20240513_1231_UHull_Ing ResequencingSystemsThinking_Part1of4_1203kpbs.m4v]
(HD 1203kbps 573MB)
[on the Internet Archive]
  • 00:00 Welcome by Amanda Gregory
  • 03:15 A. Initiating
  • 09:35 B. Philosophizing
  • 10:52 B1. ↓ Metaphilosophy; ↑ Postcolonial Constructionist
  • 29:53 B2. ↓ Behavioral Structuralist; ↑ Ecological Processualist
  • 38:08 B3. ↓ Progress → Ideals; ↑ (Con)textualism-Dyadicism
  • 56:23 B4. Exercise: ↓ Structure then process; ↑ Process then structure
Part 2
(27m58s)		 [20240513_1350_UHull_Ing ResequencingSystemsThinking_Part2of4_0968kbps.m4v
… Read more (in a new tab)

Systems Changes Dialogues on Social Innovation | Centre for Social Innovation | 2024-03-18

March 21, 2024
0 Comments

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 core group continued philoosophical and theoretical development.

A return to normalcy encourages the Circle to serve as mentors on thinking through systems echanges.

As an introduction, an online Lunch and Learn was scheduled. Dialogues can be free-flowing, with a light guidance along three questions:

  • 1. Which differences make a difference in your social innovation? Which rhythms are normal, and which are shifts?
  • 2. What influences advance or block the rhythmic shifts of your social innovation?
  • 3. Where can the pacing of systems changes, as faster or slower, favour your social innovation?

To better describe these questions, very short (5-minute) presentations were provided as orientation.

A. Welcome :05
B. Rhythms: Normal or Shift? Presentation One :05
Dialogue One :10
C. Influences: Advancing or Bocking? Presentation Two :05
Dialogue Two :10
D.Pacing that favours: Faster or Slower? Presentation Three :05
Dialogue Three :10
E. Next Meeting (poll)
Better Questions?		 :10

With only an hour scheduled for the Lunch and Learn session, participants only got a brief taste of the way a dialogue would run.

Brief animations served as metaphors on which dialogues could be built. Oriented towards an audience of practitioners, the presentation defers more rigourous theoretical explanations into later mentoring.… Read more (in a new tab)

Appreciating systems changes via multiparadigm inquiry (SRBS)

November 6, 2023
0 Comments

An article related to the ISSS plenary talk of July 2022 has now passed the peer review process, and is published in early view for Systems Research and Behavioral Science.  It should shortly be printed in the November issue of SRBS that serves as the General Systems Yearbook.

Update on Nov. 22, 2023: A full-text, read-only version is available via the author on Article Share https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/YEVWGPGURZ5IVE7AWQRM?target=10.1002/sres.2973

Those without institutional access to journals can contact me, and I’ll send you a copy.  The article is otherwise embargoed until September 2025, at which point it can be self-archived with open access on the Coevolving Commons publications website.

The process of review, with a helpful editor, sharpens and shortens the content.  This formally published version is about 5,000 words.  The original manuscript that appears in the 2022 proceedings is about 15,000 words.  Since I cite a lot of published works of others, I prefer to embed long quotations from the original sources, so that I can keep the original meanings clear.  The extra details enable a diligent reader to not have to cross-reference and look up extended research sources, at the risk of being tedious for researchers who are familiar with that territory.

The article concludes with the following acknowledgement;

This research has been guided since 2019 by the core members of the Systems Changes Learning Circle: Zaid Khan, Dan Eng and Kelly Okamura. We have benefitted by the largess offered on the Open Learning Commons and Digital Life Collective by Robert Best.

… Read more (in a new tab)

An article related to the ISSS plenary talk of July 2022 has now passed the peer review process, and is published in early view for Systems Research and Behavioral Science.  It should shortly be printed in the November issue of SRBS that serves as the General Systems Yearbook.

Update on Nov. 22, 2023: A full-text, read-only version is available via the author on Article Share https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/YEVWGPGURZ5IVE7AWQRM?target=10.1002/sres.2973

Those without institutional access to journals can contact me, and I’ll send you a copy.  The article is otherwise embargoed until September 2025, at which point it can be self-archived with open access on the Coevolving Commons publications website.

The process of review, with a helpful editor, sharpens and shortens the content.  This formally published version is about 5,000 words.  The original manuscript that appears in the 2022 proceedings is about 15,000 words.  Since I cite a lot of published works of others, I prefer to embed long quotations from the original sources, so that I can keep the original meanings clear.  The extra details enable a diligent reader to not have to cross-reference and look up extended research sources, at the risk of being tedious for researchers who are familiar with that territory.

The article concludes with the following acknowledgement;

This research has been guided since 2019 by the core members of the Systems Changes Learning Circle: Zaid Khan, Dan Eng and Kelly Okamura. We have benefitted by the largess offered on the Open Learning Commons and Digital Life Collective by Robert Best.

… Read more (in a new tab)

Systems Changes Learning: Recasting and reifying rhythmic shifts for doing, alongside thinking and making | JSCI

March 9, 2023
0 Comments

A special issue on “Sustainable, Smart and Systemic Design Post-Anthropocene: Through a Transdisciplinary Lens” in the Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics edited by Marie Davidová, Susu Nousala, and Thomas J. Marlowe has been released. In that issue, the journey of the Systems Changes Learning Circle from 2019 through 2022 is reviewed.

The editorial team, in the introductory article, wrote some descriptions about the contribution.

In the first paper, Ing (2023) presents an overview of the history, background, and philosophy of System Change Learning, integrating classical Chinese thought with Western professional practices to revisit the Aristotelean trilogy of doing (praxis), thinking (theoria) and making (poiesis) to construct a distinctly inter-/trans-disciplinary and collaborative approach that unifies the three.

The first paper invites a change of perspective through thinking based on in-depth exploration and explanation of the background, and philosophical approach of systemic learning, and the relationship to change. The author does this by introducing us to the concept of System Change Learning and unpacking the potential and versatility of this thinking for future applications, in particular, collaborative approaches.

This is the first fully peer-reviewed article about Systems Changes Learning in an academic journal!

Here’s the published abstract.

Abstract

Entering 2023, the Systems Changes Learning Circle completed in its fourth year of 10-year journey on “Rethinking Systems Thinking”. In a contextural action learning approach, the Circle has elevated rhythmic shifts as the feature that both resonates with practitioners in the field, and fits with a post-colonial philosophy of science bridging classical Chinese thought with Western professional practices.… Read more (in a new tab)

A special issue on “Sustainable, Smart and Systemic Design Post-Anthropocene: Through a Transdisciplinary Lens” in the Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics edited by Marie Davidová, Susu Nousala, and Thomas J. Marlowe has been released. In that issue, the journey of the Systems Changes Learning Circle from 2019 through 2022 is reviewed.

The editorial team, in the introductory article, wrote some descriptions about the contribution.

In the first paper, Ing (2023) presents an overview of the history, background, and philosophy of System Change Learning, integrating classical Chinese thought with Western professional practices to revisit the Aristotelean trilogy of doing (praxis), thinking (theoria) and making (poiesis) to construct a distinctly inter-/trans-disciplinary and collaborative approach that unifies the three.

The first paper invites a change of perspective through thinking based on in-depth exploration and explanation of the background, and philosophical approach of systemic learning, and the relationship to change. The author does this by introducing us to the concept of System Change Learning and unpacking the potential and versatility of this thinking for future applications, in particular, collaborative approaches.

This is the first fully peer-reviewed article about Systems Changes Learning in an academic journal!

Here’s the published abstract.

Abstract

Entering 2023, the Systems Changes Learning Circle completed in its fourth year of 10-year journey on “Rethinking Systems Thinking”. In a contextural action learning approach, the Circle has elevated rhythmic shifts as the feature that both resonates with practitioners in the field, and fits with a post-colonial philosophy of science bridging classical Chinese thought with Western professional practices.… Read more (in a new tab)

Appreciating Systems Changes via Multiparadigm Inquiry | ISSS 2022 Proceedings

March 1, 2023
0 Comments

In the ISSS 2022 Plenary talk, the first 25 minutes were a blast through (a) the rising interest in system(s) change(s); (b) appreciative systems (Vickers); (c1) the philosophy of architectural design; (c2) the philosophy of ecological anthropology; (c3) the philosophy of Classical Chinese Medicine; (c4) the philosophy of rhythms; and (d) methods of multiparadigm inquiry, and open theorizing.

The formal publication of the manuscript in the Proceedings of the 66th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences unpacks the content for those with an interest in really understanding the breadth of domains that the Systems Changes Learning Circle has explored, from 2019 through 2022.

This proceedings release is a milestone, as a coherent work that has been lightly reviewed. In a more thorough process of peer review, a publication may be further refined by anonymous comments requesting clarification of some points, or suggestions that some sections could be abbreviated. My style of writing presumes that readers might not know all of the references, so I’m explicit about sources. (This also helps me remember from whom I’m learning!)

Here’s the abstract, as it appears in the proceedings.

Abstract

In which ways is the subject of systems change(s), as a first-class concept, distinct from a reduction into (i) systems and (ii) changes? For practice, theory, and methods to be authentically rigourous, the philosophy underlying an approach to systems changes can be explicated. Through an appreciative systems framework, presumptions are surfaced as to (i) what are and are not systems changes; (ii) when, where, and for whom, systems changes are prioritized for attention; and (iii) how systems changes should be addressed.… Read more (in a new tab)

In the ISSS 2022 Plenary talk, the first 25 minutes were a blast through (a) the rising interest in system(s) change(s); (b) appreciative systems (Vickers); (c1) the philosophy of architectural design; (c2) the philosophy of ecological anthropology; (c3) the philosophy of Classical Chinese Medicine; (c4) the philosophy of rhythms; and (d) methods of multiparadigm inquiry, and open theorizing.

The formal publication of the manuscript in the Proceedings of the 66th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences unpacks the content for those with an interest in really understanding the breadth of domains that the Systems Changes Learning Circle has explored, from 2019 through 2022.

This proceedings release is a milestone, as a coherent work that has been lightly reviewed. In a more thorough process of peer review, a publication may be further refined by anonymous comments requesting clarification of some points, or suggestions that some sections could be abbreviated. My style of writing presumes that readers might not know all of the references, so I’m explicit about sources. (This also helps me remember from whom I’m learning!)

Here’s the abstract, as it appears in the proceedings.

Abstract

In which ways is the subject of systems change(s), as a first-class concept, distinct from a reduction into (i) systems and (ii) changes? For practice, theory, and methods to be authentically rigourous, the philosophy underlying an approach to systems changes can be explicated. Through an appreciative systems framework, presumptions are surfaced as to (i) what are and are not systems changes; (ii) when, where, and for whom, systems changes are prioritized for attention; and (iii) how systems changes should be addressed.… Read more (in a new tab)

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    • Nov 26, 2024, 03:25 November 26, 2024
      Web recording of the 125th meeting of #SystemsThinking Ontario: A retrospective, introspective, and prospective discussion about systems convening, in coordination with #RSDSymposium .https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/systems-thinking-ontario-as-systems-convening-st-on-2024-10-21/
    • Nov 16, 2024, 17:53 November 16, 2024
      In which directions should #SystemsThinking advance? In 1985, Bela H. Banathy promoted engaging into systems inquiry in (i) systems theory, (ii) systems philosophy, and (iii) systems methodology, towards application and competence. https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/systems-theory-systems-philosophy-systems-methodology-banathy-1985/
    • Oct 29, 2024, 21:05 October 29, 2024
      From late September into October, researchers met for 5 intensive days for #CreativeSystemicResearchPlatformInstitute Banathy Conversation event in Lugano. https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/csrp-institute-2024-banathy-conversation-lugano/ #SystemsThinking
    • Sep 19, 2024, 03:50 September 19, 2024
      Web video of launch of book "Seeing: A Field Guide to the Patterns and Processes of Nature, Culture, and Consciousness" by #LynnRasmussen. Joined by #LauraCivitello of #MauiInstitute, making Systems Process Theory of #LenTroncale accessible. https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/book-launch-seeing-a-field-guide_rasmussen-civitello/
    • Sep 14, 2024, 02:44 September 14, 2024
      Web video presentation complementing preprint of "Reifying Socio-Technical and Socio-Ecological Perspectives for Systems Changes: From rearranging objects to repacing rhythms" for International Conference on Socio-Technical Perspectives in IS (STPIS’24) https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/reifying-socio-technical-and-socio-ecological-perspectives-for-systems-changes-stpis/

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      The appreciation of change is different in Western philosophy than in classical Chinese philosophy. JeeLoo Lin published a concise contrast on differences. Let me parse the Introduction to the journal article, that is so clearly written. The Chinese theory of time is built into a language that is tenseless. The Yijing (Book of Changes) there […]
    • World Hypotheses (Stephen C. Pepper) as a pluralist philosophy [Rescher, 1994]
      In trying to place the World Hypotheses work of Stephen C. Pepper (with multiple root metaphors), Nicholas Rescher provides a helpful positioning. — begin paste — Philosophical perspectivism maintains that substantive philosophical positions can be maintained only from a “perspective” of some sort. But what sort? Clearly different sorts of perspectives can be conceived of, […]
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      Ames and Hall (2003) provide some tips for those studyng the DaoDeJing.
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    • Introduction, “Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2”, edited by F. E. Emery (1981)
      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 […]
    • Introduction, “Systems Thinking: Selected Readings”, edited by F. E. Emery (1969)
      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 […]

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    • 2024/11 Moments November 2024
      Road trip to Rochester NY and Ithaca, with visits to art galleries as the days get shorter.
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      Journey from Lugano Switzerland, return via Milan Italy, to fall in Toronto
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      September neighbourhood music performances, day out with father, son's birthday party, travel via Milan to Genoa, systems conversation in Lugano
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      Summer festivals and music incubator shows in Toronto, all within biking distance.
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      Summer jazz at the Distillery District, in Washington DC while at the annual systems conference, and then Toronto Jazz Festival

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      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 ›
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      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 ›
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