Coevolving Innovations

… in Business Organizations and Information Technologies

CSRP Institute 2024 Banathy Conversation, Lugano

For five immersive days, a team of six researchers had the opporunity to collaborate on ideas on rhythmic shifts (mostly based on Systems Changes Learning) and anticipatory systems (in the legacy of Robert Rosen).  The 2024 Banathy Conversation was organized by the Creative Systemic Research Platform Institute, facilitated by Susu Nousala, Gary S. Metcalf, and Jelena Sucic.

Converrsatons had been convened by the International Federation for Systems Research since 1982.

Conversations were introduced by Bela H. Banathy around 1980 as an alternative to the classical conferences which usually consist only of presentation of streamlined papers and short question slots. In a Conversation a small group of scientists meets for several days to discuss in a self-guided way a topic of scientific and social importance. A Conversation is preceded by an intensive preparation phase and followed by a post-conversation consolidation period. No papers are presented during the conversation; the participants discuss face-to-face their topic, often modifying it in the course of the conversation.

As far as we know, this was the first event following the Banathy Conversation Methdology since the IFSR 2018 Conversation.

The Banathy approach has been a highlight experience in my personal development.  I was fortunate to have been invited to Austria to attend IFSR Conversation events in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012,  Moving on from an era when email messaging was the most common medium, I spent a month this past summer updating online communications technologies to pilot mobile devices, secure group chat, a wiki, and a classroom platform.… Read more (in a new tab)

Book Launch — Seeing: A Field Guide to the Patterns and Processes of Nature, Culture, and Consciousness | Lynn Rasmussen + Laura Civitello | ST-ON | 2024-09-09

Systems Processes Theory has been under development for many decades, led by Len Troncale, a past president of the International Society for the Ssytems Sciences.  Many have found getting a grip on the science to be a demanding task, both in scope and in depth.

Over many decades, Lynn Rasmussen was a collaborator, refining and clarifying Systems Processes Theory.  Having already published previous books related to her professional coaching, Lynn turned her attention over the past few years to making the theory more accessible.  Thus, on September 4, 2024, Seeing: A Field Guide to the Patterns and Processes of Nature, Culture, and Consciousness was released.

Systems Thinking Ontario was privileged to celebrate the launch of her book.  Lynn joined us in conversation online from Hawaii, with her colleague Laura Civitello from the Maui Institute.

The conversation flowed quite easily with participants.  Some of the concepts were made more concrete by reference to the 2023 Maui Wildfires.

This video recording available for download, on Youtube, and also on the Internet Archive .

Video H.264 MP4
Sept. 9
(1h38m)
[20240909_ST-ON_LynnRasmussen_LauraCivitello SeeingFieldGuide.m4v
(1920×900 1162kbps 906MB)
[on the Internet Archive]

The only visual was the table of contents of the book.  A standalone audio was also created during the meeting.

Audio
Sept. 9
(1h38m)
[20240909_ST-ON_LynnRasmussen_LauraCivitello SeeingFieldGuide.m4a]
(128kbps, 89 MB)
[on the Internet Archive]

A brief decription follows below.  Links to historical content (e.g.… Read more (in a new tab)

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

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)

What Can Systems Thinkers Learn From Civic Tech? | Dorothy Eng + Curtis McCord | 2024-05-18

Civic Tech can be described as projects using technology “for the public good“.  Civic Tech may be related to, but different from Gov Tech.

For the May 2024 Systems Thinking Onrtario, we had two knowledgeable guests in conversation.  Dorothy Eng, executive director of Code for Canada since 2021, related her professional journey from engineering to consulting, and Civic Tech Toronto (with a long history of hacknights and speakers).  Curtis McCord was also involved in Civic Tech Toronto, and completed a Ph.D. dissertation on “Civic Participation and Democratic Experience: Civic Tech in Toronto” in the Faculty of Informqtion Studies at the University of Toronto in 2022.  The session was moderated by Zaid Khan, with some familiar regular attendees contributiong viewpoints.

This recording of the conversation is available on Youtube, with an alternate retention on the Internet Archive .

Video H.264 MP4
May 13
(1h36m)
[20240513_ST-ON_CivicTech DorothyEng_CurtisMcCord.m4v
(1698×826 906kbps 755MB)
[on the Internet Archive]

For those who prefer just to listne, a standalone audio was also created during the meeting.

Audio
May 13
(1h36m)
[20240513_ST-ON_CivicTech DorothyEng_CurtisMcCord.m4a]
(128kbps, 89 MB)
[on the Internet Archive]

A short description of the session follows below, with pre-readings linked on the original abstract.


— begin excerpt —

Civic tech is an approach to bettering public services through technology. It has and continues to be expressed in many forms: a movement, mindset, frameworks, service.… Read more (in a new tab)

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

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)

Citation rankings for some systems thinkers

I’ve been checking on the breadth of some personal research on systems thinkers.  (The list is incomplete, and may orient more towards systems scientists).  Searching on Scopus gives an h-Index that counts scholarly references (with a boost, for the first person on the list who received a Nobel prize in chemistry).

The list below is sorted first on h-index, and then the number of citations.

For me, there were a few surprises.  Others may be less surprised.

Author Documents Citations h-index
Prigogine, Ilya R. 237 9,629 50
Holling, Crawford S. 66 27,402 38
Midgley, Gerald 83 2,948 33
Checkland, Peter B. 47 3,425 27
Jackson, Michael C. 76 2,716 26
Odum, Howard T. 55 4,579 24
Ackoff, Russell L. 68 2,411 23
Wiener, Norbert 72 3,758 22
Rosen, Robert 93 1,624 21
Senge, Peter M. 34 2,186 18
Lewin, Kurt 39 9,566 17
Boulding, Kenneth E. 79 2,074 16
Trist, Eric L. 21 4,537 15
Georgescu-Roegen, Nicholas 27 1,013 15
von Bertalanffy, Ludwig 35 3,285 14
Bateson, Gregory 22 962 12
Miller, James Grier 20 562 11
Meadows, Donella H. 14 684 8
Beer, Stafford 29 250 8
Emery, Frederick E. 20 2,011 7
Ashby, W. Ross 15 671 6
Churchman, C. West 23 104 5

The h-index is supposed to be better in comparing researchers in the same field.  Citations may or may not be better in the systems sciences, where we have a chemist alongside some economists.… Read more (in a new tab)

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    • 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/
    • Aug 15, 2024, 03:04 August 15, 2024
      Invited paper to International Conference on Socio-Technical Perspectives in IS (STPIS’24) on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024, https://stpis.org/program/ online to Sweden. Preprint at https://coevolving.com/commons/2024-08-reifying-socio-technical-socio-ecological-stpis #SystemsThinking
    • Aug 11, 2024, 20:39 August 11, 2024
      Web video from U. Hull Centre for Systems Studies expert-led session on "Resequencing #SystemsThinking: Practising, Theorizing and Philosophizing as Systems Changes Learning", 4 parts, ~ 3 hours. https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/resequencing-systems-thinking-u-hull/ Slides at https://coevolving.com/commons/2024-05-resequencing-systems-thinking need talk, animation.
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    • 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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    • 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 […]
    • Concerns with the way systems thinking is used in evaluation | Michael C. Jackson, OBE | 2023-02-27
      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) […]
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    • 2024/09 Moments September 2024
      September neighbourhood music performances, day out with father, son's birthday party, travel via Milan to Genoa, systems conversation in Lugano
    • 2024/08 Moments August 2024
      Summer finishing with family events, and lots of outdoor music performances, captured with a new mirrorless camera for video from mid-month
    • 2024/07 Moments July 2024
      Summer festivals and music incubator shows in Toronto, all within biking distance.
    • 2024/06 Moments June 2024
      Summer jazz at the Distillery District, in Washington DC while at the annual systems conference, and then Toronto Jazz Festival
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      Busy May with art university graduate exhibition, travel to UK seeing Edinburgh, Hull, Manchester, London, returning home for wedding in Lefroy, annual cemetery visits with family, and spending time with extended family in from Chicago.
    • 2024/04 Moments April 2024
      Return from visiting family in Vancouver BC, clan events and eldercare appointments
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    • What to Do When It’s Too Late | David L. Hawk | 2024
      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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    • 2021/06/16 Keekok Lee | Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1
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