Blog

 

Yesterday I listened to Nora Bateson talk about her book from 2016. Well worth the hour to listen. I ma listening to podcasts as I go for a walk for an hour in these covid times. I especially like the last chapter on "symmathesy". I would be interested in your comments.

The Primer Project of ISSS was an ambitous effort to capture some of the essence of General Systems Theory on a previous ISSS website.

 

We moved the ISSS website to a new server in May 2020 and so the old primer site became unavailable.

 

Rob Young with support from Peter Tuddenham has revived and updated much of this primer website. Thank you Rob Young for your work on this project.

 

You can find it here https://web3.isss.org/primer2/

 

If you find errors or links not working please email webadmin at isss.org

 

This year, because the Operational Research Society of the UK cannot do a face-to-face conference, it is arranging a free event that anybody can sign up for. Instead of regular streams, each topic area has a representative 60-minute session. The Systems Thinking session will be delivered by Luis Sambo (Visiting Professor, Centre for Systems Studies; Ex-Director of WHO Africa) and Mike Jackson (Emeritus Professor and Founder, Centre for Systems Studies). Luis Sambo will talk about how Critical Systems Thinking informed his leadership of the WHO response to Ebola in Africa, and then Mike Jackson will follow up with lessons for handling covid-19 today. Subject to confirmation, this session will be at 1pm on 15 September 2020.

 

One of the plenary speakers is Ellen Lewis, Visiting Fellow in the Centre for Systems Studies (and a 2016 graduate from University of Hull Systems  PhD program).  She will be talking about the systemic evaluation of development projects, with a focus on gender, environments and marginalized voices. Also subject to confirmation, this will be at 1pm on 16 September 2020.

 

More information https://www.theorsociety.com/events/annual-conference/

Over the three years of my time as President-elect, President and Past-President of ISSS I have worked with William (Bill) Smith to develop and use his approach "Understanding Lightness, Darkness and Color (LDC),as a Systems Language" to understanding systems in relation to ISSS as an organization and also to the development of Systems Literacy. Read more about Bill and his life's work at http://www.odii.com   

 

With respect to ISSS in 2020 Bill invited ISSS members to complete a color selection activity as a way to gather information about individual preferences.  He has combined  the individual results to produce a group picture as well as a male and female portraits. All three come with recommendations for how ISSS can make better use its purpose power relationships and achieve balance between male and female.

 

The results are posted here 

 

Media1 from ISSS on Vimeo.

Rob Young and I are building the Digital Library here for ISSS. You can see more under that Library menu tab.  One of the related tasks is to research and discover as much of the ISSS history as we can. One project from years ago is called the Primer Project. We are working to "restore" the web-based project to new servers.

 

In the course of this work I came across the image below showing four systemic domains.  This is also relevant to other ongoing work at ISSS to chart the course for the future of ISSS. In the Primer Project there is also reference to the Four Winds. Here is a capture of that page from the Primer Project.

 

Over the past few months I have had the opportunity to spend time with a number of former Presidents of ISSS and share my experiences so far as President of ISSS 2018-19 and to hear from them about their experiences as President of ISSS and now perspectives as Past President and a Trustee.

 

In January David Rousseau (ISSS President 2017-18) and I both attended the INCOSE International Workshop in Torrance California. Also in January  I visited Len Troncale ( ISSS President 1990-91) in his Claremont, California Office where he has a significant number of  historical journals, papers and books of ISSS. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Debora Hammond  (ISSS President 2005-06) and I have spoken about membership trends and issues and her experience with the annual conference.

 

Gary Metcalf (ISSS President 2007-08) and I have regular conversations that began when he was President of the International Federation for Systems Research http://www.ifsr.org We meet on bluejeans video conferencing and discuss ways to broaden the engagement between systems sciences and groups and leaders around the world.

 

David Ing ( ISSS President 2011-12) and I have had several Skype meetings over the past few months reviewing the whole ISSS data management and website challenges.

 

Alexander Laszlo (ISSS President 2012-13) and I have had several conversations about a group called Grupo Mar, a group concerned with matters of education and the ocean in Argentina that emerged or developed from the Argentina Systems Sciences Chapter of ISSS. He also gave a great overview of his SIG work on a recent SIG Session on Saturday, see https://www.myisss.org/sig-sessions-recordings/

 

In February Gerald Midgley (ISSS President 2013-14) and I spoke at length about the vision for systems sciences an what ISSS might accomplish in the next 5 years, a conversation prompted by the vision survey described in the blog in February.

 

Also over the past month I have talked with Allenna Leonard (ISSS President 2009-10) about the Viable System Model and also about developing online seminars about systems tools and VSM applications to not for profits.

 

Also in February Jennifer Wilby (ISSS President 2010-11) along with ISSS members Janet and Michael Singer stayed with me for four days as we represented ISSS at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington D.C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the past few weeks I have been exploring Superorganisms with Peter Corning (ISSS President 1999-2000) in preparation for the ISSS 2019 conference. I have also been in email exchanges with Aleco Christakis (ISSS President 2002-03) and Mike Jackson (ISSS President 2001-02).

 

And last week I visited John Kineman (ISSS President 2015-16) in the mountains west of Boulder for an afternoon discussion on a wide range of topics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And looking forward to next year Shankar Sankaran ( President-elect)  and I have been developing ways to ensure more continuity from one ISSS President to the next by having Skype conversations between us from the USA to Australia.