International Society for the Systems Sciences: Journals ISSS
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Global Ocean Science Education for the Human/Ocean System
No full textMost global citizens are not aware of how the state of the ocean and its resources affect their daily lives. They are also not aware of the extent of the services that the ocean provides, which are related to environmental, human health, economic, social, and geo-political factors. The importance of ocean science research in support of these services is critical to society, yet the arena of ocean science and related marine enterprises remain a mystery for a large portion of the global population. The global ocean system can’t be extracted from the Earth’s complex intertwined Earth systems nor can it be separated from human health, social, or cultural systems.The pressures of a growing human population, increased development and demand on natural resources, and climatic warming necessitate decision making in support of national, regional, and international goals. It is more important than ever for all citizens to be knowledgeable and aware of their relationship with the ocean, how it affects them, and the scientific research that is addressing pressing ocean-related concerns. This is the essence of ocean literacy (OL) - an understanding of the ocean’s influence on people and people’s influence on the ocean. The U.S. ocean science research and education community has worked together for over 25 years to expand and enhance ocean science education efforts. These efforts have included the national OL initiative, a collaborative undertaking of several U.S. organizations and institutions, which developed the Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts (OLPFC) for primary and secondary schools.Recent collaborative efforts by COSEE (Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement) and the College of Exploration have striven to move beyond a single sector/single nation approach to ocean education and literacy through the engagement of multiple sectors connected to the human/ocean system, specifically the research, education, business, and policy sectors. This work, initiated in 2015 via the Global Ocean Science Education (GOSE) Workshops, is intended to move the dialog beyond the knowledge requirements of the OLPFC toward an understanding of anthropogenic impacts on the ocean and attitudes toward important ocean-related activities and behaviors. Systems thinking across nations, sectors, and natural systems is critical if the global citizenry is to become ocean literate. In addition, an understanding of the complex relationships in the ocean/human system is imperative in achieving the goals of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (Deacde; 2021-2030). The 2019 GOSE Workshop will provide a forum for the international, cross-sector ocean science community to plan for the upcoming Decade and explore connections between ocean and systems literacy.
ASSESSING THE BEHAVIOR OF HUMAN ACTIVITY SYSTEMS THROUGH THE OBSERVATION AND INTERPRETATION OF SOCIOTECHNICAL SIGNS
No full textThe study of communication as a system is largely unexplored in both literature and empirical research, however its role in human activity systems is critical for understanding and adapting organizational behavior. Currently most literature on organizational indicators or signs do not make a connection back to a system of communication or delve into the theoretical virtues of signs as they pertain to the human activity system; building a message that can be understood by and between analysts of the system under observation. Signs are the most basic elements of communication, indicating properties about the system from which the signs emerge. Signs can be conceptual or concrete in form and provide the means for assessing system behavior. When combined with context, signs become information about the system and the information is used to develop a message and transmit from a sender to one or more receivers regarding the necessity for change. This research shall focus on signs are and how they can contribute to change initiatives through their relationship to system behavior. Furthermore, a case study on organizational change will be employed to illustrate the use of signs to indicate whether management is balancing organizational intelligence (thinking) and organizational practices (doing), as indicated by Sir Geoffrey Vickers concept of appreciative systems, in change management initiatives. This research will lay the foundations for system analysts to assess how a perspective system is doing, from the observation and interpretation of its signs, and what needs to change in order for a system to reach its intended goal
Building a Global Superorganism: A New Paradigm for the Era of Climate Change
No full textThe growth-oriented economic strategy that has largely prevailed in Western societies over the past two centuries is literally a dead-end. Nor is our global system of independent, deeply competitive nation states a viable strategy for the future, despite the current trend toward increased nationalism. As I argue at length in my forthcoming new book, we are facing a collective choice like none other in our long, multi-million-year history (and pre-history) as a ground-dwelling bipedal ape. We have only two paths going forward. We must either create a more integrated and cooperative global society and political order or else our species will very likely be consumed by lethal conflict and perhaps even devolve and go extinct. Only an organized process of cooperative social, economic, and political change on a global scale offers us genuine reason for hope. Many biologists use the analogy of a “superorganism” as a way of characterizing a socially organized group in the natural world. In my book (titled Superorganism), I provide an outline and a roadmap for how to achieve a new, more legitimate and sustainable economic and political order on a global scale -- a global “superorganism.” A key element of this roadmap is a proposal for a new “social contract” designed to create a legitimate and fair global society, along with increased global governance. Among other things, this would include a “universal basic needs guarantee.” If we follow the proven pathway in humankind of cooperation, innovation, and creating new synergies, there is every reason to hope that we can make the necessary changes and build a sustainable global society for the long term. But this will require bold leadership and broad public support, a very tall order. The supreme question before us, as the great Walter Lippmann put it 50 years ago, is “how men will be able to make themselves willing and able to save themselves.” The jury is still out
Model Coupling for Complex Systems Analysis
No full textAdaptive Ecological Niche Modeling provides the missing link in current science for coupling potential and dynamical models as called for in global socio-ecological programs. Development of the Generalized Niche Model (GEN) completes the architecture of Relational Ecology based on the principles of R-theory
Systemic Deviation, The Evil in the Machine
No full textIn the context of the increasing importance of transparency and accountability of intelligent and autonomous systems, this paper introduces identifies and defines the notion of Systemic Deviation and characterizes it with some examples, providing pointers to current and future work adopting this definition. It also proposes some steps towards methods and solutions including Socio Technical Systems Joint Optimisation, an Ethical Functional Model, and identifying and addressing Systemic Aspects of Wrongdoing and Whistleblowing Researc
Polymorphism: What Can Businesses Systems Learn from Living Systems?
No full textThe concept of polymorphism which is popular in natural sciences has been used by Walmsley (2008) emphasizing the polymorphism of consciousness in Lonergan (1972)’s sense. There is a possibility of introducing a polymorph model of reality based on the notion of information. Going back to Wiener (1948)’s definition of information as “negative entropy” i.e. “negative disorder” or “degree of organization”, information is defined as patterns of (self)-organising matter and energy at the micromolecular, neural, cultural, bureaucratic levels and in artifacts such farms, social and economic systems, corporations and software. Information creates an ecological continuity between the inorganic, the organic, and the artificial through a parallelism between levels of control (Beniger, 1986) and levels of consciousness (Fuchs-Kittowiski, 1991).This ecological continuity implies that reality(metaphysics), knowledge (epistemology) and behavior (ethics) are problems of information because they conform to a cybernetic model that views “things social as interacting processing systems” (Beniger, 1986) and “appreciate[s] the importance of communication and control in all such systems.” (Beniger, 1986) Polymorphism implies integrating substantive (subject matters and their representation or data), semantic (meaning), behavioural (procedures) and teleological (or goal-oriented, functional) aspects in both organisational structures and business processes. This can be done through information processing i.e. enriching the immediate data of experience with meaning and value for the purpose of decision-making. In the context of polymorphism, business systems can learn from important features of living systems:(1) Businesses as holographic systems i.e. favoring integration over fragmentation through embedding vision, systems and structures and corporate culture in each component of the organisation through the Stafford Beer’s principle of recurrence.(2) Focusing on throughputs rather than outputs: designing businesses as value networks rather than value chains and ensuring flawless processes at each level of value creation through Total Quality Management (TQM).(3) From universality to transversality: traditional business models imply top-down linear bureaucratic models which implies a “ command and control” management style and standardization for the sake of mass production. Polymorphism implies that each customer is unique and a “sense and respond” (to customer needs) approach is better than a “make and sell’ strategy;(4) From hierarchies to heterachies: This implies basing decision-making and problem-solving not on power and ownership but on knowledge. This change leads to different patterns of empowerment and sharing of rewards. The distinction between management and staff becomes irrelevant because power is no more at the top of a pyramid but at different nods of complex networks where different members of a team share resources and information. This creates a flat, networked model of organisation that is ruled by equality rather than domination.(5) From Cutting Edges to Cutting Across: This implies shifting from designing organisations as stable closed entities to dynamic open systems through disruptive innovations, outsourcing and establishing organisational structures which go beyond the boundaries of one single organisation such as joint-ventures, consortia, conglomerates and strategic alliances;(6) From competition to collaboration: When value creation is based on knowledge rather than ownership or power there is a different understanding of the relationships between different players. The crude individualistic understanding of competitions isreplaced by vertical integration (the suppression of hierarchical barriers) and horizontal integration (the formation of cross-functional teams). This new way of doing business has been called by Burn et al. (2002:xv) “coopetition”. From warfare to trust: The marketplace is no longer conceived as a battleground or a dangerous place, where one must be very careful in order to brave the fury of the enemy and unveil the enemy’s traps. Polymorphism implies inter-organisational systems that link organisations to their customers and suppliers
Data Standards for Computational Ecology: constraining soft sub-systems to increase internal complexity for community resilience
No full textThe Creative Systemic Research Platform at the Design and Innovation College of Tongji University in Shanghai focuses on facilitating learning of a diverse set of organizations, researching on the quality of interactions occurring among different agents, both human and non, and their context. A major communication channel available today employs sensors to observe otherwise invisible conditions of the environment, enabling a detailed understanding of how patterns of interactions among biological elements influence the global conditions. To address some of the most urgent need resulting from urbanization, industrialization and globalization processes, in 2018 we started working on computational ecology to support agricultural practices delivering self-organization capacity in diverse human settlements. The complex web of interactions occurring in such a context calls for a rich qualitative analysis of its conditions. To start building knowledge models that fit diverse range of human agents, a case-study methodology is employed. Boundaries have been set to describe the diversity of the analysed contexts, ranging from urban indoor greenhouses to agro-forestry management, working on the edges of these systems to address functional clustering and distribution. The first case study reflects a semi-controlled environment to constrain the space and time of natural cycles of vegetation and water and the number of observable interactions as preconditions for a university class of Design Students to interact with an indoor greenhouse. This process led to work on the development of data standards for collection and integration protocols to embed qualitative observation. Ontological constraints in computational agriculture as a sub-system of living communities is key element to enable access to self-monitoring practice into farm management, distributing learning and adaptation capacity as basis for autonomous, ecologically fitting human settlements ready to address internal transformations
Innovativeness of the Judiciary Power. A case study using the Viable System Model (VSM)
No full textFor several years, the use of technology, open data and customer focus as innovation engines has been imposed worldwide. And the Judiciary Power as a key player in the system of administration of justice of the Argentine Republic do not escape this tendency. As a consequence of this, it has implemented innovative processes in order to reduce their management times, improve the user-citizen experience and bring transparency to the process. Never the less, in Argentina these innovations are rare exceptions. In this paper the case of the “Judiciary Power of Tucumán Province” will be use as a leading case for its high level of innovativeness during the last ten years. The main objective of this paper is to model using Beer’s Viable System Model approach the system in which this case is embedded, discuss and determine whether the system is a viable one or not, and compare the findings with the theoretical framework associated with the “new public management”
Integrating systems science perspective across various STEM literacies
No full textOver the last decade various science literacy frameworks have been developed, including the Ocean Literacy Framework, The Essential Principles of Climate Literacy, or Energy Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts for Energy Education. Common amongst these frameworks is an implicit or explicit focus on systems; conversely, without a systems perspective, the complex issues around ocean health, or the linked technology, society, nature issues that underlie climate change or energy use cannot be understood fully. Yet, systems thinking per se is difficult to convey, teach or communicate, and while included in new US science education standards, there is little indication that student indeed learn systems thinking as a cross-cutting practice. Complicating the matter is the issue of what reasonably can or should be expected of children around systems literacy, and in extension, what expectation we ought to have about appropriate systems literacy in adults. Martin Storksdieck will reflect on opportunities and challenges in creating a systems literacy framework that might serve as guide to formal and informal education
Establishing a ‘systems identity’ for management and the social sciences equivalent to ‘systems engineering’ in the engineering world
No full textThis presentation will involve a discussion of some of the issues facing ‘systems scientists’ in the academic world in trying to better establish their ‘systems identity’ in commerce, business & social science faculties at universities or polytechnics (ie in tertiary sector educational institutions). The talk will draw on the author’s own experiences at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand over a nearly 30-year period, and his recent co-edited MDPI Systems journal special issue and book on ‘systems education for a sustainable planet (with Prof Ockie Bosch). The book contains contributions from Australia, UK, Europe, USA et al, and these will be briefly discussed. In addition, the author will try and draw on lessons learned from his co-authored paper recently published in System Dynamics Review on ‘a ‘power and influence’ political archetype: the dynamics of public support’. In that paper the focus is on how ‘communities for purpose’ build and lose power over time depending on a multitude of factors, some within control of the community and others outside the control of that community. If we consider the ISSS and systems thinking community at large as the ‘community for purpose’ we could begin to use the political archetype and concept model to help our community grow and build up momentum and influence over time helping to bring systems thinking knowledge and skills into the wider public arena over a reasonable timeframe (or before it is too late – eg from the adverse effects of climate change!). It is hoped that this approach will also add to the current ‘systems literacy’ projects being undertaken around the globe, including, for example, the theme of this conference and the project currently being curated by Peter Tuddenham at http://www.systemsliteracy.com