1,721,122 research outputs found
Community and Environmental OR: Towards a New Agenda
Full text linkIn 1999, the UK-based Operational Research Society granted charitable funding to a systemic intervention project, based in the Centre for Systems Studies at the University of Hull, designed to create an agenda for the future role of operational research (OR) in environmental planning and management. Our final report on the project was published in 2001. This chapter summarises our findings, then focuses in detail on one aspect of these: the outputs from a mini-conference held with OR practitioners who participated in developing the agenda
A critical systems thinking approach for the planning of information technology in the information society
No full textThis thesis presents a view of the situation of Information and Communications Technology Planning (ICTP) from the perspective of Critical Systems Thinking (CST). Nowadays with the increasing use of information and communications technologies and the possibilities of management of information, organisations and people in general focus attention on the planning of these technologies. Such type of planning has been often understood as a process that aims to get competitive advantage through the use of information and ensure that it will contribute to the improvement of the way of life of societies. The outcomes in different countries and problems encountered make necessary to explore the possibility of an alternative view in planning that could be more inclusive and participative regarding people involved and affected by this process.In this thesis such a view is defined as 'strategic'. It considers that different groups of people have different concerns that are necessary to address. By using a combination between the systems theories of Autopoiesis and boundary critique, the strategic view is presented. It opens the possibility of including different groups of people and their concerns, as well as debating the consequences of addressing some of these concerns in action. Concerns are viewed as system boundaries.A methodological approach to support a process of ICTP is defined from the strategic view. This approach was used to intervene at Javeriana University in Colombia in a project called "Exploring possible roles for information technologies at Javeriana University" from March to July 1999. Reflections about this project lead the author to propose enriching the strategic view with an understanding of the issue of ethics in the practice of ICTP and in the improvement of the way of life of individual and collective subjects. The ideas of power and ethics from Michel Foucault are used to enrich the strategic view of planning and to enhance critique on the ethics fostered by practitioners. This critique fosters also continuous awareness about the life projects of practitioners and of individuals in general, as a proposal to improve their way of life in the development of the information society
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Systemic Intervention
Full text linkThis paper describes the practice of systemic intervention, emphasizing (1) the need to explore stakeholder values and boundaries for analysis; (2) responses to the challenges of marginalization processes; and (3) a wide, pluralistic range of methods from the systems literature and beyond to create a flexible and responsive systemic action research practice. After presenting an outline of systemic intervention, the author discusses several other well-tested systems approaches with a view to identifying their potential for further supporting systemic intervention practice, and action research more generally. Two practical examples of systemic intervention are provided to illustrate the arguments
Critical systems thinking, theory and practice : a case study of an intervention in two British local authorities
Full text linkThis thesis reports an intervention informed by critical systems thinking. The intervention drew upon a variety of systems and operational research methods to systemically explore the problems facing housing services for older people. Stakeholders were then supported in developing a response to these problems in the form of an integrated model of user involvement and multi-agency working. The methods used in this study included Cognitive Mapping, Critical Systems Heuristics, Interactive Planning and Viable System Modelling. Following a description of the project and its outcomes, the author's practical experiences are used to reflect back on critical systems thinking. Five innovations are presented in the thesis:First a new method called 'Problem Mapping' is developed. This has five stages: (i) interviewing stakeholders to surface problems and identify further potential interviewees; (ii) listing the problems as seen through the eyes of the various stakeholders; (iii) consolidating the list by removing duplicate problems and synthesising similar problems into larger 'problem statements'; (iv) mapping the relationships between problems; and (v) presenting the results back to stakeholders to inform the development of proposals for improvement. Reflection upon the use of this method indicates that it is particularly valuable where there are multiple stakeholders who are not initially visible to researchers, each of whom sees different aspects of a problem situation.Second, Problem Mapping is used to systemically express the problems facing housing services for older people in two geographical areas in the UK. This shows how problems in the areas of assessment, information provision and planning are mutually reinforcing, making a strong case for change.Third, a process of evolving an integrated model of user involvement and multi-agency working is presented. The model was designed in facilitated workshops by managers from statutory agencies, based on specifications developed by a variety of stakeholders (including service users and carers).Fourth, the strengths and weaknesses of Cognitive Mapping (one of the methods used in the project) are discussed. Significant limitations of this method are highlighted.Fifth, contributions and reflections on the theoretical and practical basis of the research are presented. These among others focus on the theory of boundary critique, which is an important aspect of critical systems thinking. It is often assumed that boundary critique is only undertaken at the start of an intervention to ensure that its remit has been adequately defined. However, this project shows that it is both possible and desirable to use the theory of boundary critique in an on-going basis in interventions to inform the creative design of methods
Towards a new foundation for systems practice : grounding multi-method systemic interventions
Full text linkMy purpose with this PhD has been to provide a new foundation for systems practice in order to ground multi-method systemic interventions. The field of Critical System Thinking (CST), which was established to provide this grounding, finds itself immersed in a crisis called the “paradigm problem”. This has come about because it has sought to integrate different Western epistemologies in order to ground methodological pluralism. In particular, CST has uncritically assumed parallel worlds that speak different languages in its attempt to integrate different systems approaches informed by Western epistemologies that are not ontology-free. Hence, system practice is in need of a new ground to justify the use of different systems methodologies that avoids both a fractured universe and atheoretical pragmatism.I advance a ‘world-hypothesis’, which is essentially a world-image to explain reality. I have pursued a fascinating journey into systems philosophy and systems science to see the universe with new eyes. The result is a new world image called the One World of causally interdependent systems that competes both with the Common World of linguistic meanings constituted by society through language and with the Natural World of extended objects made of interacting parts. The One World hypothesis questions the authenticity of currently prevailing world-images and points to the possibility of a new age for systems thinking. However, controversially for systems scientists, the implication is that they need to give up on both the part-whole and the holarchy concepts.Importantly, if the One World hypothesis is to provide new grounds for systems practice and methodological pluralism, the picture of the universe has to be completed with an understanding of how conscious systems operate. Thus, I provide a scientific hypothesis and I postulate education as a future systems methodology to inform systemic interventions in conscious systems. I also encourage systems scientists and systems practitioners to work together to flesh out a multi-method skeleton to organize the field of systems practice. Finally, I propose the next phase of my own research, which will be to develop an educational systems methodology to improve conscious systems
Health care and social justice evaluation : a critical and pluralist approach
Full text linkThis thesis proposes a critical, systemic and pluralist approach to evaluating health programs. It examines ways in which efforts to promote equality and plurality are undermined by the application of foundationalist and universal conceptions of social justice and evaluation. This approach is developed within the current debate taking place in the field of Critical Systems Thinking, particularly in the area of the evaluation of social and health programs.It is argued that the potential for equality and plurality in Western societies goes beyond the questions of economic exploitation, military, cultural and political oppression and encompasses the relation between power and knowledge which is inherent in rationalities governing the formulation, the implementation and the operation of health programs. The thesis offers an alternative view of social justice that conciliates equality with plurality, and promotes these values through an evaluative procedure. Using Foucault's philosophy, it is proposed that a nonfoundationalist conception of social justice should be understood in terms of the interactions between three areas of human activity, namely knowledge, morality, and techniques and technologies of government. As regards the possibilities for developing a non-foundational and non-universal evaluative judgement, the thesis assumes a decentered conception of truth in the analysis of society and morality, and acknowledges the role of power as factor of generalisation or diversification of truth. Thus complexes of power-knowledge-morality are at the centre of our evaluative judgements of social justice. In order to encourage equality and plurality, this thesis proposes a rationale for evaluation that includes three main methodological guidelines: a decentered conception of critique regarding the problems and negative effects of a health program (unfolding in reverse); the promotion of subjectivity (autonomy, diversity, solidarity) through self-knowledge and self-regulation of desires (folding); and participation in the reordering of society through an ethical and political process of decision-making (ethical and political unfolding of the situated truths of the subjects). The processes are designed to interrelate and iterate in a complex way. They should include the exploration, choice and combination of methods and/or their parts, and of the strategic positions in scientific and ethical discursivities by thinking critically and acting in a situated and participative way
- …
