2016-07-20

July 20th is the thirty-eighth meeting for Systems Thinking Ontario. The registration will be on Eventbrite.

American Society for Cybernetics at Systems Thinking Ontario

Allenna Leonard, will relate her observations and experiences of the recent annual conference of the American Society for Cybernetics. The theme of this year’s conference: Action and Reflection; the Individual and the Collective: included a significant emphasis on building awareness and understanding of Second-order Cybernetics.

Second-order Cybernetics extends the traditional scientific approach by bringing scientists within the domain of what is described and analyzed. It provides models of research processes for when the scientist is within the system being studied. In this way it offers a new foundation for research in the social sciences, in management science, and in other fields such as the environmental sciences or the life sciences.

In addition to offering her perspectives on the variety of ideas, people and events converging at the conference, Allenna will join us in discussion of a key paper from the conference and assist us to apply the Implications Wheel tool – also presented at the conference.

Founded in 1964, the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) aims to encourage new developments in cybernetics as an inter-/trans-/meta-disciplinary field.  ASC members apply cybernetics within a variety of fields: biology and the life sciences, the arts, medicine, therapy (psychological and social), mathematics, the physical sciences and engineering, design, management, and business.

Allenna Leonard is a former President (2002 – 2004) of the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) and winner of the 2014 Warren McCulloch Award for outstanding and profound lifelong contributions to the nurturing of cybernetics.

Venue: 

• Lambert Lounge, OCAD U.

Suggested pre-reading:

Discussion paper from ASC conferenc: Second-order Cybernetics

The Implications Wheel (Article In Innovation Magazine)

The Implications Wheel Brochure

Participants should not feel limited to this suggested pre-reading, but should recognize that other attendees may have not read, or are reading differently, that content.

Agenda

Post-meeting artifacts

Bloggers are encouraged to write about their learning and experiences at the meeting. Links will be added to this page.