A recent World Bank post on the future of governments in design thinking spurred some of my own thoughts on how it links with systems thinking.
Creating the Future Through Systems-Design Thinking Read More »
The design charrette and contemplative inquiry are two processes that don’t always come together, but perhaps they should and this post explores some reasons why.
Contemplative Inquiry and Design Charrettes Read More »
The CENSEmaking blog is on vacation for the next few days as I take in a five-day course on contemplative practice and curriculum put on by the interesting folks at the Centre for Contemplative Mind in Society. Beginning tonight, I’ll be learning more about the ways in which contemplation can be better incorporated into coursework
Contemplative Inquiry Read More »
Tackling HIV/AIDS has been made easier and more successful not by individual change, but by a social movement. A similar movement is needed for mental health and taking a systems approach to it is one way to get the ball rolling.
Change as a Social Movement: Lessons for Mental Health? Read More »
Developmental evaluation is an emerging area of practice that builds evaluation methods on the science of complexity and fits with the realities of social and health programs, rather than trying to fit the wrong type of model on to the wrong type of program.
Developmental Evaluation: Problems and Opportunities with a Complex Concept Read More »
Knowledge translation is a field with lots of great ideas about how to get messages out, but until the issue of the system in which that KT takes place is addressed, it might not matter.
Knowledge Translation & the Systems Problem Read More »
John Maeda’s 4th Law of Simplicity states: “knowledge makes everything simpler”. In this post I lay out why this might be only partly correct, suggest that there are problems where this works better than other and illustrate how knowledge can also make things more complex, rather than simple.
Rethinking the Relationship Between Simplicity, Complexity and Knowledge Read More »
John Maeda has taken on the task of exploring simplicity as a means of making sense of a complex world. In this post I explore his 10 laws and introduce an argument that challenges three of these laws.
Is Simplicity the Antidote to Complexity? Read More »
Complexity science provides many tempting explanations for human behaviour, but often based on rhetoric rather than evidence. If the a social science of complexity is to move ahead, more attention to the science than theory is necessary.
(Not) Following the Rules in Complex Social Systems Read More »
Finding our way in a complex system is tricky. Social network maps can provide a way forward, but only if viewed as tools for complicated problems and not as true wayfinding solutions for complex ones.
Wayfinding in Complex Systems Read More »
