Mars Flyover based on MOLA Data for the Carl Sagan Lecture
This visualization of the topography of Mars was created for Maria Zubers Carl Sagan Lecture. The camera flies over several areas of interest. The south pole, Tharsis Rise, the north pole, and Valles Marineris. This animation was created using Maya and Renderman, using MOLA Topography data. The colors represent height - dark blue is about 8km deep and white is over 14km high (as measured from an arbitrary location picked as sea-level).
Debt banter in Washington: "Get 'er done!"
July 28 - From a southern expression to a Hobbit reference, the debt "debate" heats up in Washington. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
Transformative writing
Transformative writing
Small group teaching: introduction to the collection
Small group teaching: introduction to the collection
Peer reviewing a seminar: Oliver Twist
Peer reviewing a seminar: Oliver Twist
Peer reviewing a seminar: The Bonesetter's Daughter
Peer reviewing a seminar: The Bonesetter's Daughter
Zero Robotics "Summer of Innovation 2010"
Zero Robotics is a robotics programming tournament for students, where the robots are autonomous nanosatellites called SPHERES, developed by MIT SSL. Students can write programs to control the satellites from a web browser and final competition is aboard the International Space Station. The NASA/SG Summer of Innovation 2010 tournament was geared toward Massachusetts middle school students. http://zerorobotics.mit.edu
Nightmare scenarios
Nightmare scenarios
Charismatic leadership
New research by Professor Martin Kilduff into charisma and leadership of work teams has peeled away the layers of mystique around the phrase 'charismatic leadership'
3 Next steps
This unit explores conceptual tools for assisting our thinking and deliberation on what matters. The notion of ‘framing’ nature is introduced and three readings provide an understanding of systems thinking for explicitly framing issues of environmental responsibility.
2.3 Citizens in conversation with nature and experts
This unit explores conceptual tools for assisting our thinking and deliberation on what matters. The notion of ‘framing’ nature is introduced and three readings provide an understanding of systems thinking for explicitly framing issues of environmental responsibility.
Systems dynamics In the 1950s, Jay Forrester, a systems engineer at MIT, was commissioned by the US company Sprague Electric to study the extreme oscillations of their sales and establish a means to correct them. From previous experience, Forrester knew the essence of the problem stemmed from the oscillations present in situations that contain inertia effects, or delays and reverse effects, or feedback loops as basic structural characteristics. Subsequently, in 1961, Forrester published his report on in
Open University systems failures method In their most recent book, Learning from Failure, Joyce Fortune and Geoff Peters describe the 20 years of experience, which has produced the systems failures method (SF-method). Their motivation was to discover the ways failures in organisations can best be understood. They observe that one of the best ways people learn is from their mistakes, yet few organisations foster attempts to learn from people's mistakes. They believe this absence of learning can be attributed to a blame cultur
5.9 Developing other systems methods There are many more methods that are regarded as systems approaches for managing complexity (e.g. Rosenhead, 1989a; Flood and Carson, 1988; Flood and Jackson, 1991; Mingers and Gill, 1997; Francois, 1997; Flood, 1999; Jackson, 2000). The systems practitioners responsible for developing these come from a varied background, but in the main their experiences are similar to those described for Checkland, Beer, Espejo and the T301 team. All wanted to be able either to take action that stakeholders
5.7 Developing a VS method through the viable systems model and Viplan Anyone familiar with the controversy in the UK about the detention of the former Chilean dictator General Pinochet can make a link with the history of the viable systems model (VS-method) developed by Stafford Beer and with Viplan developed by Raul Espejo. Espejo describes the connection in these terms: [my] work has focused on improving organisations of all kinds […] In this work […] above all I have 5.5 Experiences that motivated the development of systems methods I have already introduced various systems methods. Behind all of these methods, there has generally been a champion, a promoter aided by countless co-workers, students, etc. To paraphrase the French sociologist of technology, Bruno Latour: we are never confronted with a systems method, but with a gamut of weaker and stronger associations; thus understanding what a method is, is the same task as understanding who the people are. A method, like any social technology, depends on many peopl 5.4 Methodology, method, technique, and tools As you engage with systems thinking and practice you will become aware how different authors refer to systems methodologies, methods, techniques, and tools, as well as systems approaches. Having just spent some time explaining what I mean by a systems approach, I now want to distinguish between methodology, method, technique and tool. Several authors and practitioners have emphasised the significance of the term methodologies rather than methods in relation to Systems. A method i 5.3 Purposeful and purposive behaviour It is possible, as observers, to ascribe a purpose to what we or others do, the actions we take. How particular actions, or activities are construed will differ from observer to observer because of their different perspectives, which arise from their traditions of understanding. For example, in Figure 38 the person cutting the stone may ascribe their purpose as cutting stone or building a cathedral. It is for this reason t 5.2 What are systems approaches? An approach is a way of going about taking action in a ‘real world’ situation, as depicted in Figure 20. As I have outlined earlier, an observer has choices that can be made for coping with complexity. Here I am assuming that because this unit is about systems approaches, a choice has already been made to approach the world systemically using systems thinking. Other choices of approach could be made. Think 5.1 Introduction In this section, I shall explore the features of the contextualising (systems-methods) ball – the C ball. I will make a distinction between systemic and systematic thinking and action and I will argue that the aware systems practitioner has more choices than the practitioner who is not aware. An aware practitioner is able to contextualise a diverse array of methods at their disposal creating an opportunity for a greater range of advantageous changes in the ‘real world’ situat
