Events Calendar
Complexity in Everyday Life: A Participatory Workshop
Date: February 19, 2010
Location: Smithers
Venue: Old Church, Smithers
As a follow-up to the successful Complexity Science and Global Change Workshop held at the Smithers Old Church in February 2009 in conjunction with UNBC's Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Institute, the Centre will be hosting a second informal, low-cost workshop.
Friday, February 19, 2010
8:30 am – 1 pm
Old Church (corner of 1st Ave & King St.)
Smithers, BC.
All are welcome to attend. No pre-registration required. Admission by donation.
A half-day participatory workshop to explore new approaches for solving complex problems encountered in work, civic affairs and in day-to-day life. The workshop is a follow-up to the 2009 Complexity Science and Global Change Workshop co-sponsored by the Bulkley Valley Research Centre and UNBC Natural Resources, but is intended to attract a broader spectrum of the public and to allow more active input from participants.
Preliminary Agenda:
8:30 Welcome and Introduction (TBA)
9:00 Human Groups as Complex Adaptive Networks (led by Richard Overstall)
9:30 Networking Exercise (led by Sybille Haeussler)
10:00 Refreshment Break and Open Discussion
10:30 System Mismatches (led by Don Morgan)
11:00 Participant Examples of Complex Problem-Solving (led by Jim Pojar and Debbie Wellwood)
12:00 Summary and Wrap-Up (TBA)
Check this webpage for updates and for optional pre-reading material.
Contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or phone 250-847-2827 for questions or to provide input for the workshop.
A draft version of the first Complexity Science and Global Change Workshop Summary is available. The document is currently undergoing external peer review.
Photo: Driftwood Meadows, 2006, Perry Rath
SUGGESTED PRE-READING
The Pressures of Organizations and the Responsibilities of University Professors
David A. Bella
BioScience, Vol. 46, No. 10 (Nov., 1996), pp. 772-778
J Stephen Lansing
Annual Review of Anthropology; 2003; 32, Academic Research Library, pg. 183
A Leader's Framework for Decision Making
David J. Snowden and Mary E. Boone
Harvard Business Review, 69, November 69
Adaptive coevolutionary networks: a review
Thilo Gross and Bernd Blasius
J. R. Soc. Interface 2008 5, 259-271
Two recent New Scientist articles discussing the relationship between organisational structure and human behaviour.
The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell's bestselling book "The Tipping Point", available at public libraries and bookstores, provides a highly readable and non-technical introduction to many of the ideas that will be discussed at the workshop.