#ISSS2016 Boulder

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The goals of the ISSS include researching a general theory of systems (GST) by discovering isomorphies, unifying science, and transferring models between disciplines. For 45 years, this speaker has been contributing to a Systems Processes Theory (SPT) which some have described as the most advanced and detailed, science-based theory of systems extant in attempting to fulfill that dream of ISSS Founders. This tutorial will condense several graduate, university-level core courses on SPT into one presentation. It will begin with the differences between the popular and widely known “systems thinking” and “systems philosophy” found in ISSS and the criteria for a true science of systems. It will then describe why study of isomorphic systems processes is of fundamental importance, how this school of thought teaches & provides evidence that systems processes are isomorphic between widely different systems, how studies of natural systems using the scientific method leads to strong evidence of how systems work in general, and how to find such GST isomorphies in the voluminous science literature. The results is a science-based theory having both unprecedented descriptive and prescriptive power. While the early Founders of GST focused mostly on the natural sciences and math, the present workers in ISSS mostly ignore the natural sciences and profess that belief in and awareness of systems alone is sufficient to guide applications. This line of research is an antidote to that approach. It will present many more candidate isomorphies than any other extant program of study. It will describe how data is being collected on 110 such candidate isomorphies to fill 26 information categories and produce a massive data base and bibliography. It will add the critically important additional step, not taken by ISSS Founders, of showing how these isomorphies impact and influence each other to achieve systems stability and dynamics (how systems work). It will try to show how such detail can be used to improve systems design, understand the new field of top-down systems pathology (how systems don’t work) to enhance systems repair & curation. It will show how this detail can be used as a stronger, more scientific knowledge base for new fields like sustainability and systems engineering which are themes of this conference. It will also indicate how this overall theory and knowledge base has been used for several funded programs in Systems Education in preparation for a Friday presentation on assessment of those attempts.

Format:
For each hour there will be 40 min of presentation followed immediately by 20 min of open discussion. Lunch will be brought in so that noon to 1 pm can also be used for open discussion. These basics can be supplemented by >17 hours of streaming video. This Pre-conference event will be cancelled if at least seven participants do not contact speaker at lrtroncale@cpp.edu stating intention to attend before the conference.

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Globally, information systems are gaining prominence and their proliferation has been substantial considering the rate of adoption by the masses.  Information systems facilitate design of solutions that are useful, usable, desirable, efficient, effective and different. People, technologies, and processes are brought together to address a problem by conceiving a solution that creates value for users. As a result, the world at large is witnessing a massive pace of digitization wherein businesses and governments are adopting different forms of information systems to connect to their customers in order to bring in a difference.  As a result, increasingly the term “Digital” has been utilize to characterize such information systems.

Digital is far more pervasive now than it was previously and its mass adoption has enabled information generation and application in diverse areas.  However, digital by itself is not beneficial to anyone.  Only when Digital enables a sector/domain, it becomes useful.

Businesses have realized the importance of digital as a differentiator in customer engagements so as to stay competitive and relevant in their respective areas of business.
They have also realized that digital has transformed social interactions, customer relationships, as well as reshaped the ability to access and leverage information.  They have experienced that business decisions are no longer based on opinions but on verifiable data.


To cope with this, businesses deal with interconnected, global systems that interact with multiple role players across multiple geographies, addressing multiple concerns of stakeholders across multiple disciplines by utilizing emerging technologies in a dynamic and challenging environment while providing near real time response and rich customer experience.  Over the last few decades, product companies who were traditionally involved in creating digital solutions have moved into service businesses as the market for their core product has reached maturity.  This is further prompted by the change in employment patterns, job opportunities, contribution to GDP and reduction in product sales and license fees.  However, such companies need ways and means for improving and standardizing their services as the reputation for the quality of their services is generally poor affecting their customer’s loyalty and brand image.  Since digital has standardized quality in other domains, it is obvious that digital can provide key advantages to these companies by improving quality of their services.  In this discussion, such digitally enhanced/enabled services are considered as digital services.  Digital service is an integration of people, processes, infrastructure and digital technologies, which are independent and operable, and which are networked together for a period of time to deliver a service for the benefit of another entity or the entity itself in real world.  The formation of the digital service is not a permanent phenomenon but rather a necessity for integrating and networking the different components to achieve the desired quality levels for the service.  The digital service emerges from a combination of the constituent elements (people, processes, infrastructure, and digital technologies), the interactions between themselves and their interactions with the customer’s environment.

While delivering digital services, businesses need to deal with interconnected, global systems, interact with collection of related services, multiple geographies, multiple stakeholders with differing concerns, multiple disciplines, emerging technologies, dynamic and challenging environment, interconnectivity and variety, near real time response and rich customer experience.  Digital services design aims at synthesizing services that are useful, usable and desirable from the consumer perspective, and efficient, effective and different from the provider perspective. It brings together people, skills, technology, methods and tools to address change and create value for customers. It involves solving multiple problems across multiple disciplines. It is iterative and requires participation of several stakeholders’ along with relevant domain experts. Existing service design methodologies are implicitly software/product design methodologies and they require tweaking to be applied in a servicing situation.

Applying the same mind-set to designing a service as to the design of product/software will lead to solutions that are possibly not appropriate to the servicing scenario. Services cannot be treated in the same way that software are treated and it is necessary to have a different perspective for designing services.  Currently, while numerous architectural frameworks and service design approaches as well as numerous digitization case-studies exist, a unified systematic approach for designing digital services does not exist.  In this workshop, the foundational concepts and the underlying processes for an approach to design digital services is presented.  

Keywords: Information Systems, Services, Digital Solutions, Digital Services, Architecting Digital Services, Transforming Digital Solutions, Enabling Services
 

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This introductory workshop will teach you the fundamentals of the Spiral Dynamics integral (SDi) theory as developed by Dr. Don Beck. We can go as deep as the class wishes to go, and I will frame the conversation through the lens of SDi. We will balance learning through various styles (teaching, dialogue, a/v) and you will come away with an appreciation of the beauty as well as complexity of the model.Ben Levi has taught certified Level 1 and 2 courses with Dr. Beck for seven years, and has studied SDi and integral theory for sixteen years. 

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Living systems analysis includes both qualitative and quantitative sciences.

Qualitative living systems are treated well in James Millers Living Systems.

Philosophers have been trying since the 18thcentury to develop a science of society based on laws of nature. The physical sciences are based on (1) the identification of universal phenomena, the relation among them and their measures (quantification).

The universal phenomena of things that live are: matter, energy, information, and knowledge.

These phenomena have been identified and quantified.  The quantification of living systems phenomena and their relations provide the basis of quantitative living systems analysis 

The universal phenomena of knowledge and information are recent discoveries.

Quantification of knowledge and information are currently at the cellular level.  The task before us is quantify knowledge and information at all levels from the cell up to and including humans and their organizations.   

2949  What is it like to be Trans-Gendered? Is it easier to comprehend through the Anticipatory Systems Lens of Robert Rosen's scientific work?In this dual presentation, we will explore these ideas and hopefully arrive at a much clearer understanding of what Gender Dysphoria is like to live with as well as a greater comprehension of what causes it, from a model-based, model-guided Systems Science perspective.Donna Rosen is a trans-gendered woman who has already undergone the process of transition and surgery that is currently the standard of medical care in the United States. She has written a book about her experiences and will share what it's like at the age of 3 to realize you are stuck in a strange situation that other people cannot see but you can't tell anybody about it, either.Judith Rosen will discuss Anticipatory Systems Theory and show how the human mind and body represent an evolutionary development as a dual-Anticipatory System in one living organism. The interaction between mental models and somatic models can often be dysfunctional, particularly when they are each defining the “self” in conflicting ways. Gender Dysphoria is precisely that situation.

2949  What is it like to be Trans-Gendered? Is it easier to comprehend through the Anticipatory Systems Lens of Robert Rosen's scientific work?In this dual presentation, we will explore these ideas and hopefully arrive at a much clearer understanding of what Gender Dysphoria is like to live with as well as a greater comprehension of what causes it, from a model-based, model-guided Systems Science perspective.Donna Rosen is a trans-gendered woman who has already undergone the process of transition and surgery that is currently the standard of medical care in the United States. She has written a book about her experiences and will share what it's like at the age of 3 to realize you are stuck in a strange situation that other people cannot see but you can't tell anybody about it, either.Judith Rosen will discuss Anticipatory Systems Theory and show how the human mind and body represent an evolutionary development as a dual-Anticipatory System in one living organism. The interaction between mental models and somatic models can often be dysfunctional, particularly when they are each defining the “self” in conflicting ways. Gender Dysphoria is precisely that situation.