Social Systems Theory has a long and distinguished history. It has progressed from a mechanical model of social processes, to a biological model, to a process model, to models that encompass chaos, complexity, evolution and autopoiesis. Social systems design methodology is ready for the twenty-first century. From General Systems Theory’s early days of glory and hubris, through its days of decline and disparagement, through its diaspora into different disciplines, systems theory is today living up to its early expectations.

Key words: systemic model, roots of systems theory, branches of systems theory, history of systems theory.

Context: Thirty years ago, members of the systems science community discovered that at their conferences, more was being accomplished in the breaks than in the sessions. Led by Bela H. Banathy, they cancelled the sessions and created a conversation methodology that has proven far more effective. Dozens of conversations have now been held around the world. Problem: At a recent conversation in Linz, Austria, a team devoted its inquiry to the Banathy Conversation Methodology (BCM) itself, asking, in particular, how to develop and spread the methodology further, beyond the systems science community. Method: The team captured key features and benefits of BCM and developed new tools. Results: Described herein are the development of the methodology, its theoretical underpinnings, the methodology itself, heuristics for successful conversations, and an example of how the methodology is spreading. Implications: Ultimately, the hope is to develop the methodology in such ways that communities could apply it to meet significant challenges and co-create their futures.

Key words: Conversation, dialogue, guided evolution, social systems design

In this contribution to the Festschrift devoted to Heinz von Foerster, choices are shown to be constitutive in processes of human self-organization. This is pursued along three dimensions that are seen as inherently connected: the epistemological dimension of reality construction; the communal dimension of dialogical closure; and the ethical dimension of autonomy and dialogical responsibility. In order to exemplify his style of working as a mentor, Heinz von Foerster is portrayed in interaction, drawing largely on the author’s experience. As one concrete case of a far-reaching general approach, the paper brings out the implications of his way of thinking for cooperative software design. This leads to an epistemological view of the design process, to guidelines for communal work focussing on dialogue and self-organization, and to the ethics of systems design, which means taking responsibility for the choices made in design and the choice scopes associated with computer-based systems.

Key words: Software design, epistemological foundations for design, self-organization in cooperative work, ethics of design

A variety of instructional approaches has been studied and implemented across educational and training settings. Vastly different design practices have been proposed that reflect fundamentally different philosophies, beliefs, and biases. Yet, evidence of mismatched frameworks and methods are widespread. This has become particularly problematic in advancing emerging constructivist learning environments. In this paper, we advance the concept of grounded design, a process that involves linking the practices of learning systems design with related theory and research. The purposes of this paper are to introduce the fundamentals of grounded design, to describe how underlying foundations and assumptions can be aligned with the corresponding methods, and to introduce examples of grounded constructivist learning environments.

Key words: training setting, system design, learning environment, educational technology, related theory.

Open peer commentary on the article “The Banathy Conversation Methodology” by Gordon Dyer, Jed Jones, Gordon Rowland & Silvia Zweifel. Upshot: The tradition of the Banathy Conversation Communities and its related methodology (referred to as BCM in the target article) represent a distinct evolution of social systems design inquiry. This inquiry has given rise to a strong cultural identity within the systems sciences for many who have experienced it. Key historical and axiological aspects of this inquiry are presented and future orientations explored as a complement to the main article on BCM.

In this article, the implications of constructivism for instructional systems design (ISD) are summarized as five principles that integrate the affective and cognitive domains of learning. In contrast to current views, it is suggested that constructivist philosophy offers instructional designers an alternative set of values that may significantly influence the emphasis of ISD methods without undermining the coherence and consistency of the ISD model. Distinguishing characteristics of the two approaches are described, based on a review of recent literature. The article concludes with the assertion that the influence of constructivist philosophy on ISD should be to focus attention on critical enabling objectives traditionally overlooked by instructional designers.

Key words: coherence system design distinguishing characteristic recent literature educational technology

In this article, the implications of constructivism for instructional systems design (ISD) are summarized as five principles that integrate the affective and cognitive domains of learning. In contrast to current views, it is suggested that constructivist philosophy offers instructional designers an alternative set of values that may significantly influence the emphasis of ISD methods without undermining the coherence and consistency of the ISD model. Distinguishing characteristics of the two approaches are described, based on a review of recent literature. The article concludes with the assertion that the influence of constructivist philosophy on ISD should be to focus attention on critical enabling objectives traditionally overlooked by instructional designers.

Key words: coherence, system design, distinguishing characteristic, recent literature, educational technology.

The seminal work that Humberto Maturana brought forth about the biology of love and the ontology of conversing sheds light on the path to understanding our humanness. Accordingly, he proposes that our co-existence requires that our interactions be grounded in love, which entails that love is the dynamic condition for the creation of sustainable living networks of conversations. This article reflects on Maturana’s foundational contributions to the design framework of a large-scale peace project in Brazil, where the World Café, a participatory approach to large-group collaborative dialogue, provided a living laboratory for Maturana’s core ideas along with those of Paulo Freire, and others.

Key words: maturana, whole systems design, love, dialogue, peace, world café, critical consciousness

Maturana and Varela developed the concept of autopoiesis to explain the phenomena of living organisms. They went further and postulated theories concerning the nervous system and the development of cognition. These theories have radical conclusions concerning human thought, language, and social activity. This paper aims to introduce these ideas and to explore the main implications. It also discusses the application of these cognitive theories in three separate domains – computer systems design, family therapy, and the Law.

Key words: autopoiesis, cognition, language, law, nervous system, psychotherapy, systems design.

Excerpt: This final chapter of applications will look at two related areas: computer-based information systems (IS), and cognitive science and artificial intelligence. Within IS, autopoietic ideas have so far had only a limited influence, largely through the work of Winograd and Flores, who have produced a critique of both information systems design and artificial intelligence. This is covered in Section 11.2. More significantly, Varela has concentrated, in recent years, on cognitive science and has developed a new framework, the enactive approach, based partly on earlier cognitive theories and the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty. This is the subject of Section 11.3.