Working for decades as both theorist and teacher, Ranulph Glanville came to believe that cybernetics and design are two sides of the same coin. Working as both practitioners and teachers, the authors present their understanding of Glanville and the relationships between cybernetics and design. We believe cybernetics offers a foundation for 21st-century design practice. We offer this rationale: – If design, then systems: Due in part to the rise of computing technology and its role in human communications, the domain of design has expanded from giving form to creating systems that support human interactions, thus, systems literacy becomes a necessary foundation for design. – If systems, then cybernetics: Interaction involves goals, feedback, and learning, the science of which is cybernetics. – If cybernetics, then second-order cybernetics: Framing wicked problems requires explicit values and viewpoints, accompanied by the responsibility to justify them with explicit arguments, thus incorporating subjectivity and the epistemology of second-order cybernetics. – If second-order cybernetics, then conversation: Design grounded in argumentation requires conversation so that participants may understand, agree, and collaborate on effective action. Second-order cybernetics frames design as conversation for learning together, and order design creates possibilities for others to have conversations, to learn, and to act.

Key words: conversation, cybernetics, design knowledge, design methods, design rationale, design, systems, ethics, language, models, second-order cybernetics

In this paper, the author revisits his excitement in learning Pask’s conversation theory that gave immediate prescriptions for the construction of training systems and adaptive, personalized information browsers. Named after Pask’s first implementation of an interactive knowledge structuring tool, the THOUGHTSTICKER system described here came to maturity in 1986, some ten years before the Web’s wide acceptance, yet it had all the components of modern Web browsers plus an organising principle for the hyperlinks – something the Web still needs. THOUGHTSTICKER’s techniques for modelling each user’s unique experiences and conceptual learning style embodied the concept of “personal computer” still unattained in other commercial software products. Over a 15-year period, many software prototypes were constructed and gave proof to the applicability of Pask’s theory. It remains to be seen if these and other aspects of his theory will rise to the consciousness of the marketplace, becoming popular and, afterwards, irremovable and “obvious.”

Key words: cybernetics, training, learning, learning styles, education, technology.

This short dedication to Heinz emphasizes the notions of recursion and learning, second-order cybernetics and ethics as expressed and embodied by von Foerster. These notions act as constant clarifiers in the daily efforts of the author to design software applications or to support others as they steer their own design processes.

From the inception of the American Society for Cybernetics in 1964, its members have asked periodically, ‘Why this society? What is its purpose? What should it do? ’ Most pointedly, these questions arise in the face of today’s global challenges: energy and global warming, water and food, health and social justice. Designing for these challenges demands systems literacy as well as cybernetics, the science of purposive systems, to help society steer toward a world that it wants. Most recently, these questions arise after a significant increase in strength for the ASC under the leadership of Ranulph Glanville, president of the society from 2009 through 2014, and his executive team. As a scholar and as the society’s president he emphasized the theme of ‘living in cybernetics, ’ that is, embodying cybernetic ideas and ethics in everyday life. As designer and teacher he beautifully articulated the relationships of cybernetics to design. With tribute to Glanville’s contributions to our community and our discipline, I call upon the ASC to move beyond shared interests and accumulated knowledge to become a force of action. From first-hand history with the society since the 1980s, I highlight specific ‘clarities’ expressed by the society’s participants from that time, while calling for greater currency for our time, in the form of new members and new actions. I propose a rationale for using second-order cybernetics for the design of a better world, the Designers’ Imperative. Lastly I encourage every member to approach today’s vast design challenges by tackling focusing problems through which progress can be made.

Key words: cybernetic curricula, design, focusing problems, global challenges, second-order cybernetics, variety

Purpose: In an ideal situation, the author would like to answer each of the following questions: What is Conversation? What is Theory? What is Conversation Theory, anyhow? How did it arise? Who participated? How is it a theory? Where did it end up? Is it interesting? How might it be useful? Where has it been applied? Why should you care? What does it offer the practice of education? Of design? Of ethics? Where is it headed? (Sorry, steering joke, since Conversation Theory is situated in cybernetics, the art of steering). The purpose of this paper is to answer as many of these questions as practical. Design/methodology/approach The seeds of Conversation Theory lie in Gordon Pask’s instincts and in his “making.” This paper begins by describing some of the machinery he constructed to explore human interaction. Next, a skeletal model of conversation is offered, and connections to Pask’s own diagrams are drawn. Complementary to these models of the structure of conversations are their consequences, which are described in broad terms rather than given in detail. Lastly, Pask’s approach to proposing a scientific theory, and his means of achieving it, are explained. Originality/value Conversation Theory is a thoroughly original body of work, unmatched by its range and specificity. It is little known and yet potentially profound, with a scope that has already influenced educational psychology, second-order cybernetics, knowledge modeling and software design. By describing its origins, models and implications, the author hopes its value can be extended to new generations and to new domains.

Key words: cybernetics, interaction design, second-order cybernetics, conversation, conversation theory, gordon pask

Through early childhood experiences and then recollections of the many cyberneticians he knew in the 1970s and 1980s, the author traces his personal trajectory toward interaction design and cybernetics. He moves from fascination with technology, through disillusionment about Artificial Intelligence, to seeing that living in cybernetics is a journey of return to uncertainty, risk, and possibility.

Key words: artificial intelligence, cybernetics, conversation, gordon pask, interaction design.