NIewsLETTTTER December 1996 vol. 15, no 4 1trto. +s; 2500 copies
Editor-in-Chief: Gerhard Chroust c/o Systemtechnik und Automation, Johannes Kepler University Linz, 4O4O LinzlAustria, e-mail: CHROUSToSEA.UNI-LlNZ.AC.AT, Tel:+43-732-2468-865, Fax:+43-732-2468-87B
www-hom e page : http://www.sea. u n i -l i nz. ac. atlif s ri
significantly... But "growth" means only an 'Dettr '\ettfers ! increase in "quantity". And the challenge we face A Mcrry Cftri-sbnas ttnd' t ll.nppy fuw'/cor I in the new year is to transform such "growth" into an increase in "quality". '14)c rrrrt proud'[y sec tltc I fSl& fuwsLttilr is n lrtl'L cstobLisfter[ sourca of in;fonnoiotr.'14)e rtre hr Joct ca[ebrating It is aspiring for quality that has guided us to tlrr 15tfi ycar o;f its pub[icatiort (_f:irst is.sue it 19ii1!,1 . It rtfso initiate the establishment of several working rttcttrr.s tlitt thr: 1lfS-\itse[J [oofrs bacllrtt a pruud lii-ttoty committees, expected to address programmatic t6 yL'rr: irr tlit scruict of tfic systtrrrs corntnurtity. and organizational issues that will add substance the lif the Federation. ln our next I zuou[r{ [ifte to tlianft ,Isu[ [.P. lt{anifra ( fr 1955) , tlic to e of Newsietter we shall report on the status of the editor anl ako Dr.Stepfun Sol menbersfrip of IFSKis growitg an[ ute arc happy to 6u.. 'rfit -.lvi:i9-.* "\ presutt o [ong account 6y one of our [atut members (tfit ' '5 AIRg). Ahl'wugtt tfik artic[e k prima aista a r[esciptiorr tfu AI'N;, it is actua[[y an e4ce[[ent [uctiptiort of tfu state of systens mooement. I want to tfranfr QianJranco fl[inati Jor tfik c4'ccfhnt contri6urion. /ours sirrcerefil jcrfar[ cfirousr 5q s temtechni llun d Automation 'lofiannes il@p[er llniaersitq Liru, 4040 Litrz, Austtia Another challenge is to ensure the long-range A Meaar,Poyr,truAs viability of Systems Research, the journal of our Federation. lt can be "ours" only if each and every member organization supporis it. The HappY New Yeaa 1997 support means that each member organization Standing at the threshold of a new year offers an calls upon it membership to subscribe for the opportunity of reflections upon the achievement journal. lt is the best means to keep up with new of the past and contemplation of future work and and emerging developments in systems scholar- new challenges. Continuously striving for ship and systems applications. The membership journal "quality" seems to characterize our work and of member organizations receives the at service of the last couple of years. Exceptionally highly reduced rate. The royalties from the quality is well demonstrated in each and every publisher provide resources to IFSR that are issue of Systems Research - the official journal invested in service lo our member organizations. of IFSR - under Mike Jackson, Editor-in-Chief As we approach 1997, members of our and our Vice-President. The same high quality is Executive Committee pledge continuing reflected in our ever more informative News- commitment to high quality service and wish you letter, under the editorship of Gerhard Chroust, all success for the coming year. who also serves as our Secretary/Treasurer. H.'tsanatlty The Fuschl Conversations continue to explore 'tsa[a and bring to life significant theoretical and practical issues. Our membership has grown NEW TRENDS AIRS: AssocrnztoNE lrRuRlvR pER LA RlceRcR sut Slsreur (ltalian Assoc. for Research on Systems) Gianfranco Minati 10, Vle Jenner 20'159 - Milan - ltaly tel. & fax +39 2 608 1122E-Mail:[email protected] objects, particularly because, being AIRS acts in the context of the international there more the systemic movement and collaborates with the they and more computer-based, ability to process data, communicate, and most important research institutes in this field. to to store (text, sound, picture) is increasing; AIRS is a non-prof it, cultural association. AIRS strictly collaborates with the Fondazione . biology requires theoretical f rameworks Barbarini e Centoni per la Correlazione to compatible and consistent with organicism design, to carry out, and to use methodologies and complexity. ln psychology the Gestalt and tools based on Systemics (for Education, concept has been introduced: Sets and Management, Ethics, Computer Science, Systems emerge as different constructs, not Psychology, as well as Linguistics and to be confused, because in this case a lack of Medicine). AIRS plans to activate and to support eftectiveness results as a consequence; the research and the interaction between people . the General System Theory or Systemics with different disciplinary knowledge, also at rises with peculiar finality to identify and to different levels, and aims to explore, to identify study interactions and analogies and to induce inter- and trans-disciplinary views. (isomorphisms) between disciplines CULTURAL BASIS AND PURPOSES independent of their particular applications: ln the history of human activity there have been the theoretical centrality of the human being, part different moments and stages during which as a crucial and active of logical devices, interest has moved from objects to the is outlined (from randomness to relationships between them, also to their arbitrariness). interdependence as a fundamental source for . the formalization processes gives birth to explaining behavior and for increasing the mathematical tools such as the ones of the effectiveness of our actions. Human knowledge niathematics of complexity, luzzy sets, neural moved from focussing on the concept of Set to networks, ...); focussing on the concept of System. ln the . in physics the topics of complexity emerge. scientific and technological domain we are able They call for concepts based on Systemics: to realize and to recognize the following steps: openness, self-organization, and attractors in . from the classic monodisciplinary research the logical sense, not only in the have emerged the topics of self-regulation, at thermodynamic sense. the beginning materialized in mechanical TOWARDS SYSTEMICS apparatuses (Watt's automatic engine) and later in electrical and electronic ones (feed- The distance between the Monodisciplinary, back and black-box concepts, belonging to Multidisciplinary, lnterdisciplinary, and Trans- controltheory); disciplinary approaches illustrates the emergence process of the Systemic view: . the concept of "field" has emerged as well as the interest for the study of interactions; . the monodisciplinary vision constitutes the most primitive approach to problems. lt is . thanks to cybernetics, the concept of based on separation, isolation and regulation has been expanded, for example specialization. The ideal framework is based to the physiology, and to problems such as on the focus on a single object, and on the the ones dealing with learning and focus on single separate components. The perception; cultural and scientific world is based on . information theory has studied the interaction objectivism. The need to overcome as an exchange of information among specialization doesn't mean to deny or to reject them but it concerns both their has been realized. The uniqueness of the utilization and the form of their generation. human being has been recognized as We could say that a new discipline, "a generating theories and reality more than just discipline of the disciplines", emerges (a kind discovering them. The human being is not of 'hosting connective tissue"). The process anymore just a passive, silent, and "noise- of changing f rom the classic and linear generating" observer but a producer of disciplinary vision to the systemic one has reality. ln this f ramework achievements, various steps: unimaginable when using the classical disciplinary approach, are designable and the multidisciplinary vision is based on achievable, such as in education, computer disciplines, each one close to the other, science, psychology, management, medicine managed by a director with an objective (i.e. processing. a manager). For example, in a project and semantics focusing on telecommunication, according to . The systemic view is often not made explicit the classic managerial approach, a set of in the field of humanistic and artistic activities. disciplines such as engineering, First of all, because of a reduced hegemony jurisprudence, economics and physics has to will of the single disciplines, and secondly, be managed. But disciplines communicate because of their lack of explanatory and with one another only by referring to each theoretical will. However organicism, holism, single problem; and systemic view are at least recognizable, even if they are not explicit, in the interdisciplinary vision is based on such disciplines as arts, philosophy, history, interacting disciplines, engaged in a mutual anthropology, archeology, jurisprudence. dialogue, one's own problems becoming also Ways of thinking, not emerging from the the problems of one other with the same classical scientific view, may be considered happening for relevant solutions. There is, at within the f ramework suggested by the least, a communication ol methodologies comparison of "cognitive arls" vs. sciences. between them. lnterdisciplinarity is often a cultural view enabling the design based on a The focus on the centrality of the human being, synthesis of single disciplines, thus going viewed at least as the unique "device" able to beyond multidisciplinarity; produce knowledge and to design usage for it, is due to theoretical and not only practical reasons. the transdisciplinary vision doesn't focus on a The shattering of the whole into disciplines is kind of objectivistic "cognitive anxiety", but is strongly related to reducing the mind to brain based on the theoretical centrality of the activity. We can recognize an analogy between human being. The shift is from an "aware the distance from brain to mind, and the distance physics" to the "awareness of the physics", between sets and systems: set of words and as from randomness to arbitrarrness. The literature; set of musical notes and music; set focus of an integrated cognitive activity is not of single players and team; set of workers and anymore on the search for a kind of firm... Mephistophelean and objectivistic knowledge. The poor effectiveness of this cognitive strategy and of the produced knowledge a) Epistemology of Natural Sciences and com ren ENGE Atrttrtou trtcEM ENTS Scientific Analysis of Social Phenomena b) Methodological Bridge between Systems For contacts and information see Calendar of Sciences and Social Science Research Events c) Dynamic Model for the Analysis of Social System ISSS-Conference 1997 2. Hecent Development of Systems Sciences Systems Thinking, Globalization of and Applied Research Non-equilibrium Knowledge, Ethics a) Chaos, Order, and Communitarian Thermodynamics and Complex System 22-25,1997 July b) Self-Organizing System and Complex Seoul, Korea Biological, Physical and Evolutionary Theory 1. Application Systems to Development of of c) Self-Organizing System and Macro-Micro Social Science Research Theory of Social/Biological System d) Entropy as Evolution and Historical . Managerial/Corporate Systems Development . Human Resources Systems 3. Systems Sciences and Prediction ot . Natural Resources Systems Technological Society in 21"' Century . Social Systems a) Development of lndustrial Technology and . Educational Systems Globalization of Systems Sciences . Financial Systems b) lnnovation in lnformation Technology and . SCI in Psychology, Cognition and Spirituality Structural Change of Economic System . SCI in Biology and Medicine c) Development of lnformation Technology and . SCI in Art Structural Change in Society . Globalization, Development and Emerging d) The Long Term Prediction of Structural Economies Change in lnformation Society e) Transformation Mechanism of lndustrial Both printed and electronic versions (CD-ROM) Organization in lnformation Society of the SCI- 97 proceedings will be available.. ). f) The lmpacts of lnformation Technology on Korean Economy and Social Structure 4. Globalization of Systems Science Knowledge CBMS'97 a) Development of Educational System and 1Oth IEEE Symposium on lnnovative Designing in lnformation Society b) Systematic t-inkage between Educational Computer-Based Medical Systems System and Curriculum June 11-13'n 1997 c) Systematic Utilization of Research lnformation Maribor, Slovenia, Europe in Systems Sciences and System Designing for Global Cooperation The symposium is intended for engineers and d) Diffusion of Systems Knowledge, and Micro- computer scientists in industry and academia electronic networks among Nations who are developing Computer-Based Medical Systems (CBMS). Particular emphasis is placed on the issues associated with the development scl'97 and manufacture of robust safety critical medical World Multiconference on Systemics, systems and the current regulatory environment provides Cybernetics and lnformatics for those devices. The symposium an excellent opportunity for government regulators Caracas, Venezuela to interact with the medical device industry. JulyT-11,1997 Papers regarding device and software safety in Systemics, Cybernetics and lnformatics (SCl) the design of systems, as well as software are becoming increasingly related to each other development practices, methods, and tools are and to almost every scientific discipline and encouraged. Reports concerning applications in human activity. Their common feature, progress are also encouraged. Medical device transdisciplinarity, characterizes them and engineers, medical professionals, biomedical generates strong relations among them and with engineers and computer scientists who are other disciplines. They interpenetrate each other working on medical computing projects are integrating a whole that is permeating human especially encouraged to submit papers thinking and practice. This phenomenon induced describing their work. CBMS combines technical the Organization Committee to structure SCI'97 papers, poster presentations, panel discussions as a multiconference where participants may and research laboratory tours. Main areas: focus on an area, or on a discipline, while . knowledge needed for successful application maintaining the possibility of attending and development of computer based conferences on other areas or disciplines. This medical systems, systemic approach stimulates cross{ertilization . computer based medical systems and among different disciplines, inspiring scholars, ultrasound, generating analogies and provoking innovations; o p€rspectives of using knowledge based con- which, after all, is one of the very basic principles cepts in computer based medical systems of the systems movement and a fundamental Specialtopics: aim in cybernetics. . Basic knowledge MAJOR THEMES . Management process . Conceptual lnfrastructure of Systemics, . Medical System Reliability and Safety Cybernetics and lnformatics . lnformation Systems . lnformation Systems (ISAS'97) . Software Development Processes, . Control Systems Methodologies and Tools . lmage Processing and Analysis . Signal Processing . Knowledge Based Systems . Prosthetic Devices . CardiovascularTechnologies lnformatique et biologie due moddle d l'outil Course Postgrade en lnformatique 1997 Jan - Decembre 1997 Dept. d'lnformatique Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne Organizers: Prof. D. Mange, E. Sanchez, Dr. P. Bucher, Dr. V. Joneneel, Dr. P. Marchal, Dr. M. Tomassini Details: EPFL-Dept. ,4" d'lnformatique The PQS-Team Room lN-Ecublens, CH-1015 Lausanne tel. (021) 693-42-39, fax (021) 693 66 25 The main advantage of the meeting room shows email: [email protected] during the meeting itself: Brainstorming: All participants can enter their ideas in parallel. PnOIeCT REPORTS Controlled parallel discussion: A discussion Do Meetings have to be lnefficient similar to a Delphi-survey can be performed. and Boring? Voting: Complicated balloting methods, open The electronic meeting PQS-Team and secret, can effectively be performed in 'real- time'. Gerhard Chroust Systemtechnik und Automation, lnformation Retrieval: every Participant can Johannes Kepler University Linz, 4040 retrieve supporting evidence from his/her own LinzlAustria, information base. This information can be shown to the other participants. e-mail: CHROUST@ SEA.UNI-LlNZ.AC.AT, Also during preparation the meeting the lel:+ 43-7 32-2468-865, I ax: + 43-7 32-2468-87 I of systems offers a very useful feature: http ://www. sea. u n i- I i nz. ac. at provided Meetings are still held in the same way as in be discussed off-line via the software Mediaeval times. Participants sit around a table Prediscussed agenda: items and comments and the tools are the same as in medieval times, can be added to the agenda, thus reducing the perhaps augmented by an overhead projectors. time needed for this in the actual meeting. Further, many of these meetings are considered Support for arranging time and place of the to be inefficient and lost time. Little computer meeting, the agenda, the list of invitees, the support has - up to now - been provided. But writing and distribution of the minutes is also such meetings are necessary for creative available. problem solving and for subtle negotiations. Besides support of actual decision meetings Proximity of the partners, the atmosphere, the some more creative uses of this kind of meeting interaction and the resulting spontaneity are room could be: needed. . Software Process Evaluation, e.g. ISO-9000 Based on previous experiences an electronic meeting room (called PQS-Team-Room for : . RequirementsAnalysis productivity, quality and speed) has been built at . Group Examinations the Kepler University Linz. We believe that an electronic meeting room Austrian Society for the might provide some dramatic changes in the future. lt is up to us to identify the potential, History of lnformatics founded utilize this technology and accept the challenge. ln order to preserve the traces and foundations Chroust, G. and Pamminger A. PQS-Team- of computer science, this society has been Room, Need or Annoyance? in: Chroust, G. and founded in Vienna in October 1996. lts main aim Doucek, P. (eds ): IDIMT-96 : 4nd is to lnterdisciplinary lnformation Management Talks, . secure existing artifacts related to the early ,Oldenbourg 1 996, 1 40-1 48. history of computer, informatics and related Lewe, H. and Krcmar H.: Die CATeam Raum- subjects. Umgebung als Mensch-Computer Schnittstelle.- . register and archive such artifacts, in: Friedrich J., Rodiger K.H. (eds): . provide a basis for research and Computergestitzte Gruppenarbeit (CSCW) r present them to the public in the form of a Fachtagung, Universitdt Bremen 1991 museum Teubner Stuttgart 1991 , pp. 171-182, Nunamaker, J.F. and others: Electronic Further contact: Gerhard Chroust, Meeting Systems to Support Group Work Systemtechnik und Automation, Johannes Comm ACM vol.34 (1991) no.7, pp.40-61 Kepler University Linz, 4040 Linz/Austria, e-mail: [email protected], Te I : + 43 -7 3 2 -2468 - 86 5, F ax : +43-7 3 2 - 246 I - 87 I NEWS FROM THE Boor MRRrer Proceedings 980 pages hard copy and/or CD-ROM version with search and hypertext features: ISAS'96 PROCEEDINGS Miss Natalie Buitrago (lnformation Systems Analysis and Synthesis 70501 .2363 @ CompuServe.com N ews N ews f rom f rom the the IFS R IFSR Dcnr Members! OUR MEMBERS l99t; frus 6een succusfu[ year tfu I fSK'lile now fiaue 28 for We welcome the members, 'l,le ftaae agafu hal a Eoard Meeing at tfu 'EMCSK1996 in 'lienna.'lile ako [ta[ a Strategy Meeting lnternational lnstitute of lnformatics otr gnturday, Apri[ 13 - a rcac[ty. Many good ifew and Systemics (Venezuela) srtggc-stioru zaere put fonuarl. as a new new member of the IFSR! 'Lfic fuscfi[ Corztcrsation 1996 wos a Juff success, more [iaefy Founding Members: Nagic Charly Callaos Farra, tfran euer. Bekis Margarita Sanchez Rodriguez. 'lilitft raspect to tfu organkaion oJ tfu I|SK zte are ln the next issue we will report about lhe pursuirrg tfie committee stt'ucture ah'eady annourrce[ to you. association. fee[ fee to contact your officers for cooperation. 'lile ttko toolitfu cfiance of presenting tfu airns and purposes AIRS: Assoc. ltaliana per la Ricerca sui oJ tfrc Ifg\at tfu rto[CsK-Conference in'llienna and at tfu Sistemi lSSS-Meeting inEulapest in September 1996. (ltalian Assoc. for Research on Systems) As usua[ I repeat my reEust for more information on socicty. Sfiare it witft tfu otfitr members of If9fr! A detailed account can be found under the heading 'New Trends' 9{o ping for a Jurtfur fruitfu{ communtation Qerfiarl Cfiroust Polish Systems Society Contact: M ieczyslaw Bazewicz Statement of Scope Technical University of Wroclaw * , general methodology of interactive systems 50-370 WROCLAW, POLAND, *research and inquiry tel: (48-71) 20-35-89, fax: (48-71) 22-36-64, systems strategy and multidisciplinary e-mail: bazew @ pwr.wroc.pl integration * methodology and modeling of evolutionary Fuscnl-CoruveRSATIoN integrated systems Do your application '1998 " technological and associative systems not forget for the Fuschl-Conversation (Sunday, 19 * humanization of systems, and systems April philosophy (evening) to Friday, April 24 (noon) 1998 at the * Seewinkel at Fuschl See, (20 creative design and systems education Hotel am Austria * km from Salzburg). Deadline: February adaptive and autonomous systems end of * 1997, applications Banathy, cybernetic and autopoietic systems send lo: Bela H. * 25781 Morse Drive, information systems and computer systems C armeL CA. 93923 USA, e-mail: . philosophical systems and methodologies tel/fax +1 408-625-3178, [email protected] * systems development of knowledge engineering and artificial intelligence Amendment to IFSR Newslettei 15(3), p. 1: . artificial neural systems, biological and medical Prof. Yong Pil Rhee is President of the systems Koreans Society for Systems Science * social, juridical and organizational systems Research and alsosince September President * mathematical methods for cybernetic and of the ISSS. Dr. Harald Linstone became systems research chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ISSS. * ecological systems WHAT,S NEW IN ..SYSTEMS RESEARCH"? The quarterly Systems Research, the official journal of the IFSR, ls published by John Wiley and Sons. Papers for publication and subscription requests should be sent to: Professor M.C. Jackson U n ive rsity of H umbe rside Cottingham Road Hull. HUO 7RT, United Kingdom tel: +44 1482 440550 ExL3720 fax: +44 1482 445715 Contents of vol. 13, no. 4 (1ee6) Research Papers: M.C. Jackson at the EMCSR-Meeting, Vienna On pairs and trios: the smallest social systems April 12, 1996 by R L Ackoff Maintaining'foreign subsidaries' ability to self- organize in the Japanese market by C F Benton IMPRESSUM: Mediurninhaber', Heraus-{eber, Satz und and K Kijima Layout: Int. Federation lbr Systems Research Paradigm shift in management by P N Murlhy Fiir den Inhalt verantwortlich: Prof. C. Chloust, Kepler A comparison of Maturana's autopoietic social Universitrit Linz, 4040 Linz, Druck: Druckerei Bad theory and Giddens' theory of structuration by J Leonf'elden CmbH. & Co. KC, Bad Leonf'elden (A) Mingers Research Note: A systems profile: John P Van Gigch (1930 - ) by J P Van Gigch NIswsLETrTreR Calendar of Events I-itle Date and Place Further lnformation Abbreviations: Cf P, CfA: Call f.Papers/Abstract, FP: Final Paper due, Systems f or sustainability: people, )uly 7-11th, 1997 Hammerwood Gate, Kents Hill, Milton Keynes organizations and environments, 5th lnt. Milton Keynes, UK MK7 6HP, UK, tel: 44 1908 83494, fax: 44 1908 Conf. of the United Kingdom Systems 834948, ukssconf @ dmu.ac. uk Soc. SCI'97 - World Multiconference on )uly 7-11, 1997 lnt. lnstitute of lnformatics and Sistemics, 3ystemics, Cybernetics and lnformatics laracas, Venezela 14269 Lord Barclay Dr., Orlando, Fl, USA tel: 1 -502-899-3332. fax 1-502-897-2461 IASYS'97 :1"' lnt. Conference on August 'l 1-15, 1997, Dr. lr. Daniel M. DUBOIS, asbl CHAOS, lnstitut de Somputing Anticipatory Systems LIEGE (Belgium), Math6matique, Universite de Lidge, 15, avenue reusch@ls f . inf ormatik. uni-dortmnd.de http://LS1 1 -www.informatik.uni-dortmund.de/ EUROMICRO SoCO'97: 2"0 lnt. ICSC Symposium on Sept. 17-'19, 1997 ICSC Canada, PO Box 279, MILLET, Alberta ToC Soft Computing (Fuzzy Logic, Artificial Nimes, France 120, Canada Neural Neworks, Genetic Algorithms) CfA: Jan 31, 1997 tel: 1 -403-387-4329, lax -3546, email: FP: May 15, 1997 icsc@compusmart. ab.ca, http ://www. compusmart. ab.calicsc/soco97. htm IDIMT 1 997, lnterdisciplinary Oct. 15-17, 1997 Gerhard Chroust, Systemtechnik, Kepler lnformation Management Talks Zadov , Cech Republic Universitiit Linz, 4O4O Linz, CfA: March 1997, tel: +43-7 32-2468-866, tax -87 8 FP: June 1997 emai I : Ch ro ustrOS EA. u n i- I i nz. ac. al