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Brian G. Dowling

Simplifying Complexity or Complexifying Simplicity: The Promise and Perils of Systems T... - 0 views

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    A potential danger in a systems approach is that there is a risk of overjargonizing and getting lost in complex terminology, maps and paralysis by analysis. One of the key themes that emerged from the discussion is that many people are starting to experiment with systems thinking but that it can be daunting or confusing to explain, operationalize or find common agreement. Does system thinking imply a rigorous and dynamic mapping of key actors, power relationships and other factors in a community (Yes)? But then how does systems thinking differ from a solid context analysis (still needs more explanation)? A potential danger in a systems approach is that there is a risk of overjargonizing and getting lost in complex terminology, maps and paralysis by analysis. One of the key themes that emerged from the discussion is that many people are starting to experiment with systems thinking but that it can be daunting or confusing to explain, operationalize or find common agreement. Does system thinking imply a rigorous and dynamic mapping of key actors, power relationships and other factors in a community (Yes)? But then how does systems thinking differ from a solid context analysis (still needs more explanation)? 
Brian G. Dowling

Kettering Foundation: What Does It Take for Democracy to Work as It Should? - 0 views

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    ABOUT THE KETTERING FOUNDATION The Kettering Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan research organization rooted in the American tradition of cooperative research. Everything Kettering researches relates to one central question: what does it take for democracy to work as it should? Or put another way: What does it take for citizens to shape their collective future?

    The foundation explores ways that key political practices can be strengthened through innovations that emphasize active roles for citizens. Kettering's research is distinctive because it is conducted from the perspective of citizens and focuses on what people collectively can do to address problems affecting their lives, their community, and their nation.
Brian G. Dowling

SC2 home | HUD USER - 1 views

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    Through SC2, 19 federal agencies work together in partnership with committed city leaders as they implement locally driven economic visions. SC2 does not involve new federal money nor is it a top-down approach. Based on a city's local vision and its request for federal involvement, SC2 seeks to support each city by increasing federal-local collaboration and improving how the federal government invests in and delivers technical assistance to advance locally driven economic development and job creation goals.
Brian G. Dowling

Good Done Great Facebook - 0 views

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    Our goal is to provide you with a solution that is of the same quality as custom-built software and that does exactly what you need, for less than what you would pay for commercial off-the-shelf software that only gets you 80% there. We know we can do it, and we think you should too.
Brian G. Dowling

Stupid Is as Stupid Does: A Renaissance in Perspective « Barberbiz - 0 views

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    If you read the headlines, listen to the pundits and the president, you would think that we are about to enter into a manufacturing renaissance in this country. Suddenly, it has dawned on many companies that this country might actually be a pretty good place to make things after all.
Brian G. Dowling

Cities - GOOD - 1 views

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    In a world where things too often don't work, GOOD seeks a path that does. Left, right. In, out. Greed, altruism. Us, them. These are the defaults and they are broken. We are the alternative model. We are the reasonable people who give a damn. No dogma. No party lines. No borders. We care about what works--what is sustainable, prosperous, productive, creative, and just--for all of us and each of us. This isn't easy, but we are not afraid to fail. We'll figure it out as we go. Call it a new party, call it a 21st century collaboration, call it an army, call it your new home. Or just call it GOOD.
Brian G. Dowling

FORA.tv - Justin Baird: Battle of Big Thinking - 0 views

    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      Issues or problems to be solved versus governance and democracy.  The later interferes with the former. Argues that the power of individual people is uncovered.  Democracy is not seen as perfect just better than all the other ways. In a true democracy all funding would come from the people as a whole.  Democracy has we know it is inadequate.  It is slow, biased, inaccurate and expensive. Talks about pushing democracy to the original ideological principles but which one's Greek, English, American and whose version?  Is Leaving politicians in office even if we collectively want to change the system right now OK? Can we pick and choose policies instead of being forced into all or nothing?  Can we hold more elections (while at the same time pointing out increasing costs) Points out problem with technical issues (chads) which supposedly go away.  No fail-ability and instantaneous results based it seems on the same infrastructure that brings about social opinion online.  Landmark events Obama's election. Given the right catalyst democracy thrives through the power of the individual.  Individuals of like minds come together to create change.  A collective consciousness that bubbles up from each individual in the group.  This consciousness governs the way the group behaves. Complex Adaptive Theory how simple elements self organize into super organisms. Civilization or at least what is deemed to be civilization by two researchers without the use of reason. 
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      Tries to make a case of similarity between the evolution of termites as a super organism and humans as a super organism seeking equivalence between ant colonies and human nations that only obstacle being language.  Really actually the same thing.   The super organism is more competent than the individual parts.  Argues for transformation by humans into a super global organism.  This global organism created is competing with nations. Held by ideas rather than genetics of insects. Cites Darwin both philosophically and photographically.  We are supposedly going to a better place because of technological evolution than we are now. Radical Inclusion supposed maturity in technology allow for problems to be brought up that are effecting this super organism and improve its self regulation.  Radical Inclusion is a vehicle for shifting the consciousness of this super organism we are a part of. Breaks down barriers of geography, language and politics. 
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
       Ideas can spread but does not mean they are good ideas. Top rated content. Claiming that  changes in Egypt were due to wanting to connect online rather than a local wish to change the government. Fast Unbiased Accurate and Inexpensive. Voting is available from anywhere to where though to whom. Stops bias supposedly supposedly more accountable but somebody is in control of the accounting.  Allows global votes so everyone can vote on the Secretary General of the UN rather than the nations. Brings up technical issues such as authentication or access to the internet. Come back is to compare this endeavor with putting a man on the moon. Done we are told with less computing power than with a regular cell phone. Then just implementation issues. Finishes up with From the very beginning we have loved one another and lived in the company of one another and through giving up much we have live strong to become the greatest power on earth. Love and ingenuity allowed the weakest of us to collectively triumph through it all villages become cities become states become super organism. Still waiting for it to mature though. Radical Inclusive Democracy is a step catalyst seems like genetic engineering. Online UN voting platform for COP15.  At that point focus was bringing accountability to advocacy. COP15 was a cop out is beside the point. Does Radical Inclusion permit responses to crisises against humanity will it allow harnessing the power of individuals of global change at speed. And do what is right for us all. 
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    Google version of the digital revolution. Far from being a bad thing, he argues that the potential for creativity, the ability to connect and communicate and the ability to have ones voice heard is driving fundamental societal change. So, is the digital revolution leading us to a more democratic, more environmentally and socially conscious future? And better business models?
Brian G. Dowling

Welcome | Transition Network - 0 views

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    What does Transition Network do? Transition Network is a charitable organisation whose role is to inspire, encourage, connect, support and train communities as they self-organise around the Transition model, creating initiatives that rebuild resilience and reduce CO2 emissions. Ultimately it's about creating a healthy human culture, one that meets our needs for community, livelihoods and fun. We're here to support you.
Brian G. Dowling

Interactivity Foundation Facebook - 1 views

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    The Interactivity Foundation ("IF") engages citizens in small group discussions to develop and explore multiple and contrasting possibilities for long-term public policy and democratic governance. IF is non-partisan and does not engage in advocacy on behalf of any of the public policy possibilities developed by its projects or discussion processes. IF is an operating foundation and does not make grants.
Brian G. Dowling

At The Intersection Of Adaptive Leadership, Design And Systems Thinking | DCulberhouse - 2 views

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    We live in a world relentlessly pushed forward by the velocity, volatility, uncertainty, disruption, and disequilibrium of constant change.  As the pace of change accelerates, so does the shelf-life of our strategies, processes, frameworks, and systems.  The rapidity of change now requires an expanding and continuously evolving breadth and depth to our repertoire of problem-solving strategies and leadership skill-sets.  Yet, even in the face of this rapidity of change and the disequilibrium it creates, too often, we find ourselves as individuals and organizations siloed in and dedicated to only one way of doing and working.  
Brian G. Dowling

The Dawn of System Leadership - 0 views

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    Systemic change needs more than data and information; it needs real intelligence and wisdom. Jay Forrester, the founder of the system dynamics method that has shaped our approach to systems thinking, pointed out that complex non-linear systems exhibit "counterintuitive behavior." He illustrated this by citing the large number of government interventions that go awry through aiming at short-term improvement in measurable problem symptoms but ultimately worsening the underlying problems-like increased urban policing that leads to short-term reductions in crime rates but does nothing to alter the sources of embedded poverty and worsens long-term incarceration rates.
Brian G. Dowling

New Orleans, LA | People's Budget | You're mayor for a day. - 1 views

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    How does it work? We give you 602 million dollars. It's your job to balance the budget while funding the many important responsibilities of city government. We'll give you some guidelines - what do the departments do? What happens if you give them more-or less - money?
Brian G. Dowling

Kingfisher - Visual Mapping Software - 0 views

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    Kingfisher is a visual mapping tool that helps individuals and teams understand, explain, and collaborate on complex information. Based on years of applied research on how we think and learn, Kingfisher works the way your brain does: by organizing parts that can be combined and connected to each other to form a complete picture.
Brian G. Dowling

Symbiosis in Development (SiD) - Integrated Sustainability Development Framework - 2 views

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    SiD has been developed since 2001 as a toolkit to develop long term viable sustainable solutions for business, governments and industry. SiD guides individuals and interdisciplinary groups in incorporating problems beyond material and energy usage, extending to include social, ecological, economic, and political matters. If we ever hope to achieve sustainability, we must optimize for all of these competing areas at the same time - and this is what SiD does.
Brian G. Dowling

New Community Paradigms / Gardens of Democracy - 3 views

    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      Metaphors matter, foundationally, in creating communities. Democratic governance is not best done through the machine of government but through a garden of governance by a community.
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      Changing the relationship of citizens to government as called for by Code for America means changing the relationship of members of civil society to community and of community to government. Community needs to take over a greater role in governance from governance. Code for America provides some of the tools but not the craftsmanship.
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      Code for America is networked across the USA but grounded in local communities. It is, however, too often leveraged through city councils and city management which is great for cities more in the fashion of Innovatatown than Parochialville. In some cases, it will need to be implemented from outside of city hall.
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      A need to redefine the notion of self-interest. Human nature stays the same, what changes is human understanding from fatalistic to mechanistic to hopefully organic.
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      The world is complex and networked not simple and add-on, systems are non-linear and non-equilibrium. Systems should not be described as efficient or inefficient but effective or ineffective. We are interdependent, cooperation drives prosperity and we are emotional approximators. Our systems are impacted positively or negatively by contagion.
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      Viewing the world in a new way redefines your approach to politics. The mechanistic model of citizenship "atomizes" individuals according to Eric Liu. Under a Gardens of Democracy model, individuals are networked and citizenship can be redefined accordingly making true self-interest mutual interest as understood by Tocqueville http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/ch2_08.htm
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      Understanding the new reality. You are not stuck in traffic. You are traffic. We need to be more than simple spectators to the political process. In my view, it means being more than simple participants in the existing system but redefining that system. We need to be more than customers and consumers of a system of community management and become co-creators of the system.
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      We also use mechanistic metaphors in defining our economy, including "efficient markets". The economy is an ecosystem. Economies prosper best from the middle out not from the top down.
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      Big government versus small government misses the point. According to Eric Liu government should be big on the what and small on the how. Government should strive to set great goals, does invest resources making them available at scale but the innovation to achieve those goals should come from the bottom up in networked ways.
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    Code for America hosted Nick Hanauer and Eric Liu for a discussion of their recent book, "Gardens of the Democracy." In it, they challenge Americans to approach the world not as a machinery that needs to be perfected but as a garden that needs constant attention, discretion, and periodic weeding. The book argues that since society and technology have fundamentally changed, so must our notions of citizenship and democracy: turning "the machine" into a garden. 
Brian G. Dowling

The cost of affordable housing: Does it pencil out? - 0 views

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    There is not enough affordable housing in the United States. For every 100 extremely low income households, there are only 29 adequate, affordable, and available rental units. That means two parents who both work minimum-wage jobs might wait years to find a safe, affordable place to live with their two kids. With such high demand, why aren't developers racing to build affordable apartments?
Brian G. Dowling

Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom - An Economic Growth and Competitiveness Agenda For Ca... - 0 views

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    The agenda is guided by a set of principles that must be agreed upon by stakeholders at all levels and does not seek to recreate the past and restore the jobs lost to global competition or to revive the debt-fueled follies of the past. It embraces a shift from a consumption-based economy to a production economy focused on global trade.

Brian Dowling

Making Cities Work / newcommunityparadigms [licensed for non-commercial use only] - 7 views

    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      Economics and creating livable cities notes and comments on the video. Related blog post http://bit.ly/qXggrn    related wiki post http://bit.ly/nKYXWt 
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      The future of communities promises to be austere with less public funding available.  This means other means need to be used to create new community paradigms but the challenge is that any major change must take hold in the first 6 months or the existing organizational culture will put the brakes on the effort in self survival.
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      Major efforts also take 3 requirements. Leadership, Vision and Funding. I suspect for community paradigms the most important is Vision around which Leadership can be organized around to attain funding. One important focus for the community as a whole will be job creation.
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      These efforts need to work with outside usually private agencies and finding avenues of mutual benefit.  Having a cooperative government entity to work though can therefore be a plus.
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      Universities are changing their role in the working with communities.  They can be great resources without necessarily trying to establish political control. Students are also a great resource for community change. Different disciplines design, technology and business can be brought together to help create innovative ideas. They can, as should community paradigm organizations, challenge the status quo. At the same time there is a necessity for structure. The question is how to community paradigm groups achieve structure?
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      In creating community paradigms outcomes are as important as outputs.  Outputs is the metric by which an effort is judged and usually quantitative but outcomes are the changes to the community that come from implementing the effort. You leave behind something sustainable in new partnerships, new ways of working, new ideas.
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      The challenge is working with experts for innovative ideas without being snare by ideas that are politically or economically motivated to give another advantage or because they are expedient.
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      The very idea of endeavoring to bring about new community paradigms means creating an environment with more social capital from which to draw to achieve the desired shift in community paradigm requires a good deal of volunteering where the participants actively pursue their role as producers of democracy. Volunteering is not limited to formal volunteering but all altruistic forms of social interaction. It helps to increase democratic participation. Robert Putnam's work demonstrates that it also has positive economic benefit as well. See wiki page for more info. There does however need to be something more to the effort of creating a new community paradigm beyond volunteering. What that is not clear but it seems to rise out of the act of creating a viable community paradigm shift.
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      Danger of disconnect brought about by austerity measures cutting people of from the community. Thousand flowers wll bloom without government theory is without merit
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      Communities should do more than provide shelter they should provide opportunities and fundamentally economic opportunities. 
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      Need a more holistic view, local competency, asking private sector to work in totally different way from traditional way but business still wants government to get out of the way. 
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      Government can be overly reactive going for the flavor of the minute.
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      What is the relationship of virtual communities to real communities through the enabling of programs such as car sharing.  Can it reinforce the connections of communities?
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      Volunteering at its best is a face to face proposition
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      Liveable is not merely a means of economic advantage but also must include other factors including environmental. We seek what cities give us culturally and aesthetically 
    • Brian G. Dowling
       
      This part of the discussion mirrors the work of Soul of the Community blog post http://bit.ly/qfZtt2 wiki post http://bit.ly/mXp0sF
Brian G. Dowling

Small Business Opportunity Tool | Department of Energy - 0 views

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    Small business contracing is difficult to navigate. We've built the Small Business Opportunities Tool to help small businesses research historical records of what the Department of Energy has purchased, and find upcoming procurement opportunities. Browse through the Small Business Opportunities Tool to learn more about the Department of Energy's organization, business model, facilities, and goods/services we procure to accomplish the agency's misison.
Brian G. Dowling

Disruptive Innovation - 1 views

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    A disruptive technology or disruptive innovation is an innovation that helps create a new market and value network, and eventually goes on to disrupt an existing market and value network. The term is used in business and technology literature to describe innovations that improve a product or service in ways that the market does not expect. Although the term disruptive technology is widely used, disruptive innovation seems a more appropriate term in many contexts since few technologies are intrinsically disruptive; rather, it is the business model that the technology enables that creates the disruptive impact.
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