Social Systems Design as a Vehicle Towards Local Public e-Services for and by Citizens

The need for increased user participation and involvement in the process of designing and developing public e-Services has been emphasized in recent years. User involvement is critical to success in the development and implementation of public e-Services, and many visions and efforts are focused on citizen participation in the design and development process. In this article, concepts of Social Systems Design are analysed in the context of local public e-Services in order to improve potential to meet the requirements for user participation and involvement. Results show that the ideas of Social Systems Design, where applicable, can contribute to user-centred development of local public e-Services, and can form a foundation for the development of methods that utilize user participation and involvement. However, further research requires empirical studies.     

Repositing Thinking for Future Social Systems Design: In Tribute to Bela H. Banathy and His Inspiration of the Fuschl Conversations

Contemporary systems activity can be divided into that stressing feasible and practical short-term measures, and that which is more ideal-aware, focussed on mid-longer term futures, and typically involving on-going community or social systems design. The paper highlights the key differences in approach, but then invites closer collaboration in the cause of the possible contribution that systems thinking could make for a longer term future, with Y3K (Year 3000) as a metaphor for this. This analysis, which derives from work undertaken at Asilomar 1995 and Fuschl conversations in 2000 and 2002, finds that contemporary social system design, which is driven by western culture and is action-oriented, needs adaptation before it could contribute to greater future global harmony. A truly comprehensive systems design process must accommodate a wide range of possible parameters in terms of culture, and appreciation of time and progress. An emerging paradigm as basis for thinking and engaging in social systems design work of the future is offered, which also has relevance to general systems practice.     

Churchman and Maturana: Enriching the Notion of Self-Organization for Social Design

C. West Churchman and Humberto Maturana share similar cultural traditions involving frustrations with applying conventional systematic methods in domains of social systems design (Churchman) and neurobiology (Maturana). They have independently of each other developed a rich systemic framework of analysis based on a constructivist epistemology. But there appears to have been little correspondence between the two traditions. This paper explores six possible areas of congruence between the critical systemic perspective associated with Churchman and Maturanas autopoiesis. This initial sketch reveals possible ways forward in applying ideas of autopoiesis to our social world through a more constructive and adaptive conversation with the works of Churchman.     

中心局邮政通信网仿真系统设计与实现

为了优化中心局邮政通信网络组织和成本管理水平，该文从邮政通信时限与成本的优化匹配及其影响因素分析入手，设计了邮区中心局内部作业处理和动态调度管理的仿真系统，通过对业务模型和信息模型中业务处理、运作方式和管理模式的领导 具和评价，为实现目标优化提供依据。     

A Fresh Look at The Systems Approach and an Agenda for Action: Peeking Through the Lens of Churchman's Aphorisms

This paper critically examines some important topics of systemic thinking to understand how our perception of problems can be enhanced and how the chances of deception can be mitigated while dealing with real-world problems. To achieve this objective, an attempt is first made to scrutinize some of the key issues of systemic thinking by looking through the lens of Churchman's aphorisms at: (1) the illusion of completeness and closure, (2) the meaning of holism, and (3) the concept of ‘Interbeing’. A preliminary ‘agenda for action’ is then laid out suggesting ways for increasing our perception and for minimizing the chances of being deceived in dealing with systems problems in practice.