Designing Our World: Cybernetics as Conversation for · PDF fileDesigning Our World: Cybernetics as Conversation for Action ... Claus Pias Wolfgang Pircher | ... Cybernetics as Conversation

RSD5 / Toronto, Canada / Paul Pangaro / Designing Conversations for Socially-Conscious Design1

Designing Our World: Cybernetics as Conversation for Action Heinz von Foerster Lecture ’17University of Vienna20 June 2017

Paul Pangaro, Ph.D.Chair and Associate Professor MFA Interaction Design Program College for Creative Studies, [email protected] von Foerster ’17 / Vienna June 2017 / Paul Pangaro

mailto:[email protected]?subject=


MFA Transportation Design MFA Color & Materials Design MFA Integrated DesignMFA Interaction DesignCollege for Creative Studies, [email protected] von Foerster ’17 / Vienna June 2017 / Paul Pangaro



Paul Pangaro, Ph.D.Chair and Associate Professor MFA Interaction Design Program College for Creative Studies, Detroit

Heinz von Foerster ’17 / Vienna June 2017 / Paul Pangaro


MFA Interaction Design



MFA Interaction Design


6Heinz von Foerster ’17 / Vienna June 2017 / Paul Pangaro


KKnnoowwlleeddggee –– OOrrggaanniissaattiioonn –– SSoocciieettyyHHeeiinnzz vvoonn FFooeerrsstteerr aanndd tthhee BBiioollooggiiccaall CCoommppuutteerr LLaabboorraattoorryy

International Heinz von Foerster-Congress 2003 at the Wittgenstein-House

9:00 a.m.– 11:00 a.m.

11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

2:30 p.m.–7:00 p.m.

2:30 p.m.–7:00 p.m.

7:30 p.m.–10:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 15

Robert MartinInventing the World OneConversation at a Time: the Once andFuture Invitation of Heinz von Foerster

Paul PangaroThe Past-Future of Cybernetics:Conversations, Von Foerster, andthe BCL

Moderator: Pille Bunnell

Stuart UmplebyWhat I Learned from Heinz vonFoerster about the Construction ofScience

Siegfried J. SchmidtHvF: Heritage and beyond: How toApply What We Have Learned

Moderator: Ranulph Glanville

Session VCybernetics and

Cognitive Science Today

Main Hall, 2:30–4:30 p.m.Mark H. Bickhard | Hanspeter A.Mallot | Nicole Rossmanith andAndreas ReicheltModerator: Alex Riegler

Session VIScientific Creativity

Main Hall, 5:00–7:00 p.m.Hans Rudi Fischer | GerhardGrössing | Karl H. MüllerModerator: Marco Lehmann-Waffenschmidt

Session VIIOn the History of Cybernetics

Seminar Room, 2:30–4:30 p.m. Jean Pierre Dupuy | Claus PiasWolfgang Pircher | Robert Trappl Moderator: Friedrich Stadler

Session VIIISystemics, Information and

Organisation

Seminar Room, 5:00–7:00 p.m. Presentations by Christian Fuchs andWolfgang Hofkirchner | Jan Klas andStanislav Gregor | Umberta Telfener Moderator: Günter Haag

Film

Main Hall, 7:30 p.m.The Net. Documentary Film on theInfant Stages of the Internet and ofthe Cognitive Sciences (IncludingInterviews with Heinz von Foerster)Presented by Lutz Dammbeck

Thursday, November 13

Conference OpeningsPille BunnellIlse KönigAllenna LeonardAndreas von FoersterThomas von FoersterModerator: Karl H. Müller

Ernst von GlasersfeldThe Constructivist View ofCommunication

Ranulph GlanvilleWonder

Moderator: Friedrich Stadler

Session IAnnual Conference of the American

Society for Cybernetics

Main Hall, 2:30–7:00 p.m.Andy Bilson | Søren Brier | Allenna Leonard | Suzanne L. Martin |Tatiana A. Medvedeva | Larry Richards | Antonin Rosick |Bernard Scott | Doug Seeley |

Session IIFuture Prospects for Constructivism

Seminar Room, 2:30–7:00 p.m.Thomas Himmelfreundpointner |Theo Hug | Richard Jung | Bert Klauninger | Josef Mitterer |Alex Riegler | Gebhard Rusch Moderators: Gerhard Grössing | Albert Müller

Heinz von Foerster-Lecture

Main Hall, 7:30–10:00 p.m.Dirk Baecker

Knowledge and IgnoranceModerator: Albert Müller

Thursday, November 13 – Sunday, November 16 Exhibition: Anestis Logothetis: KybernetikonArranged by Julia Spitzer-Logothetis, Gerda Janouschek

Sunday, November 16, Bösendorfer-Saal, 1040 Wien, Graf-Starhemberg-Gasse 14, 7:00 p.m.Doris Reisinger | Robert Michael Weiß: dance//wings | a tale with dance and piano

Friday, November 14

Alfred InselbergBCL and the Visualization ofMultidimensional Geometry

Lars LöfgrenFrom Wittgenstein’s Language-World Thesis to Holistic Language

Moderator: Allenna Leonard

Ricardo UribeNon-trivial Machines

Paul WestonA Walk through the Forest

Moderator: Markus Peschl

AAfftteerrnnoooonn SSeessssiioonnss

Session IIIOn the History of the BCL

Main Hall, 2:30–7:00 p.m.Peter Asaro | Michael Ashby | Peter Krieg | Albert MüllerModerators: Stuart Umpleby | Karl H. Müller

Session IVKnowledge-Organisation

Seminar Room, 2:30–7:00 p.m.Gerhard Grössing | KatharinaGsöllpointner | Günter Haag |Barbara Heller-Schuh | SusanneKratochwil and Josef Benedikt |Marco Lehmann-Waffenschmidt |Markus Peschl and Martin Schaurhofer | Ursula SchneiderModerators: Josef Mitterer | Ranulph Glanville

Conference Reception

8:00 p.m.Conference Reception at the

"Wappensaal” of the Vienna City HallInvitation by Michael Häupl,

Mayor of Vienna





9:00 a.m.– 11:00 a.m.

11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

2:30 p.m.–7:00 p.m.

2:30 p.m.–7:00 p.m.

7:30 p.m.–10:00 p.m.
















Organisation


Film

















Friday, November 14















Mayor of Vienna




9:00 a.m.– 11:00 a.m.

11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

2:30 p.m.–7:00 p.m.

2:30 p.m.–7:00 p.m.

7:30 p.m.–10:00 p.m.
















Organisation


Film

















Friday, November 14















Mayor of Vienna

http://pangaro.com/Heinz-von-Foerster/


Contributions to the Viennese Archive of Gordon Pask https://vimeo.com/31987180


Invitation to Recursioning (for Heinz von Foerster)https://vimeo.com/32011737


Heinz von Foerster

photo by Robert Knisely 1989


Mai von Foerster Heinz von Foerster

photo by Paul Pangaro ~1999


Heinz von Foerster Paul Pangaro

1993


Designing Our World: Cybernetics as Conversation for Action



Designing Our World



Edith Ackermann

https://vimeo.com/1041784072014

18Heinz von Foerster ’17 / Vienna June 2017 / Paul PangaroHeinz von Foerster ’17 / Vienna June 2017 / Paul Pangaro


Designing Our World



Designing Our World: Conversation for Action



insert movie









Ranulph Glanville

Photo from https://systemic-design.net/ remembering-ranulph-glanville/


https://systemic-design.net/


I can have a piece of paper and I can make a mark and go away and come back and look at it later.

And you know what happens when you draw on something and you come back and look at it later? It looks different than you thought you’d drawn it.

So… you’re taking two roles: the person who draws, the person who looks, the person who draws, the person who looks.

[This] is what is at the center of designing. This, for me, is the act that makes design design.

–– Ranulph Glanville








“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.”

— Herbert Simon

“Everyone designs


“Design and cybernetics are really the same thing.”



“Conversation is the bridge between cybernetics and design.”



We construe design as a conversation for action — that is, as cybernetics.

–– Dubberly & Pangaro, Cybernetics and Design: Conversations for Action, 2017


Cybernetics is a necessary foundation for 21st century design practice.



• The prominence of digital technology in daily life cannot be denied (or reversed). Digital technology comprises systems of systems (Internet of Things).

• Design has expanded from giving-form to creating systems that support interactions. Human interactions span thinking and acting, whether mundane or metaphysical.

We must model and tame this complex mesh of mechanisms.Therefore: systems literacy is a necessary foundation for design.

If design, then systems:


If design, then systems.

• Digital interactions comprise reliable connections, communication, and feedback. Human interactions comprise purpose, feedback, and learning.

• The science of communication and feedback, interaction and purpose, is cybernetics. We must model communication and intention in a common frame. Therefore: cybernetics is a necessary foundation for design.

If systems, then cybernetics:



• Framing “wicked challenges” requires articulating human values and viewpoints. Values and viewpoints are subjective.

• Designers must offer a persuasive rationale for our subjective viewpoints. • Modeling subjectivity is the province of second-order cybernetics. We must embrace values and subjectivity at the heart of designing. Therefore: second-order cybernetics is a necessary foundation for design.

If systems, then cybernetics.

If cybernetics, then second-order cybernetics:

38



• Taming “wicked challenges” must be grounded in argumentation. • Argumentation requires conversation so that participants may understand and agree. • Agreement is necessary for collaboration and effective action. We must embrace argumentation and collaboration to the heart of 21st-century design. Therefore: conversation is a necessary foundation for design.

If cybernetics, then second-order cybernetics.

If second-order cybernetics, then conversation:




If cybernetics, then second-order cybernetics.

If second-order cybernetics, then conversation.–– Dubberly & Pangaro, Cybernetics and Design: Conversations for Action, 2017


“Design is the action; Second-order Cybernetics is the explanation.”



Heinz von Foerster



Gordon Pask Heinz von Foerster




Gordon Pask Heinz von Foerster



Ranulph Glanville Gordon Pask G. Spencer-Brown

photo by Paul Pangaro 1990


Ranulph Glanville Gordon Pask G. Spencer-Brown

photo by Paul Pangaro 1990


Gordon Pask Paul Pangaro

~1986


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Design…


Design… from Thinking to Conversation

Design Thinking


What is the process of Design Thinking?

Observe

Brainstorm

Prototype


What Does that mean?

Ethnography

Open-ended ideageneration

Making andtesting

Observe

Brainstorm

Prototype



Observe

Brainstorm

Prototype

Evalu

ate



Observe

Brainstorm

Prototype

Itera

te

Evalu

ate


Limitations

Observe

Brainstorm

Prototype

Itera

te

Evalu

ateSpecific?

Rigorous?

Repeatable?


Evaluate…

Design the Conversations

Find a Focusing Question

Prototype a Solution

Evalu

ate

Measure Improvements for Users

Itera

te

Observe

Brainstorm

Prototype


Iterate & EvaluateIterate & Evaluate



Prototype a Solution

Evalu

ate


Measure Convergence on design goals

Itera

te

Observe

Brainstorm

Prototype


Iterate & EvaluateIterate & Evaluate



Itera

te

Evalu

ateConversation to

Agree on Means




Conversation is the core

Conversation to Agree on Means




Conversation is the core


Measure Improvementsfor Users



Design… from Thinking to Conversation

Design Thinking


Rethinking Design Thinking



Design as Conversation

Conversation to Agree on

Means




Means

Itera

te

Evalu

ate


Goals

Does doing this

… achieve this?


Design as ConversationConversation to Agree on

Goals


Means


Design as ConversationConversation to Agree on

Goals

Do we have sufficient variety… to achieve this?


Means



Iterate

Evaluate


Goals

Conversation to Design the

Designing

Do we have sufficient variety… to achieve this?


Means



Itera

te

Evalu

ate

Iterate

Evaluate


Means


Goals


Designing




Means


Goals


Designing

Itera

te

Evalu

ate

Iterate

Evaluate

IterateEvaluate

Do we have

sufficient variety… …to achieve this?


NEXT CONVERSATION

CONVERSATIONe,e,e...

e,e,e...e,e,ee,e,ee,e,ee,e,e

Given the conversation we’ve just had, focus on the questions above to make the next conversation successful.

NEWKNOWLEDGE

BUILDS

FEEDS

EXTERNALINFORMATION

ESTABLISHESGOAL FOR

DETERMINESCRITERIA FOR

PARTICIPANTSBECOME

SELECTIONMECHANISM

POSSIBLEPARTICIPANTS

1. Bottom-up approach: Keep asking the important questions that ensure the right participants and the right information in every conversation.

In short, given where we want to go:

Who are the necessary and sufficient participants?

What is the necessary and sufficient information?

What did we learn?

What questions do we answer next?

Who can we continue to use who are still essential?

What expertise do we need to answer those questions?

What information do we need to answer those questions?


NEXT CONVERSATION




NEWKNOWLEDGE

BUILDS

FEEDS

EXTERNALINFORMATION

ESTABLISHESGOAL FOR


PARTICIPANTSBECOME

SELECTIONMECHANISM






What did we learn?






NEXT CONVERSATION




NEWKNOWLEDGE

BUILDS

FEEDS

EXTERNALINFORMATION

ESTABLISHESGOAL FOR


PARTICIPANTSBECOME

SELECTIONMECHANISM






What did we learn?






NEXT CONVERSATION




NEWKNOWLEDGE

BUILDS

FEEDS

EXTERNALINFORMATION

ESTABLISHESGOAL FOR


PARTICIPANTSBECOME

SELECTIONMECHANISM






What did we learn?






NEXT CONVERSATION




NEWKNOWLEDGE

BUILDS

FEEDS

EXTERNALINFORMATION

ESTABLISHESGOAL FOR


PARTICIPANTSBECOME

SELECTIONMECHANISM






What did we learn?






NEXT CONVERSATION




NEWKNOWLEDGE

BUILDS

FEEDS

EXTERNALINFORMATION

ESTABLISHESGOAL FOR


PARTICIPANTSBECOME

SELECTIONMECHANISM






What did we learn?





85

NEXT CONVERSATION




NEWKNOWLEDGE

BUILDS

FEEDS

EXTERNALINFORMATION

ESTABLISHESGOAL FOR


PARTICIPANTSBECOME

SELECTIONMECHANISM






What did we learn?





AGENCY CLIENT e,...

AGENCY CLIENT e,e,e...

AGENCY CLIENT e,e,e,e...

INITIALGOALS

catalyst ideation solution delivery evaluation

OUTCOMES

AGENCY CLIENT e,e,e,e,e...

NECESSARYPARTICIPANTS

NECESSARYINFORMATION

UNPREDICTABLECONTACTWITH AGENCY

IDENTIFY NECESSARY ROLESAND EXPERTISE

SELECT“BEFORE”

&“AFTER”

SELECT360°

SOLUTIONPLAN

FEEDBACK ADJUSTMENT

OPTIMIZATION

SELECT360°

DEPLOYMENT

PARTICIPANTS

MEASURINGIMPACT

COREROLES

SELECT AGENCY CLIENT

Client Engagement can be modeled as a series of stages—catalyst, ideation, solution, delivery, and evaluation—each with specific goals, and therefore specific requirements for participants and information to feed the next conversation.

e,e,e,...

The engagement lifecycle moves through a series of stages, albeit not always smoothly.

Core roles—often the “triumvirate” of account, planning, and creative, but increasingly specialized to a given 360° engagement—are responsible for driving to results, and forcommunicating across stages and across agency and client groups.

Useful stages that apply across most engagement types are:- catalyst stage (first interaction): initial contact with client- ideation: building a model of desired outcomes- solution: creating a plan to achieve the outcomes- delivery: executing the plan, deploying the solution- evaluation: measuring against goals, then adjusting.

COREROLES

COREROLES

COREROLES

14





Means


Goals


Designing

Itera

te

Evalu

ate

Iterate

Evaluate

IterateEvaluate

?




Means


Goals


Designing

Itera

te

Evalu

ate

Iterate

Evaluate

IterateEvaluate

?




Means


Goals


Designing

Itera

te

Evalu

ate

Iterate

Evaluate

IterateEvaluate

?

Itera

te

Evalu

ate

Iterate

Evaluate



1993



Heinz von Foerster Paul Pangaro Michael Geoghegan


1993



Don Schön Paul Pangaro Michael Geoghegan Gordon Pask Frank Galuszka

1993


http://pangaro.com/leadership-language-regenerating-organizations.html2002





Means


Goals


Designing

Itera

te

Evalu

ate

Iterate

Evaluate

IterateEvaluate

?

Itera

te

Evalu

ate

Iterate

Evaluate




Means

Conversation to Create New

Language


Goals


Designing

Itera

te

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ate

Iterate

Evaluate

Itera

te

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ate

Iterate

Evaluate

IterateEvaluate


Paul Pangaro Stafford Beer

1984


Diagnosing the System for OrganizationsStafford Beer 1985

VSM — Viable System Model


Diagnosing the System for OrganizationsStafford Beer 1985

VSM — Viable System Model




Means




Goals


Means




Goals


Means


Designing




Goals


Means


Designing

Conversation to Create

New Language






Means


Goals


Designing


Language




Means


Language


Goals


Designing

Itera

te

Evalu

ate

Iterate

Evaluate

Itera

te

Evalu

ate

Iterate

Evaluate

IterateEvaluate


We construe design as a conversation for action — that is, as cybernetics.


We construe design as a conversation for action — that is, as cybernetics. Action may either conserve or change a situation.


We construe design as a conversation for action — that is, as cybernetics. Action may either conserve or change a situation.

In other words, design is a conversation about what to conserve and what to change, a conversation about what we value.



Humberto Maturana



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Conversation as Living Together in Languaging



If we converse explicitly about goals, we are transparent about frames and values. (This is ethical.)

If we converse about the means to achieve those goals, we more fully engage participants and their abilities, improving outcomes. (This is collaborative.)

If we converse to co-evolve new language, we can escape the limitations of current viewpoints, and create new frames and new possibilities. (This is innovative.)

If we converse about the design process, we enter all our conversations as participants, answerable for our actions. (This is responsible.)

Design = Conversations for Action


If we converse explicitly about goals, we are transparent about frames and values. (To agree on goals is ethical.)

If we converse about the means to achieve those goals, we more fully engage participants and their abilities, improving outcomes. (To agree on means is collaborative.)

If we converse to co-evolve new language, we can escape the limitations of current viewpoints, and create new frames and new possibilities. (To create new language is innovative.)

If we converse about the design process, we enter all our conversations as participants, answerable for our actions. (To design the designing is responsible.)



If we converse explicitly about goals, we are transparent about frames and values. (To agree on goals is ethical.)

If we converse to agree on means to achieve those goals, we more fully engage participants and their abilities, improving outcomes. (To agree on means is collaborative.)

If we converse to co-evolve new language, we can escape the limitations of current viewpoints, and create new frames and new possibilities. (To create new language is innovative.)

If we converse to agree on the design process, we enter all our conversations as participants, answerable for our actions. (To design the designing is responsible.)




Design of

Conversations for Action


Challenges of 21st-Century Design

Energy Global warming Water Food Population Health Equality Social justice



Challenges to 21st-Century Design

to


Simple problems Complex problems “Wicked problems”*

* In the strict sense of Rittel & Webber


Challenges to 21st-Century Design


The goal of second-order design is to facilitate the emergence of conditions in which others can design — to create conditions in which conversations can emerge — and thus to increase the number of choices open to all.

Second-order Design = Design for Conversation



“I shall act always so as to increase the total number of choices.”

— Ethical Imperative, Heinz von Foerster


“If you desire to see, learn how to act.”

— Aesthetic Imperative, Heinz von Foerster


Edith Ackermann



Thank you all.



Paul Pangaro, Ph.D.Chair and Associate Professor MFA Interaction Design Program College for Creative Studies, [email protected]

Special Thanks to: Albert MüllerMarianne ErtlAllenna LeonardHugh DubberlyRanulph GlanvillePooja Upadhyay

See pangaro.com/hvf17/ for slides and references




http://pangaro.com/hvf17/


What is the ratio of information vs. noise for 1 billion daily users on Facebook?

Questions for Heinz #1

As the population increases, what is the consequence of that ratio?

Questions for Heinz #2


Thank you all.


Designing Our World: Cybernetics as Conversation for · PDF fileDesigning Our World: Cybernetics as Conversation for Action ... Claus Pias Wolfgang Pircher | ... Cybernetics as Conversation

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