QUERY WikiSD, Knowledge and Communication?

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""Gene"" <gene@thefirstdiscip
Junior Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 3:39 am

QUERY WikiSD, Knowledge and Communication?

Post by ""Gene"" <gene@thefirstdiscip »

Posted by ""Gene"" <gene@thefirstdiscipline.org>

Happened to find WikiSD over the holidays and being somewhat depressed by
the lack of content I thought I=92d ask for some input as to the communit=
y's
thoughts on WikiSD.

1. Is it a good idea that should be supported or should it be killed?

2. Why is it that members of the community seem to be contributing very
little to it?

3. What is currently considered to be the # 1 forum for connecting
individuals outside the community with the potential value of systems
thinking and system dynamics?

be well,
Gene Bellinger
gene@thefirstdiscipline.org
Posted by ""Gene"" <gene@thefirstdiscipline.org>
posting date Mon, 5 Jan 2009 03:53:37 -0500

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Paul Holmstr=F6m <ph@holmstro
Junior Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 3:39 am

QUERY WikiSD, Knowledge and Communication?

Post by Paul Holmstr=F6m <ph@holmstro »

Posted by Paul Holmstr=F6m <ph@holmstrom.se>

The idea of having a wiki is most probably good. All experience show that=
it
takes a long time for a wiki to achieve critical mass as to content, afte=
r
which it really takes off.

Initially it is like undertaking to eat an elephant, the idea is simply
overwhelming. There is such a lot, where should I start? It could also be
that many feel the pressure of the academic side of the community - it ha=
s
to be completely correct from the beginning.

Wikis are collaborative efforts, where everybody pitches in, contributing
and editing. It takes time to get used to this entirely different way of
publishing, where no single person actually takes or gets any credit.

We also need to learn how to write and edit a wiki, maybe a suitable
workshop topic for our next conference?

If the wiki hasn't taken off in two years time, then let's kill it.

Regards
Paul Holmstrom
Posted by Paul Holmstr=F6m <ph@holmstrom.se>
posting date Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:28:56 +0100

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""Geoff McDonnell"" <gmcdonne
Junior Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 3:39 am

QUERY WikiSD, Knowledge and Communication?

Post by ""Geoff McDonnell"" <gmcdonne »

Posted by ""Geoff McDonnell"" <gmcdonne@bigpond.net.au>

It would useful if the main SD website at http://www.systemdynamics.org/
mentioned the WikiSD and had a link to it.

regards
Geoff McDonnell
Posted by ""Geoff McDonnell"" <gmcdonne@bigpond.net.au>
posting date Wed, 7 Jan 2009 08:19:02 +1100
_______________________________________________
<ralf_lippold@web.de>
Junior Member
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 3:39 am

QUERY WikiSD, Knowledge and Communication?

Post by <ralf_lippold@web.de> »

Posted by <ralf_lippold@web.de>

Dear all,

Hi All,

The newest SDR has an interesting article that covers exactly the WikiSD issue
and I wonder why we don't take it into action.

""Dynamic perspectives on social characteristics and sustainability in online
community networks""
Peter Otto and Martin Simon

.discussion:

""...Online social networks are an important architecture for the distribution
and
sharing of knowledge and show promise to become an important medium for resource
sharing in different domains. However, in spite of their potential importance,
there has been little empirical research into the impact of user behavior and
the
dynamic nature of their operation.

..The grid/group framework may also help in developing an understanding of how
policy internventions affect the social dimension of the network, ....

..lowering group commitment results in losing people who look for hierarchy and
group commitment, while gaining people with a high degree of
self-responsibility...""

It is really worthwhile and I would strongly propose to learn from the
underlying
SD simulation model. I am going to ask Peter and Martin to provide us with the
code.

.................

Perhaps now in the time great and global (not only climate change;-)) financial
and economic turmoil there is even a stronger pull towards collaborative
learning and acting than ever before..

Of course we can stick to our comfortable turfs, from where we get our income
(presently) and our prestige. Will that lead us out of the crisis (not only the
larger one we perceive all around us), but also out of the still discussed
""crisis"" bringing system dynamics into the ""real world""?

The WikiSD, which Bob thankfully has set up a while ago, is -in my eyes- a good
grassroots entry point to the field.

Admitting my gadget loving passion (especially in social media), I see the
WikiSD
as several channels of communication to spread the word.

Recently someone on Twitter thanked me about posting it and the deep insights
she
already has gained. She also found Jay's terrific ""Road Maps"" and is
selfstudying
it:-).

Isn't that what we looking for?

Not expecting anything you will be surprised what is comint to you:-)

Cheers and happy to see kick-starting conversation again)

Ralf

PS.: Actually there is some interest on how Twitter has reached such signifiance
- who would like to join in in some action research?

Posted by <ralf_lippold@web.de>
posting date Tue, 6 Jan 2009 15:40:00 +0100
_______________________________________________
<richard.dudley@attglobal.net
Member
Posts: 26
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 3:39 am

QUERY WikiSD, Knowledge and Communication?

Post by <richard.dudley@attglobal.net »

Posted by <richard.dudley@attglobal.net>

I assume you are referring to the pages starting at:

http://systemdynamics.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

I believe that the reasons this wiki is under-used are:

1. In spite of their proponents, wikis are not that easy to edit and
contribute to...

2. Potential contributors may not have the time to learn a new approach.

3. This site is very hard to find, and its use hasn't been promoted.
For example, I didn't see it under 'resources' on the SDS pages
(although it may be there somewhere).

3. This is a fairly new effort.

==> I suggest that we give it more time and exposure and see how things
develop.

The same is true for the SD Model Wiki at:
http://modelwiki.metasd.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

Richard
Posted by <richard.dudley@attglobal.net>
posting date Tue, 6 Jan 2009 11:35:43 -0800
_______________________________________________
Bill Harris <bill_harris@faci
Senior Member
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 3:39 am

QUERY WikiSD, Knowledge and Communication?

Post by Bill Harris <bill_harris@faci »

Posted by Bill Harris <bill_harris@facilitatedsystems.com>

""SDMAIL ralf_lippold"" <ralf_lippold@web.de> writes:

> > The WikiSD, which Bob thankfully has set up a while ago, is -in my
> > eyes- a good grassroots entry point to the field.

I wonder if IP concerns are part of the issue. While sharing a model
may mean giving away something that could have value to us as
individuals, it is also something we and others tend to do for a number
of reasons. For an example, look at the ""Design Ideas"" type columns in
electrical engineering magazines (of course, you may stand a chance to
win a small bit of money in those cases). It's easier to test a small
circuit than it is to test an SD model, though, for the environment in
which our SD models sit is usually much messier. That added cost could
reduce the incentive to contribute good models.

I wonder, too, if licensing is an issue that should be discussed. While
I know and participate in some fora in which programs are shared with no
license discussion, many (most?) open source software (and models are
software) solutions have explicit licenses. The GPLv3
(http://gplv3.fsf.org/) is perhaps the canonical open source license,
but there are others (http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/index_html).

Thinking about the purpose of the Wiki and its models, it would seem
that those models would best be in the category of free
(http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) and copylefted
(http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/copyleft.html).

Whether they are licensed under the GPLv3 (or v2) or not may be of less
importance, _except_ that

- writing one's own license can encounter sticky legal issues

- a user who notes that a certain piece of software is GPL'd can quickly
and knowledgeably accept or reject the license (and the use of the
software); a user who sees a different EULA may have to study the
words or accept or reject the license in ignorance.

Picking any open source license is a matter that requires a bit of
thought, as even the GPL has restrictions. I'd like that selection,
though, for the simulator I often use is GPL'd, as well.

Just a few thoughts.

Bill
Posted by Bill Harris <bill_harris@facilitatedsystems.com>
posting date Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:39:39 -0800
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