studying System Dynamics

[MOHD IZHAN MOHD YUSOF]

To System Dynamics community,

Im a research officer from a well-known telecommunication company in
Malaysia and am about to embark into System Dynamics as one of my
research activities. Since Im new to System Dynamics, could you suggest
the best way of studying the subject. Ive tried to understand the
papers (proceedings as well as journals) on this subject but to no
avail. The paper(s) skips the most important part that is the equations
involved in building the model and their interaction to one other. Could
you suggest/provide any lecture notes (or literature) on this subject
for beginners like me. By the way, do you by any chance have the contact
number of the "father" of System Dynamics himself, J Way Forrester.
Thank you and hope to hear from you real soon.

Mohd Izhan Mohd Yusoff
(izhan@rnd.tm.com.my)

[Stephen Wehrenberg]

I urge you to peruse the Creative Learning Exchange and Systems Dynamics
in Education sites. The ROADMAPS series is particularly useful in
putting theory into practice, albeit on a rather small scale. You will
be able to reach Jay Forrester by e-mail at this site.

Also, the High Performance Systems site, and that for VENSIM, have lots
of models for download, all of which can expose the underlying
equations. Gene Bellingers site, listed in my page as Modeling and
Simulation, has lots of links, lots of models for dissection.

For links to all these, check out the "Favorite SD Links" page on my
site,

http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~stephenw/

Good luck ...

Steve

--
Stephen B. Wehrenberg, Ph.D.
Chief, Forecasts and Systems, US Coast Guard;
Administrative Sciences Program, The George Washington University;
wstephen@erols.com

[John Holden]

As a relatively new comer myself, I suggest the "Road Maps" series available
from the MIT home page.
http://sysdyn.mit.edu

good luck,
John

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Holden !
holden.24@osu.edu !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[George Richardson]

The best texts for learning the basics are probably the manuals that come
with the STELLA/iThink software or the old Richardson and Pugh text
Introduction to System Dynamics Modeling with DYNAMO, reprinted by
Productivity Press. There are newer texts by Wolstenholme, Ruth, and
Coyle (Wiley, Sage, and Wiley, respectively).

The best statement of the field is still probably Forresters original
Industrial Dynamics (1961), reprinted by Productivity Press. It deserves
reading and rereading.

By the way: Reading stuf in one language and working in another is
actually not bad. Translating great models from one language to another
is really a great way to begin getting good formulation habits.

Great collections of applications and methodological articles are
Roberts, Managerial Applications of System Dynamics (Productivity Press)
and Richardson, Modelling for Management: Simulation in Support of
Systems Thinking (Dartmouth Publishing Co., Aldershot England, and
Brookfield, Vermont, USA).

The System Dynamics Review is a good source of current work.

And this listserve is a great way to find individuals who are doing work
related to your own interests.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
George P. Richardson G.P.Richardson@Albany.edu
Associate professor of public adm., public policy, and info. science
Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy Phone: 518-442-3859
University at Albany - SUNY, Albany, NY 12222 Fax: 518-442-3398
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["QUDRAT ULLAH, HASSAN"]

Dear Yusuf,
Assalamo aliakum, I am M. Phil student in System Dynamics at University
of Bergen, Norway. You can contact Prof Paal Davidsen about the program.
Here is is URL, http://www.ifi.uib.no/staff/paal/. I hope you will get
the needed information via this site. However if you stil need some
information feel free to contact me. I am from Pakistan. I am here till
August 1998.
Allah Hafiz,
Hassan

*******************************************************
QUDRAT ULLAH, HASSAN

Department of Information Sciences
University of Bergen
G-356 FANTOFT STUDENTBY
5036 FANTOFT
NORWAY

TELEPHONE: +47 55 27 6785
FAX: +47 55 58 4107
EMAIL: qudratu@ifi.uib.no
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