During our weeklong annual ISSS conference, we have been convening the ISSS RoundTable for a dozen years now. The RoundTable sessions are held for an hour every morning, Monday through Friday, right before the morning plenaries. Join us every day, or whenever you like.

Our unique format is an eye-opening new practice in democracy. We spend 5 minutes listening to short readings and the suggested topic. We then spend 55 minutes on individual reflections or learning reports, time distributed equally among all present (e.g. 27 people = about 2 minutes each). Each morning, the session is facilitated by a different volunteering facilitator selected from those in attendance.

The facilitator of the day suggests a topic of his or her choosing. In the past, our suggested topic for the first morning has been: “What situations and projects did you leave behind to come here, and what could happen here that would be valuable to you in your work and life back home?” On the second through fifth mornings, a suggested second or default topic is: “What did you experience yesterday that was interesting or important learning for you? In what way was it interesting or important?”

Folk wisdom and compelling research indicate that participants experience surprising benefits from this activity after about four sessions. Our experience with this format has resulted in the following theory: Just as we break the sound barrier when we travel faster than the speed of sound, we break the communication barrier when we hear 25 authentic viewpoints in 50 minutes.

We look forward to seeing you there!
SIG Chair: Sue Gabriele
sgabriele (at) gemslearning.com

Origin and Purpose of the ISSS

The International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) is among the first and oldest organizations devoted to interdisciplinary inquiry into the nature of complex systems, and remains perhaps the most broadly inclusive. The Society was initially conceived in 1954 at the Stanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences by Ludwig von Bertalanffy, Kenneth Boulding, Ralph Gerard, and Anatol Rapoport. In collaboration with James Grier Miller, it was formally established as an affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1956. Originally founded as the Society for General Systems Research, the society adopted its current name in 1988 to reflect its broadening scope.

The initial purpose of the society was "to encourage the development of theoretical systems which are applicable to more than one of the traditional departments of knowledge," with the following principal aims:

• to investigate the isomorphy of concepts, laws, and models in various fields, and to help in useful transfers from one field to another;
• to encourage the development of adequate theoretical models in areas which lack them;
• to eliminate the duplication of theoretical efforts in different fields; and
• to promote the unity of science through improving the communication among specialists.

In the intervening years, the ISSS has expanded its scope beyond purely theoretical and technical considerations to include the practical application of systems methodologies to problem solving. Even more importantly, it has provided a forum where scholars and practitioners from across the disciplinary spectrum, representing academic, business, government, and non-profit communities, can come together to share ideas and learn from one another. Please contact us for further information.

If you're new to the ISSS, you can read about is origins and purposes on the About the ISSS page.

ISSS World is now the main content platform for the society. There are now only two userid/passwords for the society: one for ISSS World (that also works on ProjectsISSS), and one for JournalsISSS (our on-line conference proceedings for the annual meeting).

The old web site is available temporarily at http://isss.org/index-old.html.

The ISSS World web site is one of the places where members convene, but it doesn't have to be the only place!

For those who use Facebook, you can follow this link to the Systems Science group, or just search for "Systems Science" and add yourself.

We'll be less formal over there, for anyone who wants to leave exchange ideas or have discussions.  This is an experiment in alternative forms of communication, for anyone that wants to try it out.

The ISSS logo, derived from the integral sign originally used by the founders of our society, illustrates the society's primary interest in integration and synthesis and can be used to demonstrate these principles. This version of the logo, adopted by ISSS in 1997, was designed by Thomas M. Mandel, the founding webmaster of ISSS.org.