Sunday

Catching up on work

It rained -- heavily - between about 3 PM yesterday and 10 AM today. And when the rain stopped it was still cold and windy. Not like the image of Florida at all! So the day was an opportunity to catch up on work projects:

I finished (well, for now) my paragraph about my individual presentation on "wickedness as a metaphor for indeterminacy" for the EAM-2010 symposium proposal, and in the process started my Endnote bibliography on the topic.

Ulla and I decided we would write on "Fads as a good thing: An ironic perspective on design thinking " (working title) for Subtheme 32 of the EGOS Colloquium in 2010. We've created 200+ words (of the 3000 needed by January 10) and plan to talk tomorrow on the topic.

Both these research projects are interesting because they give me the opportunity to expand on work I have done before. It's been a while since I've worked on my ironic perspective, and even longer since I've been passionate about fads. Need I say that "wicked problems" are right up my alley!

I edited the draft copy on my contract as a Visiting Professor with the University of Gothenburg to reflect "what I want to do" (and by inference to refuse to do what I don't want to do). Ulla and I will discuss it tomorrow, then I'll send it back to Professor Per-Olf Larsson. It will be good to have my appointment finalized.

I even found time to walk on the beach to survey the (natural) debris left by the tide after the storm

(there'll be even more tomorrow) and swim in the pool.

All in all, quite a busy day. But no sign of my earlier blog being reinstated.

Morning ritual

Mornings on Siesta Key begin with a walk on the beach.

Were is everyone?

At least the seagulls are "on station".

The first beach walk of the visit always includes picking up one shell or stone to add to my collection. Today I couldn't resist three -- they will "nest" to meet my limit of one!

People are still fishing at Point O' Rocks

and the enormous "Newport Mansion-like" edifice at the south end of the beach still isn't finished

(see Sabbatical Bog)

The "snake palm" is flourishing,

and there are new "funky flowers" to admire.

Last stop on the walk is Crescent Market to purchase the day's groceries.

Changing beaches, continuing topics

After what seemed like a whole day traveling we arrived at The Anchorage.

First task was to get our internet access up and running

(we were partially successful, as evidenced by this posting ("using the wire").

Then out to Capt'n Curts for our ritual first meal of grouper - one of us always has broiled, the other grilled, and we still can't tell which one is best!

While on the plane I unravelled wicked problems -- but I imagine they will return to being even more wicked when I try to write about them tomorrow. Time will tell .. and so will I!

Thinking wicked

I've been collecting my thoughts -- and citations -- for the symposium proposal that's due on Monday. At first it felt strange to be working on a design-based concept for a management conference, but there's more to "wickedness" than design can solve by itself. I purchased a copy of the two-page editorial by C. West Churchill in a 1967 Management Science that (together with work by Horst Rittel in policy planning) is frequently citied as the source of discussions on wicked problems. I discovered that the citation is vol. 14 issue 4, and not vol. 4 issue 14 that is cited just about everywhere so I wonder how many people have actually read Churchill's piece. Few, judging by the fact that his ideas about the moral context of problem solving don't seem to be discussed. I've been creating mind-maps of various schemes rattling around in my head, trying to make connections that will be an interesting story for the EAM folks. More work to do tomorrow on the plane.

My "skin" for my new laptop arrived by FedEx. The computer is somewhere en route from Shanghai, so I won't have it till next week. And the pouch doesn't fit my current laptop, so it sits idle.

Why this new blog?

The robots of cyberspace decided my blog was spam -- was the content THAT bad? I've requested AND petitioned to have my blog restored, but this process requires humans, and I'm not sure how many of those are still lurking on the net. So, for now, point your browser here to see what's happening in my life.

And please sign up as an official blog follower -- my hunch is that I was targeted as spam because I had no followers. Maybe I don't

AND I'VE JUST NOTICED THE SPELLO IN THE TITLE!