Ryan Murphy

Open Social Mapping is an emerging paradigm for stakeholder engagement in systemic design projects. It combines actor mapping, network modelling and analysis, customer relationship management systems, and crowdsourcing in a method that allows stakeholders to map themselves within a system. Based on observations of some early examples of this tool and two case studies led by the authors, we describe some of the opportunities and challenges of Open Social Mapping. Open Social Maps re-center the stakeholder in the systemic design process, helping designers make data- driven decisions with real-time data while decentralizing systemic design by facilitating stakeholder access and agency to the design process. However, we must address issues of data collection and maintenance, privacy, power and privilege, bad actors, interoperability, and information quality for this tool to become mainstream

Education reform presents an opportunity to improve innovation education and, in turn, advance innovation capacity. I synthesize the framing and strategy of resources from provincial, national, international, and theoretical perspectives on innovation in order to develop a holistic model of innovation and a curricula for innovation education. Then, I use systemic design to model Newfoundland and Labrador’s current education system and to suggest strategies for reform to enable improvement in Newfoundland and Labrador’s innovation education. Finally, I explore how systemic reform in Newfoundland and Labrador may serve as a systems laboratory for reform efforts in other jurisdictions

An under-emphasized but crucial variable of success in systemic design is the perspective through which a problem system is understood and from which interventions are conceptualized and implemented. While rooted in design (a consciously empathetic discipline; cf. Kimbell, 2011), it is easy for systemic designers to use research practices that may fail to capture and use the perspectives of their stakeholders. ftese approaches risk misrepresenting the stakeholders who contribute to projects and, in turn, they are a danger to the potential impact of these mis-researched problem systems. In this research, I propose an assessment framework to check whether a project effectively deploys research tools and processes that strengthen stakeholders’ perspectives, and I provide a proof of concept of this framework in use through hermeneutic case study analysis. Systemic design processes that are not executed with the direct and explicit engagement of stakeholders—to the extent of achieving an...

A key component of many systemic design processes is the development and analysis of systems models that represent the issue(s) at hand. A system is a collection of interdependent social, technological, and environmental phenomena. Models of systems often take the form of Causal Loop Diagrams (CLDs—sometimes referred to as influence diagrams) in which phenomena are graphed as nodes with connections between them indicating an influencing relationship. These visual modelling techniques provide systemic designers with a mechanism for stakeholder collaboration, problem finding, and generative insight (i.e., sticky note ideation makes everyone feel heard, appears democratic, and often results in emergent themes and ideas). These functions are valorized in design thinking, and they provide real value in garnering momentum and achieving common mental models in complex problems. They give systemic designers powerful resources for use in visual argument. However, while we believe these tools...

Many systemic design processes include the development and analysis of systems models that represent the issue(s) at hand. In causal loop diagram models, phenomena are graphed as nodes, with connections between them indicating a control relationship. Such models provide mechanisms for stakeholder collaboration, problem finding and generative insight and are powerful . These functions are valued in design thinking, but the potential of these models may yet be unfulfilled. We introduce the notion of “leverage measures” to systemic design, adapting techniques from social network analysis and systems dynamics to uncover key structures, relationships and latent leverage positions of modelled phenomena. We demonstrate their utility in a pilot study. By rethinking the logics of leverage, we make better arguments for change and find the place from which to move the world.

Education reform presents an opportunity to improve innovation education and, in turn, advance innovation capacity. I synthesize the framing and strategy of resources from provincial, national, international, and theoretical perspectives on innovation in order to develop a holistic model of innovation and a curricula for innovation education. Then, I use systemic design to model Newfoundland and Labrador’s current education system and to suggest strategies for reform to enable improvement in Newfoundland and Labrador’s innovation education. Finally, I explore how systemic reform in Newfoundland and Labrador may serve as a systems laboratory for reform efforts in other jurisdictions.