Some of us use the word monster "Multi-dimensional Situational Awareness: Political Systems, Ecosystems, and Institutional Systems". ⇒ Shared Situation Awareness
They claim the following diagram "offers a way to see 1) relationships among institutions, 2) ecologies affected by institutions, and 3) institutional access to political authorities and influences."
The diagram could be used to map each institution's Network to determine its environmental impact and its access to power and influence at different levels, Marc Pierson said.
digraph G { rankdir=BT fontname="Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif" node [fontname="Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"] edge [fontname="Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"] subgraph cluster_0 { label = "EcoBioPhysical\nWorld"; style=filled; color="#aaf098"; node [style=filled,color=white]; fontsize=18; x ->Homestead [style=invis] Homestead -> Landscape -> Ecosystem -> Watershed -> Bioregion -> "Earth\nGaia"; } y [style=invis] x [style=invis] subgraph cluster_1 { label = "GeoPolitical\nWorld"; style=filled; color="#5ccfec"; node [style=filled,color=white]; fontsize=18; y -> Individual [style=invis] Individual->Household->Neighborhood->Municipality->County->State-> Nation -> "Multinational\nAlliance" -> "United\nNations"; } subgraph cluster_2 { label = "Institutions"; node [style=filled]; fontsize=30; y ->Individual [style=invis]; iMarc->iReLocalize->iLeos->{Neighborhood Homestead} iLeos-> iRegenSonora [color=red] iReLocalize->iUnitedWay iLeos->iSuperior->{Municipality Landscape} iReLocalize->iRegenSonora [color=red] iRegenSonora->{Ecosystem County iUnitedWay}[color=red] iUnitedWay->{County Nation} iLeos->iUnitedWay iRegenSonora [color=red] iChris->{Individual Household Neighborhood iLeos} iKerry->{iReLocalize iSeeTheSystems} iSeeTheSystems->iReLocalize [color=black penwith=7] } }
VARIABLIZED & IMPROVED?
Here they transform the above diagram into a causal loop diagram. From Christopher Alexander, they have chosen "Aliveness" as the variable for the ecological and political worlds.
> It may well be that "aliveness" is the best variable for all the institutions as well.
Of course, it would be up to the different operators of a diagram to variabilize the institutions by asking what effect each institution has on related institutions.
digraph G { rankdir=BT fontname="Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif" node [fontname="Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"] edge [fontname="Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"] subgraph cluster_0 { label = "EcoBioPhysical\nWorld"; style=filled; color="#aaf098"; node [style=filled,color=white]; fontsize=18; x ->AlivenessOfHomestead [style=invis] AlivenessOfHomestead -> AlivenessOfLandscape -> AlivenessOfEcosystem -> AlivenessOfWatershed -> AlivenessOfBioregion -> "AlivenessOfEarth\nGaia"; } y [style=invis] x [style=invis] subgraph cluster_1 { label = "GeoPolitical\nWorld"; style=filled; color="#5ccfec"; node [style=filled,color=white]; fontsize=18; y -> AlivenessOfIndividual [style=invis] AlivenessOfIndividual->AlivenessOfHousehold->AlivenessOfNeighborhood->AlivenessOfMunicipality->AlivenessOfCounty->AlivenessOfState-> AlivenessOfNation -> "AlivenessOfMultinational\nAlliance" -> "AlivenessOfUnited\nNations"; } subgraph cluster_2 { label = "Institutions"; node [style=filled]; fontsize=30; y ->AlivenessOfIndividual [style=invis]; iMarc->iReLocalize->iLeos->{AlivenessOfNeighborhood AlivenessOfHomestead} iLeos-> iRegenSonora[color=red] iReLocalize->iUnitedWay iLeos->iSuperior->{AlivenessOfMunicipality AlivenessOfLandscape} iReLocalize->iRegenSonora->{AlivenessOfEcosystem AlivenessOfCounty iUnitedWay} [color=red] iUnitedWay->{AlivenessOfCounty AlivenessOfNation} iLeos->iUnitedWay iRegenSonora [color=red] iChris->{AlivenessOfIndividual AlivenessOfHousehold AlivenessOfNeighborhood iLeos} iKerry->{iReLocalize iSeeTheSystems} iSeeTheSystems->iReLocalize [color=black penwith=7] } }
digraph G { rankdir=BT fontname="Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif" node [fontname="Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"] edge [fontname="Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"] subgraph cluster_0 { label = "EcoBioPhysical\nWorld"; style=filled; color="#aaf098"; node [style=filled,color=white]; fontsize=18; x ->AlivenessOfHomestead [style=invis] AlivenessOfHomestead -> AlivenessOfLandscape -> AlivenessOfEcosystem -> AlivenessOfWatershed -> AlivenessOfBioregion -> "AlivenessOfEarth\nGaia"; } y [style=invis] x [style=invis] subgraph cluster_1 { label = "GeoPolitical\nWorld"; style=filled; color="#5ccfec"; node [style=filled,color=white]; fontsize=18; y -> AlivenessOfIndividual [style=invis] AlivenessOfIndividual->AlivenessOfHousehold->AlivenessOfNeighborhood->AlivenessOfMunicipality->AlivenessOfCounty->AlivenessOfState-> AlivenessOfNation -> AlivenessOfMultinationalAlliance -> "AlivenessOfUnited\nNations"; } subgraph cluster_2 { label = "Institutions"; node [style=filled]; fontsize=30; y ->AlivenessOfIndividual [style=invis]; iMarc->iReLocalize->iLeos->{AlivenessOfNeighborhood AlivenessOfHomestead} iLeos-> iRegenSonora[color=red] iReLocalize->iUnitedWay iLeos->iSuperior->{AlivenessOfMunicipality AlivenessOfLandscape} iReLocalize->iRegenSonora->{AlivenessOfEcosystem AlivenessOfCounty iUnitedWay} [color=red] iReLocalize->AssetBasedCommunityDev->{AlivenessOfMunicipality AlivenessOfNation AlivenessOfMultinationalAlliance } [color=blue] iUnitedWay->{AlivenessOfCounty AlivenessOfNation} iLeos->iUnitedWay iRegenSonora [color=red] iChris->{AlivenessOfIndividual AlivenessOfHousehold AlivenessOfNeighborhood iLeos} iKerry->{iReLocalize iSeeTheSystems} iSeeTheSystems->iReLocalize [color=black penwith=7] } }
> When this has settled down then: Create a template EcoPol Institutions Template Create a Institution Template
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We have the impression that most of these diagrams are structures that are without information value.
Bielefeld University, for example, is not information; even if you come here every day, you do not always activate new information according to the Pattern: it is still there, and tomorrow you will be surprised again that it is still there.
Bielefeld University is a Structure that has no informational value, that has meaning – after all, you have a certain idea of why you come here – but it does not yield any new information. So you have to distinguish sense or even structural, relative invariants from the surprise effect of information. Second, you have to build the concept of information again like a concept of Form, that is, as a concept with two sides. On the one hand, there is a surprise, but on the other hand, the surprise exists only because one had expected something and because one delimits a range of possibilities within which then the information can say this and not that. If an acquaintance comes with a new car, there is a certain range of Possibilities what kind of car it can be. One will not expect a deck chair when he says he comes with a new car.
Information always presupposes that one possibility is delimited against other possibilities and that within a range of possibilities one or the other is presented as information. Information is a selection from a range of possibilities; if the selection is repeated, it no longer contains information. If one says the same thing over and over again, the meaning remains unchanged, but the information disappears altogether or is limited to the fact that someone apparently sees a point in saying the same thing over and over again, and this is surprising because one normally expects each sentence to be followed by another sentence and not the same one, just as a record can have a groove error and then always repeat itself – but then one would at least have the interpretation of a record error in contrast to the normal functioning of a record.
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Niklas Luhmann, Einführung in die Systemtheorie, hg. von Dirk Baecker, Sozialwissenschaften (Heidelberg: Carl-Auer-Verl, 2002), p. 127–128.