International Federation for Systems Research

IFSR Newsletter 1996 Vol. 15 No. 3 October
Members of the Systems Societies of IFSR are invited to participate in the 1998 Fuschl Conversation of the Federation, scheduled Sunday, April 19 (evening) to Friday, April 24 (noon) 1998 at the Hotel Seewinkel at Fuschl am See, Austria (20 km from Salzburg).

The Conversation is organized in research teams, working on the following topics:
• The Future Agenda of Life long Learning
  Initial triggering question: What is our vision of and what is our design of systems of learning and human development which focus on living a creative life and perform life long learning?

• Designing Sustainable Co-evolutionary Learning Communities
  Initial triggering questions: What learning systems would create sustainable co-evolutionary learning communities? How can we design such systems?

• The Design of Collaborative/Integrated Community Service Systems
  Initial triggering question: What kind of system has to be designed and operating in order to integrate and support human development and social service systems and enrich the quality of life of individuals, families and our communities.

• The Systemic Design of Information Systems
  Initial triggering questions: Is information science ready for the information age? What are the guiding principles for the design of societal information systems.

The description of the topics and the composition of Research Teams will be announced April 1987. The work of the teams is accomplished in three phases:
PHASE ONE: PREPARATION.

1. participants explore their selected topic and prepare a “think paper” that: (a) specifies their interest and previous work on the topic, (b) states their key ideas about the topic, (c) identifies topic relevant knowledge sources.
2. Participants mail their papers (with attachments) to members of their research team by the end of October.
3. The team coordinator, who is identified in the Spring 1987 memorandum, develops a first draft of the “theme,” based on a synthesis of the “think papers.”
4. The coordinator mails out the draft to team members by the end of 1997, asking for comments and modifications.
5. Team members return their comments to the coordinator by the end of January 1997.
6. The coordinator develops a second draft, which is again mailed out to team members.
7. Participants are asked to take advantage of the preparation phase and explore relevant knowledge bases and come to the Conversation with a rich set of core ideas.
   The success of the program greatly depends upon appropriate preparation as well as on the generation of a substantial knowledge base.

PHASE TWO: THE CONVERSATION (in Fuschl).
At the onset of the Conversation the teams review their agenda and develop triggering questions that guide the Conversation. At the end of each day, research teams report on their progress. On Friday the teams present their comprehensive findings. The same time, we collect from participants a first draft of their evaluation.
PHASE THREE: FOLLOW-UP.
Three tasks are scheduled:

1. Develop the proceedings of the Conversation, which presents the final report of the research teams. This report is a collective product of the teams.
2. Submit individual scholarly papers prepared by participants based on their work on their topic. The papers will be published as a compendium or as edited issues of Systems Research and possibly Systems Practice.
3. Participants submit their final evaluation and recommendation reports.

Authors of accepted input papers will be invited to this Conversation. IFSR sponsors the attendence at the Conversation. Spouses are invited at their own cost.
For details and suggestions of other topics contact Bela H. Banathy before Feb. 1997:
Bela H. Banathy 25781 Morse Drive, Carmel,
CA 93923 USA. E-mail: bhbanathy@aol.com