Wanted: A Living System Blueprint
December 15, 2011 Leave a commentI have previously written in this space about a state-wide early childhood system change effort in Connecticut, for which my colleague Melinda Weekes and I are currently serving as the lead process designers and facilitators. For the past year, we have been engaged in a robust and somewhat emergent process of exploring some of the underlying systemic dynamics surrounding early childhood development and care in the state, and beginning to re-imagine that system, in all of its complexity as it holds the vision of nurturing whole children, from informal to formal elements, from grassroots to grasstops.
At this point, we are poised to think more deeply about what it would mean to create a “blueprint” for that system, acknowledging that this blueprint could never cover every component and dynamic in the system, nor would we want it to be static. Rather, the hope is to create something that is alive, of a transmedia nature, certainly has some existence on-line, is accessible to all stakeholders and with which they can actively engage over time, both feeding into and tracking the evolution of the system over time. Think interactive dashboard, think multi-media interface, think beautiful graphics and simple elegance.
So we are in investigation mode about possible formats for this and are very much interested in any ideas you have! PLEASE CHIME IN.
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This framework from Reliable Prosperity, which could be called “a pattern language for sustainability” might be a model to give you ideas:
http://www.reliableprosperity.net/
What is missing in the graphic is the relationships and flows among all of the elements.
Thanks, Beth. Yes, having the flows is key, and also an interactive component for people to give input and provide “current state” data about those different components. That’s where some kind of multi-media, collaborative dashboard comes to mind.