Pask’s great contribution to cybernetics is to take seriously the notion of interaction in the circular processes that lie at the heart of the subject. From his earliest days he…
Abstract
Pask’s great contribution to cybernetics is to take seriously the notion of interaction in the circular processes that lie at the heart of the subject. From his earliest days he worked with interactive systems. His master work, conversation theory, epitomises the interactive system, which he then extended and generalised into the interaction of actors theory. In this paper, the requirements that conversation places on our understanding of participants is presented in the form of a specification. In particular, the ways of behaving and the assumptions under which we have to behave if we are to be able to converse with success are expounded. These are in great contrast to neo‐Darwinian assumptions. The difference between communication by code and communication by conversation is explored, and the primacy of conversational communication is argued. Finally, it is claimed that the ways of behaving and the assumptions that are the requirements for a conversation to take place are presented as personal qualities that were particularly apparent in Pask himself.
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While working with clients in the last years of his life, Gordon Pask produced an axiomatic scheme for his Interactions of Actors Theory which is a development of his well known…
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While working with clients in the last years of his life, Gordon Pask produced an axiomatic scheme for his Interactions of Actors Theory which is a development of his well known Conversation Theory. These axioms are interpretable as a general theory of self‐organisation and are discussed as characteristic of field concurrence and as part of the second‐order cybernetics canon. An application to population density is reported supported by both kinematic and kinetic simulation. Implications for cardiovascular anti‐coagulation therapy and planetary evolution are discussed.
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This is a short tribute statement about that extraordinary man, Gordon Pask, and his stimulating influence on architecture.
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This is a short tribute statement about that extraordinary man, Gordon Pask, and his stimulating influence on architecture.
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Gordon Pask worked with the author at the Open University and became his friend as well as colleague. Here are some recollections.
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Gordon Pask worked with the author at the Open University and became his friend as well as colleague. Here are some recollections.
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The author worked with Gordon for many years in the early days of System Research Ltd and before and knew him later at Brunel University and the Cybernetics Society. Here are some…
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The author worked with Gordon for many years in the early days of System Research Ltd and before and knew him later at Brunel University and the Cybernetics Society. Here are some memories.
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The following is an annotated list of materials dealing with orientation to library facilities and services, instruction in the use of information resources, and research and…
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The following is an annotated list of materials dealing with orientation to library facilities and services, instruction in the use of information resources, and research and computer skills related to retrieving, using, and evaluating information. This review, the sixteenth to be published in Reference Services Review, includes items in English published in 1989. A few are not annotated because the compiler could not obtain copies of them for this review.