Maelstrom: Martin's Musings

Over 10 years!

It was 10 years this month when I successfully defended my Ph.D. dissertation. Wow, I remember almost killing myself about 1/2 hour later. I defended the thesis in Hull (UK (Univeristy of Linconshire and Humberside)) (which later became the University of Lincolnshire).  I and another woman were doing our defence (defense ;-)) at the same time. We were to meet with the others at a pub across the street. I looked the wrong way (for England) as I started to cross the street and nearly got smacked by a car coming the other way. Talk about getting your nerves going again!

Tags: systems thinking, values, sysval, education, dissertation

Powered by Qumana

The 'God' Particle

At the risk of offending the people, I find this article from the Guardian (or maybe more accurately the title) intriguing even though it does not really look at the issue of a 'God' particle, per se. But the idea of trying to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang, and seeing it as a search for a 'God' particle is thought provoking.

I have been seeing some interviews, articles, etc. from physicists that wonder/hope that it will reconcile some faith issue for themselves (and possibly for others). Not that science can help explain faith so much as where science leaves off and faith begins (that does not do justice to thinking but hopefully you get the idea).

Something or somebody had to get the whole thing (Big Bang) rolling....

Tags: faith, religion, big bang, God, science, physics

microid: 71ae78d92715b826841626209df2a5ee3869433e

God don't Blog!

Apparently, according to some it is not Christian to blog. But this is not a case of practicing what you preach!

Tags: religion, blogs, preach, christian

In the Beginning...

It seems looking into the past can give us some perspective on the future. I guess I might be writing this more for myself than for others. Anyway,  might as well get some of the facts and figures out of the way. Born in London, Ontario, Canada, November 4, 1963 (6 weeks premature) to British parents (dad: English, mom: Welsh). Age: 42 (now, not then). Nearly did not make it, etc.

With parents and younger sister in the Anglican mission field (Father was/is ordained Anglican/Episcopal Priest) in Mexico and Central America until about 4 years old. Came to the US (Los Angeles), moved to Indiana (God only knows why).  Lived in Indiana from about 6 years old to 15 years old. Moved quite a bit until I was in my 20s. Moved to Santa Clara while in high school. I have been in SF Bay Area ever since (Santa Clara, San Jose, and then Napa, CA since 2001).

When we moved to Santa Clara, I ended up going to all boy Bellarmine Prep (High School) in San Jose from 10th to 12th grade (1982). I went to Santa Clara University (where my father taught) -- While I was not very thrilled with Bellarmine, both Bellarmine and SCU were outstanding Jesuit schools. While I started at SCU to get a Computer Science degree, I ended up getting a BA in History degree with a lot of computer science courses (1986). After a few years, I ended up going to San Jose State University (1988) for my MS in Cybernetic Systems (1992) (ironically from the Anthropology and Cybernetic Systems department). About  2 years later, I started a Ph.D. at University of Hull in the UK while living in Napa. In retrospect, maybe not the brightest thing I ever did. I defended in November of 1997, and graduated February of 1998 from the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside. Lincoln School of Management for short. My PhD was essentially in Systems Thinking and Human Values.

I got married in September of 1986 (for an update on this, see here). Worked in the tech industry in various roles for a long while (largely until I started on the PhD). Some of the places were: Olivetti ATC, Sun Microsystems, Frame Technology, Verity, Autodesk, IDG (technology writer). I was also starting to do a little OD (organizational development) and that eventually led to me doing the doctorate. My father is an expert in human values, and I worked with him at various times over the years. In 1994, we started Values Technology which has been seriously up and down over the last twelve years (I am not currently working for VT). Since I was technology savvy, and a growing expert in the area of values, I consulted and also steered the technology development. When I was not working on the technology I designed large scale interventions for values-based OD. The last time I left I was considered chief architect (bridging technology and values). I still advise my dad and company. Other than this stuff, I have taught at the post graduate level -- mostly in the area of leadership development.

Systems thinking and values, two areas, that other than history and technology, have fascinated me. I might add document analysis, but that really is an offshoot of the others. Since high school I had been fascinated by the ways in which values and meaning could be pulled from documents. Metaxio is a current attempt to make this more accessible to others.

In 1999 and 2001, my wife and I had a boy and twin girls -- as with most fathers, they are my pride and joy.

Well, that is probably enough for this entry. It sets up the entries to follow ;-). I am hoping there is a point to all of this!

Tags: martin, doc, docmartin, life, values, systems, systems thinking, history, tech, technology

Values and Politics

I guess the "discussion" on family values was a key lightning rod from many years ago that got people thinking about values and politics. Of course, it was much earlier than that when this has been brought up. For example, Aristotle talks about areas of excellence that the Citizen, or member of the city-state should have to be a model individual in society. In the sense of family values thinking, this was also restricting of the group being focused on. A Citizen was basically an adult male of a certain level of means and breeding.

"Family values" suggests that there is basically one set of values that should be the model for all families which is a kind of ludicrous notion. However, there was/is a segment of the population for which this resonated.

But it does highlight a couple of key themes in politics, the need to communicate ideas and concepts in a manner that is best understood by the constituency you want to reach. This would include modifying your language to heighten the receptance of the message with the chosen audience.

Language is one way we express our values (family or otherwise). By understanding the language or culture of a target group, one can modify the message to best connect with that group.

Rather than sending out a mass mailing, you can send less mailings but based on targetted language to target groups that are congruent with that language. Somthing akin to laser sighting for the mailings.



Technorati Tags: politics, values, language

Ujiko

I have been trying out this search engine from the guys that did Kartoo. This new one (or one could argue that it morphed) is called Ujiko. I find it great for doing research on a subject (like leadership!) it is clever in the way that it presents information. It is not so much a search engine as an interface. Worth a look.