BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

SYSTEM (Relevant)

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A human activity system whose modeling is considered necessary by a manager or an observer" (Adapted from R. RODRIGUEZ ULLOA, 1994)

The crux of the issue is in the word "relevant"!

From one side, there may be different views about what are the relevant characteristics of the system. Managers for ex., in many cases consider relevant only those features that are determinant from an economic viewpoint. A union leader or a sociologist may have a different interest.

As to the modelizer, relevance is frequently a matter of selecting variables that have a real influence on the system's behavior (and at which time horizon). His views are not necessarily shared with the "owner(s)" of the problem and it may be difficult to convince them. They may even not be shared among modelizer's themselves!

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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