This site's lead simulation, the Vortex Simulation, is
based on complexity theory and its applicability to
business.
This site is the work of a University of Pittsburgh doctoral
candidate. It contains a host of references,
papers on business applications, and links to other web sites.
This site reports on a research project funded by the
Department of Defense that demonstrates the use of
agents for factory scheduling and simulation. The vision that participants are working toward is a self-
configuring manufacturing complex in which agents representing various manufacturing capabilities (e.g.,
people, machines, parts) buy and sell commitments with each other over a network (e.g., the Internet),
the
result being the creation of a manufacturing enterprise whose performance and functionality supersede
that
of current centrally controlled manufacturing systems.
This is the web site of Bionomics, a non-profit educational
organization devoted to helping people to
understand the economy as a complex adaptive system. Resources from this institution's journal,
conferences, and the writings of its founder, Michael Rothchild, are contained here.
Was founded in 1985 by Dr. Scott Kelso when he assumed
the University's Chair in Science.
Multidisciplinary since its inception, the Center involves the cooperative efforts of neuroscientists,
psychologists, mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, and engineers. The overarching objective
of the Center is to understand the mechanisms and principles underlying complex behavior on all levels,
from molecules and cells to whole brain functioning. From 1989 the Center has housed the National Institute
of Mental Health's (NIMH) National Training Program in Complex Systems and Brain Sciences which
provides fellowship support for graduate students and postdoctoral research and training.
This site is an ongoing resource for anyone interested
in Chaos science and things fractal. This site is
sponsored by Images of Chaos, an Artwork for Television and Industrial Street Productions as a service
to
the Chaos community. The site includes a wide array of general complexity and chaos offerings, from
bibliographies to pictorial representations of the Mandelbrot set, to general educational offerings
on chaos
and complexity.
This is the site of a non-profit organization, CALResCo,
dedicated to promoting understanding of complex
system sciences. It is full of useful information including a glossary, images, tutorials, introductions
to
related topics (i.e. genetic algorithms, self-organizing systems, artificial life, nonlinear science),
links to other
sites and papers. The welcome page contains this warning: "Take care - this site is conceptually
demanding, once bitten you may never be quite the same again."
The Complexity and Organisational Learning Research Programme
at the London School of Economics, UK,
focuses on organizations as complex social systems. The program works with industrial and academic
partners on several research projects, runs seminars for the business community and study groups for
academics.
This is the archive of an e-mail based discussion group
for people who are interested in topics of
complexity science, management, sensemaking and the relations among them. There is a link on this page
to
join the dialogue.
This Australian site includes many good online resources
including an academic journal and interactive
services like fractal analysis.
This is a site maintained by Kevin Dooley. It includes
a number of references to the area of quality
management and assurance. A strong set of links and nice section on creativity are also included. Kevin
is
a member of the faculty supporting the VHA Complexity Science Leadership Network.
Emergence publishes articles of a qualitative nature
relating complex systems, sensemaking, psychology,
philosophy, semiotics, and cognitive science to the management of organizations both public and private.
The readers of Emergence are managers, academics, consultants,
and others interested in the possibility of
applying the insights of the science of complex systems to day-to-day management and leadership
problems.
This award-winning Web site presents a comprehensive
examination of evolution and animal behavior.
Special features include a message board, foraging simulation, Web classroom, book reviews, biographies
and interesting links.
This Web site offers keynote presentations, seminars,
workshops and consulting services by Gareth
Morgan, author of Images of Organization, Riding the Waves of Change, Creative Organization Theory,
and
Imaginization: The Art of Creative Management. Gareth is a highly respected organizational researcher
and
teacher from York University, Toronto Canada and is a member of the VHA Complexity Science Leadership
Network Faculty.
Mr. Lissack is currently pursuing a doctorate in business
administration from Henley Management College
in the United Kingdom. His doctoral dissertation is on the use of complexity theory metaphors in the
management of knowledge related businesses such as the Internet. A number of papers on the implications
of complexity for knowledge development and management are found on this site.
Discusses how the New Sciences are beginning to revolutionize
our understanding of social phenomena.
The sciences of Complex Adaptives, Complexity, Self-organization, Chaos and Fractals are shedding light
on and helping us confront problems and challenges facing organizations, management and individuals
as
we enter the Knowledge Era. The New Sciences are helping us create organizations that will be more
sustainable in a turbulent world of increasing complexity and uncertainty.
NECSI was established as a joint effort of faculty of
New England academic institutions for the
advancement of communication and collaboration outside of institutional and departmental boundaries.
It is
an independent educational and research institution dedicated to advancing the study of complex systems.
They also offer a web guide to complex systems, at
http://necsi.org/guide/
, that provides an introduction to
complex systems thinking and its applications, originating from efforts to understand physicial, biological
and social systems. It explains basic concepts and describes a variety of examples and applications,
including health care.
This website contains Tom's Complexity Reading List,
a link to The Petzinger Report ("An irregular and
irreverant free newsletter on economics, entrepreneurs, and management"), and a wonderful "cache"
of the
day. Tom's essay on the collapse of the mechanical metaphor and information on his latest book, The
New
Pioneers, are also posted here.
Physionet is a public service of the Research Resource
for Complex Physiologic Signals, funded by the
National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health. It offers free access via
the
web to large collections of recorded physiologic signals and related open-source software.
This is the only laboratory in the world devoted to exploring
complex, nonlinear behavior in human
physiological systems. It is led by Ary Goldberger, M.D., a cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical
Center and Havard Medical School who has devoted his career to seeking to new understandings of the
nonlinear mechanisms and patterns of health and disease.
In 1986 Craig Reynolds created a computer model of coordinated
animal motion such a bird flocks and fish
schools. He called the software boids. This simulation has become well-known in complexity for its graphic
illustration of the principle that complex behavior emerges from simple rules. Boids is an example of
individual-based model, a class of simulation used to capture the global behavior of la large number
of
interacting autonomous agents.
This is the site maintained by The Santa Fe Institute,
the acknowledged center of the science of complexity.
You can access the scientific work, educational offerings, and background on SFI, its faculty and Business
Network.
This site offers educational material, information on
Society and other conferences, membership details, and
links to other sites. The Society has wide interest in complexity, nonlinear dynamics, self- organization,
chaos theory and has membership from many disciplines, including management, biology, psychology,
philosophy.
This web site by Clint Sprott includes many great references
and resources to support complexity work. Be
sure to check-out Popular Lectures by J. C. Sprott, which includes a PowerPoint presentation which was
delivered to the VHA Leadership Network at its gathering on December 3, 1997.
1. Thoughts
