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S U M M A R Y


DIARY: February 27, 1996 07:02 AM Tuesday; Rod Welch

Received response from Peter Senge at MIT re course on Comm Metrics.

1...Summary/Objective
2...Time Not Enough to Advance Civilization Building Shared Meaning
3...Communication Metrics


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CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
Communiction Metrics Course Proposal Submitted to Peter Senge at MIT

1203 -
1203 -    ..
1204 - Summary/Objective
1205 -
120501 - Follow up ref SDS 6 0000, ref SDS 3 0000.
120502 -
120503 -
120504 -
120505 -
120507 -  ..
1206 -
1207 -
1208 - Progress
1209 -
120901 - Time Not Enough to Advance Civilization Building Shared Meaning
120902 -
120903 - Jean MacDonald called today following up the call on 960206,
120904 - ref SDS 6 FW4I  Peter Senge asked Jean to follow up on the letter sent
120905 - later that day to MIT. ref SDS 6 X24K
120907 -  ..
120908 - Jean indicated that Peter does not have time to make detailed
120909 - recommendations from MIT's reading list, per my letter at ref DIP 4
120910 - 0001 submitting the analysis on 960206. ref SDS 6 MT7F.  She said
120911 - Peter recommends Mitch Saunders and Bill Issaccs as people who might
120912 - be interested in Communication Metrics to advance Peter's goals for
120913 - organizational learning.
120915 -  ..
120916 - We reviewed efforts to contact with Mitch Saunders, as shown in the
120917 - record submitted to Peter on 960626, ref SDS 6 BK7O, and more recently
120918 - on 960221. ref SDS 8 0001 68.  Since Mitch is evidently a colleague of
120919 - Bill Issaccs, also, shown on 960226, ref SDS 6 BK7O, that contact will
120920 - occur through Mitch.
120921 -
120923 -  ..
120924 - Communication Metrics
120925 -
120926 - Jean said that understandings in the record on 960206 incorrectly show
120927 - that Peter Senge would not be interested in learning how Communication
120928 - Metrics accomplishes organizational learning, and continual learning
120929 - supported by the Center for Learning Organization. ref SDS 6 MT7F
120931 -  ..
120932 - She asked how this mistake occurred?
120934 -  ..
120935 - Jean may have misstated something.  What was said, though correct, may
120936 - have been incorrectly associated with something already known by the
120937 - listener, leading to incorrect understanding from filling in the gaps,
120938 - noted by Campbell, reviewed on 900303. ref SDS 1 4456
120940 -         ..
120941 -        [On 990329 Stephen Pinker, also, with MIT writes in his book
120942 -        "Now the Mind Works" that mistakes are a "feature" not a bug of
120943 -        human cognition. ref SDS 10 3196
120945 -  ..
120946 - "Continual learning" is a dimension of organizational learning
120947 - advocated by Senge, and flows from a practice of traceability to
120948 - original sources embodied in Communication Metrics.  This practice
120949 - requires writing out understandings in order to build and shape
120950 - connections of cause and effect, i.e., grow new knowledge.  Writing is
120951 - a window for discovering how the mind sees the world and what
120952 - connections it has made, including mistakes, which Jean cites today,
120953 - per above. ref SDS 0 9889  When interacting with others on matters
120954 - that may effect future conduct, Communication Metrics feedback
120955 - practice gives people an early opportunity to see what others drew
120956 - from communication, i.e., what was said, that may not have been
120957 - intended, as explained in POIMS. ref OF 1 2200  Feedback enables
120958 - continual refinement of accuracy to correct misunderstanding in
120959 - knowledge.  Without timely feedback to adjust course, people take
120960 - erroneous action that causes pain, suffering, conflict, crisis, and
120961 - calamity; see for example, analysis of Tom Landauer's outline for
120962 - Asilomar on 960226. ref SDS 9 UWXX
120963 -
120964 -        [On 000515 Charles Peirce proposed that knowledge requires
120965 -        continual refinement, and absolute accuracy is never attained.
120966 -        ref SDS 11 7380
120968 -  ..
120969 - It can be disappointing, and sometimes people get mad, receiving a
120970 - record that seems to represent prior comments incorrectly.  For some
120971 - confronting error, or perceived error is so psychologically
120972 - debilitating that they prefer not to know about errors, as discussed
120973 - with Morris on 951103. ref SDS 2 VC4G  Many people feel that ignorance
120974 - is bliss, prefer to just hope for the best, rather than invest time
120975 - and energy to generate feedback with corrections, see for example,
120976 - NWO. ref OF 4 2670
120978 -  ..
120979 - The alternative, however, is for people to proceed oblivious of error,
120980 - and allow misunderstanding to cause much greater disappointment from
120981 - adjustment by the harshness of reality when errors explode into
120982 - catasprophy, called "Murphy's Law," recessions, and the business
120983 - cycle.  When projects fail, when we lose our job and our home, when
120984 - people die this dissapointment is far greater than spending a few
120985 - moments correcting mistakes in the record, cited by Jean today.
120986 - ref SDS 0 9889
120988 -  ..
120989 - So I sent the record to empower Jean, Peter and MIT with the
120990 - opportunity to help adjust course, if necessary, as Jean has done this
120991 - morning.  The system worked.
120993 -  ..
120994 - Jean said that makes sense.  She was thankful and seemed relieved by
120995 - the explanation.
120997 -  ..
120998 - As noted, this record illustrates the psychological toll on evaluating
120999 - understandings that should be addressed at the Asilomar conference,
121000 - per discussions with Morris on 951103. ref SDS 2 VC4G
121001 -
121002 -
121003 -
121004 -
121005 -
121006 -
121007 -
121008 -
121009 -
1211 -