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Systems in action: Hard questions, soft answers

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Systems thinking can help give some soft answers to hard questions

18 May
2005

Hard Questions, Soft Answers - part 1

"When we think about systems now we are really in an era where computer programs are much more complex and there isn't actually one program but multiple programs that interact."

You need the Flash Player (version 7 or higher) to view this clip - download Flash. http://media.open2.net/systems/video/soft_hard1.flv The Open University

Hard Questions, Soft Answers - part 2

"The biggest distinction probably between a program and a system is that I run the program, it does its job and then it's done. When I run a system, I get it started and it has to keep on running."

You need the Flash Player (version 7 or higher) to view this clip - download Flash. http://media.open2.net/systems/video/soft_hard2.flv The Open University

Hard Questions, Soft Answers - part 3

"The idea I had was that what these systems were trying to be like is something like what cells do in living organisms, when you have just the simplest principle in all of its different possibilities to be able to get an almost unbounded amount of complex structure."

You need the Flash Player (version 7 or higher) to view this clip - download Flash. http://media.open2.net/systems/video/soft_hard3.flv The Open University

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• Body text - Copyrighted: The Open University
• Video 1 - Copyrighted: The Open University
• Video 2 - Copyrighted: The Open University
• Video 3 - Copyrighted: The Open University

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