Editorial | System
Abstract
The third issue of the Nomads.usp's journal brings major changes. The first one is that, from this issue on, all its content is bilingual – both in Portuguese and English. In addition, we created three new sections: the 'submitted papers' section, which features articles from researchers in Brazil and abroad, evaluated by a process of blind peer review, the 'carpet' section, featuring short articles by specialists from various areas on the issue's central theme, and the 'project' section, where we present submitted proposals of space and objects whose concept is related to the theme of each issue.
Considering guests and authors selected for publication, this issue counts 23 authors from outside Nomads.usp. They are researchers in 8 different countries: Germany, Bahrain, Chile, United States, Finland, England, New Zealand and Brazil. They mostly follow the tendency of working in different knowledge fields, as, indeed, one would expect from researchers interested in systemic visions of the world. Even so, it is worthy to note that among the areas represented here, there is a large and healthy variety, including music, chemistry, law, art, geography, philosophy, physics, design, film, computer architecture, economics, education, electrical engineering, computer science aside architecture and urbanism. Finally, the production of this issue of the journal involved a large number of Nomads.usp researchers, in addition to the four authors of the 'nomads papers': 22 researchers participated in various ways, validating the main objective of the magazine which is to create an interactive dialogue between Nomads.usp and the academic community, around major themes addressed by the Center ongoing research.
It is therefore with great pleasure that we invite you to read this broad snapshot of thoughts and experiences of those scholars interested in discussing concepts and derivations of systems thinking, helping us to problematize the matter and to deepen levels of questioning.
In the Interview section, the Chilean artist Enrique Rivera spoke to us about online social networks in Chile after the earthquake, and the need to be attentive to riches and pitfalls therein. Two articles put in relationship the concept of system and propositional actions. One, by the English designer and cyberneticist Ranulph Glanville, Professor ar the Barlett School of Architecture, UCL,London, and a member of the Editorial Board of V!RUS, proposes a reflection on design from a cybernetic point of view, and vice versa, on cybernetics as a theoretical arm of the design area. The other one, by the architect and UFMG researcher Ana Paula Baltazar, reads experiments conducted within communities in the city of Belo Horizonte using digital media, referring to the concept of resilience as proposed by John Thackara.
The Carpet section presents six short texts containing personal views on the topic. The Finnish economist Mikko Koria puts in relation design and the designing process to the economic system. The German musician Christopher Dell explores the relationship between music and architecture to help the understanding of the city. The chemical engineer Hamilton Varela, from the IQSC-USP, exposes the notion of system in chemistry. The German geographer Martin Pries suggests the whole Earth as a system in geography. The philosopher Maria Cecilia Loschiavo, from the FAU-USP, remembers the current stage of richness and fragility of design research in Brazil. And the German musicians Rolf Grossmann and Andreas Otto explore possibilities of the use of sounding tangible interfaces in electronic music.
The submitted articles selected for publication have several derivations of the main theme of this issue. The Egyptian Wael Abdelhameed and his Japanese colleague Yoshihiro Kobayashi expose their Design Wiki platform for remote collaborative projects. Architects Robson Canuto and Luis Amorim make a study of the concept of parametric urbanism and cast a critical eye on some examples. The architect Celso Scaletsky and the electrical engineer Gustavo Borba describe the Blue Sky research method for design conception. The lawyer Marcos Malhadas uses general systems theory as a magnifying glass to examine the case of conflicts in organizations. The British architect Dermott McMeel evaluates possible developments in the use of the mash-up idea in architecture and construction. Julia Aguiar, Douglas Aguiar and André de Oliveira exhibit two provocative films about selected cases within Porto Alegre urban dynamics, from a systemic viewpoint.
Inaugurating the Project section, the architect and jewellery designer Marlon Mercaldi presents the design of a jewellery Morphosis 1, referred to the concept of unpredictability. In the Review section, the physicist Nelson Fiedler Ferrara analyzes and displays some major books for understanding the complex thought. And in the Nomads papers section, two texts introduce two research works in which the concepts either of cybernetics or complex systems are being used: one of the BA in Sound and Vision Graziele Lautenschlaeger and the architect Anja Pratschke, proposing an understanding of the production of Electronic Art as aesthetic and social system based on concepts of German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. The other one, of the architects Fabio Queiroz and Marcelo Tramontano, investigates the possibility of considering the design process of apartment buildings as a complex system.
Finally, the Events section will host throughout the semester, records of activities conducted by the journal regarding the content of this issue and their authors.
