01_01_Start
Stafford's Work

The Participatory Workspace (PWS)

April 28, 2021

Content

An online, complexity management and communications tool

The Participatory Workspace (PWS) is a post-Cartesian management and communications tool for organisations and networks, which streamlines the contributions of their members. It facilitates understanding and governing complexity through its “theme map” and other devices that are built via participation.

As a powerful intranet:

  • (a) it builds a rich, structured and easy-to access knowledge base, and updates it on a daily basis through members’ publications;
  • (b) it makes members’ tacit knowledge explicit;
  • (c) it replaces e-mails and WhatsApp’s and gives easy access to material from any date, without flooding cell-phones and computers; and
  • (d) it gives visibility to the contributions from each member.

The PWS has two components: a specialised online platform that is supplied as SaaS, and a participatory methodology for its customised design and implementation. The PWS is one of the tools of the Participatory Innovation Praxis (PIP).  

Dr. Alfredo del Valle

 Alfredo del Valle lives in Viña del Mar, Chile. He holds a PhD in social systems sciences from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; an MA is economics from New York University; and a civil engineer degree from Universidad Católica de Chile. He has been member of and consultant to business companies, universities, research centres, international agencies and government agencies. He is the author of the Participatory Innovation (PI) Praxis, a practical approach to high-complexity (“wicked”) problems and social transformations, based on systems thinking, complex thinking, Ashby’s Law, VSM, Schein’s culture formation theory and other contemporary sources. The PI Praxis includes its own principles, concepts, methods and tools; has been applied in a variety of fields at the local, national, Latin American and global scales; and has led to hundreds of innovations. Its most recent application is the model “Eco-Systemic Governance of River Basins” (ESGRIB), jointly developed with British and Latin American partners. Alfredo is the president of the Foundation for Participatory Innovation, which has been established for applying, transferring and disseminating the PI Praxis.

Recent Webinars



02.04.2025

Wicked problem related to climate change adaptation in Venice and its Lagoon and bio-cybernetic principles to address it.


Dr. Christiane Gebhardt

The critical literature review provides a framework for understanding the nature of the wicked problem of the threat of Sea Level Rise arising at the nexus of society and nature. It shows the scope of action for climate change adaptation employing a tentative governance model derived from synthesising literature.



05.03.2025

Exploring a critical organisational praxis – invoking cybernetic thinking, indigenous knowledge and decolonisation


Sujay Dinnalli & Ushma Desai

As India is poised to become the third largest economy, there is a pressing need to look at the state of organisations and people within them. That this constitutes a critical enquiry is evidenced from the low percentage of organised sector workers in the country’s workforce, the dearth of industrial innovation, and other alarming socio-economic indicators. Social research in organisations has looked at the cultural intricacies within organisations, and the challenges hence produced.



05.02.2025

Cybernetics and education: architecture for freedom


Prof. José dos Santos Cabral Filho

This talk will explore the intersection of cybernetics and education, with a specific focus on architectural education.

Scroll to Top