I went back to Lancaster University yesterday to give a lecture on Naturalising Sense-Making. Those looking for the slides will find them here. There are also some podcasts with similar material and related articles in the literature section of the web site. The rest of this blog is more sentimental, possibly mawkish and will mean more if you, dear reader, ever studied or taught there.
Now I have been back a few times since I graduated n 1975 but always in the past by car. This was the first time by train, which was my normal means of transport at the time and thus a more evocative journey. Students with cars in those days were the exception and always had lots of friends ...
As the train drew into Warrington memories started to return. I used to change there from the Chester train and I can still remember the smell of the soap factory adjacent to the station. After that I discovered that the landmarks of the journey were still etched on my memory, from emerging mass of the Bowland Fells to the first sight of the Campus and the canal where I learnt to punt and spent many a happy weekend.
Several people asked me how much it had changed. To be honest the answer is not a lot. OK the hitching point by the Infirmary is no more, but now most students live on campus or have cars. There has been a lot of building to the south of Alexander Square but those of us from colleges to the north avoided that area anyway regarding its occupants as representatives of a primitive life form. The Trough of Bowland (the appropriately named bar in Bowland College) has the same layout and similar furnishings: we used to go there to plot the overthrow of capitalism after a seminar on aesthetics. The Chaplaincy Centre still has a unique shape, which is now the symbol of the University as a whole (that surprised me) although it is no longer the hotbed of late night debate on Liberation Theology, more's the pity!
Lancaster still has a strong and unique identity as a campus university, isolated on the top of hill several miles from town. That was what attracted me there in the first place, it had an intensity and a novelty that was unique to a then fairly new University. The Headmaster of my school was not pleased as I turned down a near unconditional offer from Imperial College and refused to engage with his old college at Oxford. He was concerned, not just for his reputation (The school judged itself on entries to places like Imperial and Oxford) but for the reputation Lancaster had for militancy (the Craig affair), which my generation went on to enhance. My lecture was given in the same building where a tribunal expelled me from the University in 1975 following what we called The Great Occupation which was ironic to say the least. We were of course (and as planned) reinstated thanks to the British Legal System and the threat of the Privy Council ruling on a matter of Natural Justice.
In any event, the lecture went (I think) reasonably well. Some good questions, in particular about the language of complexity in human systems. We went out for a great evening meal and a renewed acquaintance with one of the best brewing areas in the country. Three of us were of an age and had been at the University as students or young lecturers together. Former members of IMG had now moved to the far right (well they always were extremists), the neo-stalinists still don't really believe in democracy (that was me) and we are all a lot older with children and grand-children. However during the course of the evening we still put the world to rights. Lancaster was as ever a bounteous mother.
al•ma ma•ter |ˈälmə ˈmätər; ˈalmə |
noun (one's Alma Mater)
the school, college, or university that one once attended.
ORIGIN mid 17th cent.(in the general sense [someone or something providing nourishment] ): Latin, literally ‘bounteous mother.’
Comments (5)
Dave,
A couple of comments.
First, the magic roundabout in Swindon. I first discovered it when attending a training course, must be 20 years ago now, and each day I had to navigate it (by car). Since then I have always wanted to see a plan layout, to convince me that it actually is logically consistent (and that there weren't areas which could be going in both directions at the same time), so thank you. It has cropped up in a few discussions, including with Americans who as you will know are often not sure about even a "straightforward rotary". I remember one conversation with a guy from Intel, as you mentioned they have a big base nearby. He told me about a route he had found to avoid this particular rotary, so I think this "avoidance" effect needs to be taken into account when you consider its overall success :-)
Second, I was reminded of a story in one of the marketing journals about a focus group, asked to decide on preferences in colour for a new range of kitchen kettles. I forget the exact details, but lets say the group showed a particular preference for blue, with yellow second, and last of all white. As a reward for their efforts, the participants were allowed at the end of the process to select a kettle to take home with them. The preference was overwhelmingly for the white...
Thanks for an entertaining talk. I look forward to this complexity perspective edging its way into the mainstream, although as we all know there is a long way to go.
Pete
Posted by Pete Miles | November 2, 2007 3:35 PM
Posted on November 2, 2007 15:35
Sounds like much fun. There is definitely something about the years one spends at college, the regions of thought that open up, and the friendships to be made there. I study and work *(much) harder today than I ever did then (it must have been a decent education to instill that curiosity) and I am still good friends with three or four interesting characters (women and men) with whom the friendship was forged in the first few weeks of the first year at uni.
Posted by Jon Husband | November 3, 2007 2:15 AM
Posted on November 3, 2007 02:15
Dave,
Just wanted to say thanks to you and the organisers for a really stimulating presentation at Lancaster University. Well worth a trip up the M6 and down again. There are many threads I must follow up from your talk and work.
Responding to one point you raised, I'm a victim of the 2x2 matrix brigade - in fact I'm a really sorry case! I was struck by your comment about these constructs being closed. I use the 2x2 example below Hodges' model - to open things up:
http://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2007/03/what-complex-threads-we-weave.html
Hodges' Health Career - Care Domains - Model [h2cm]
http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/
The model helps users take a situated and multi-**contextual** view across four knowledge domains:
* Interpersonal;
* Sociological;
* Empirical;
* Political.
Our links pages cover each care (knowledge) domain e.g. POLITICAL:
http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/linksIV.htm
Thanks again and I'll add you to the blog roll (and SCIENCES links II) and look f/w to learning more.
Peter
-----
Peter Jones
Community Mental Health Nurse Older Adults,
Independent Scholar & Informatics Specialist
Bolton
Lancashire
UK
Posted by peter jones | November 4, 2007 12:08 AM
Posted on November 4, 2007 00:08
Spooky - my wife and I graduated from Lancaster in 1988, cars were an exception even then. But did you notice that the University is more like a residential estate?
Posted by JOSEPH | November 16, 2007 4:09 PM
Posted on November 16, 2007 16:09
It always was a residential estate, although when I was there County College was the only one that offered three years residence. It was always one of the attractions to me, made the place more intense.
Posted by Dave Snowden | November 16, 2007 6:19 PM
Posted on November 16, 2007 18:19