REPLY Renaming System Dynamics (SD6366)

[SDMAIL Bob Cavana]

Posted by  "Bob Cavana" <Bob.Cavana at vuw.ac.nz>

Hi all, 

Many thanks for the emails I have received about my Google searching
skills (!) & comments generally about the SD 'naming issue'.

Firstly I would like to draw attention to my initial mistake on Google.
unfortunately i searched incorrectly for  'system dynamics' in single
quotation marks (resulting in 118 million hits!) rather than correctly
in double quotation marks, ie "system dynamics" (resulting in 1.1
million hits).

by comparison i checked Google for  a number of other related
systems/simulation areas:

"systems thinking" 1,080,000 hits
"soft systems methodology" 123,000 hits
"dynamic simulation" 872,000 hits
"continuous simulation" 118,000 hits.

nevertheless 1,130,000 Google hits (items) for "system dynamics" is a
considerable amount, although, as pointed out by Yaman Barlas, Ines Winz
and others, many of these hits do not relate to our field (SD).

Maybe the System Dynamics Society could commission an 'independent'
study to investigate the level of awareness internationally for our
field of "system dynamics" [SD] ?

This could be presented at the Boston 50th anniversary conference of SD
(or some another appropriate occasion, eg to the SDS Policy Council) and
we could have some 'scientific' evidence to see if there is a case to
change the name of the field or methodology?

Comments please.

Many thanks,

Bob
A/Prof Bob Cavana
Victoria Management School
Posted by  "Bob Cavana" <Bob.Cavana at vuw.ac.nz>
posting date  Tue, 27 Mar 2007 09:15:20 +1200