The Calendar Initiative
A working group within the IFSR
“Act always so as to increase the number of choices.” – Heinz von Foerster
The IFSR 2026 Agenda invites the cybersystemic community to turn its own reflexive inquiry upon itself: how does a field come to understand itself, and what are we doing when we do what we do? Yet we cannot understand what we cannot see. A field needs a mirror in which it can recognise its own patterns of activity, its relationships and its possibilities.
The Calendar Initiative starts from a simple follow-up question: when is the community doing what we do?
Across our growing and diverse community, much happens that stays unseen beyond the circles where it takes place. Newcomers and veterans alike are left to find their way through a field whose activities they cannot readily see. A shared calendar is one place to begin. Among the oldest meanings of the word calendar is the calling or proclaiming of dates. That spirit of calling together suits our larger purpose of cultivating the Commons of Learning and Practice envisioned in the 2026 Agenda.
Recognise: becoming aware of what is already happening
Rather than build yet another platform, the Initiative begins by learning from what already exists. We support Peter Tuddenham in maintaining and extending the established Cybernetics and Systems Community Calendar of the American Society for Cybernetics and improve the Cybersystemic Event Calendar of the IFSR. We reach out to members and organisations to discover ongoing and upcoming activities, and we start by gathering and publishing conference dates.
Realise: bringing into existence what might become possible
At first, the calendars make events easier to find, make the community easier to navigate and help avoid scheduling conflicts. Beyond that, they can show shared interests and bring to light connections between organisations, practitioners, and methodologies. In time, it may become more than a list of events: light coordination infrastructure from which new conversations, collaborations, and events across communities can emerge. Our working assumption is that people will take part to the extent that the calendar is valuable to them. When it is valuable and contributing is easy, people do more than add events. They propose ideas, connections and improvements. All of this respects the differences, autonomy and identity of every participating organisation.
Calendar Conversations
Ben Wood from SCiO North America volunteered to serve as a convener and hosts the Calendar Conversations on the second and fourth Friday of each month. Together we ask:
- What is happening in your part of the community that you want to make visible?
- What would make visibility and participation easier?
- Which connections and resources already exist that we could support and amplify?
- What further possibilities might emerge from connecting researchers, authors, practitioners, mentors, newcomers, conferences, SIGs and working groups?
Making the whole community visible to all its parts is something we can only do together, since each of us sees only as far as our own horizon. Whether you are a member, organiser, practitioner, researcher or newcomer, you are invited to help build the mirror in which we may recognise what we do and realise what we might yet become.
To join and for further details, reach out to Ben Wood at the-calendar-initiative(at)ifsr.org.