Communicating complexity

Contact: Andrew Bell (andybell@umich.edu)

Wondering if anyone else is interested in the role the tools of complexity might/should play in communicating nonlinearity, etc., to non-specialists (policy makers, local stakeholders).

I am always up for discussions of how to communicate scientific ideas effectively to non-scientists. Not sure I understand exactly what you're talking about though. Do you mean using complexity to communicate complexity? Ryan.

I would be up to a discussion concerning the communication of scientific ideas to non-scientists too (complexity just as much as any other scientific issue for that matter). Amelie Veron

I would like to learn AS MUCH about it as possible ! Saleha Habibullah (Moved comment here from the related Complexity for the General Public topic. - Brian Lawler)

I'd like to discuss this and perhaps contribute to some industrialist ways of thinking Alex Healing

I would be interested in discussing complexity to policy makers in particular, but also to other researchers who haven't heard of complex systems(and maybe don't buy into it). Heather B

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Here are some topics that I propose we discuss:

• How to express complexity to people who are not adept at some of the tools we are using in the CSSS program - differential equations, MatLab, the vocabulary of complexity and chaos, etc.
• How to express complexity in the tools of everyday business and government workers - PowerPoint, Excel, etc.
• How to engage effectively with skilled professionals (engineers, economists, accounting/finance, ...) in their vocabulary
• Are there extensions to existing, relatively widely used, modeling tools such as flow charts, data flow diagrams, UML models, etc. that can properly express complex systems?
• How do we convey the key research topics worthy of pursuit to the research sponsors and similar stakeholders?

- Brian Lawler