(added May 1st 2012) I tend to see 'the system' as a multidimensional space within which each has a position, and reflects, acts/moves from this position, and as a sphere when seen from the outside.

So in terms of action and transformation within the system, the important thing would be 1) to have an idea of where one is located and 2) to be able to observe/read the maximum of the whole space from where one is situated in order to make the best decision...

And when it comes to taking some external view point to observe the system, assuming you are looking at a sphere, the important would be to be conscious that an observer may 'enter' the sphere by any point and travel within by any path corresponding to his own perspective, and so when you describe the system you should make it recognizable to anyone.

This I think is a real challenge, and that's why also the stories and narratives that are accumulated do a better job then a formula or plain statistics...-

The book Flatland come to mind (and there's a short movie that just came out: http://www.flatlandthemovie.com/)...

**This was initially written to cover both geometry of action and dynamics of emergence.

Rewrite to actually describe the space, the movement within the space, and the positioning withing the space. Clusters of intention, etc... --> Rewrite in simple speak :)

If we assume that scaling of structural/institutional innovation and value change happen in a loop, bootstrapped by human/technology feedback system within the people/software/hardware network, then critical to the transformation are the initiation of the loops and their diffusion, distribution. This means activating and accelerating meaning making and adoption. Narratives, visualizing possibilities and resources and change in the making, represented and in mind, are a factor of pull and acceleration. And there are more socio-technical things to be done here. Could we imagine things like sharing protocol/process/system at the individual innovation initiative level to plug or aggregate into something bigger, and metamining aplications to pull relevant info once some intent is formed? If we are talking of values change and adoption of new ways "willing" people need to be able to access and understand possibilities, be inspired enough to intent action, feel empowered enough to carry it out, and enabled enough to achieve and diffuse the innovation by spreading it actively or by imitation.

Setting up an open operating ecosystem and API that gives holons (whether people, resources, ideas, things) a "hook" to connect, link, dock to each other multidimensionally by affinity or exploration, i.e. ad hoc, ad nutum while following a path (think mix of utility/purpose and intuition/pheromone)... in a fluid or sublimate way (think slime mold?).

After that topology and degree of connectedness emerge through the degree of affinity of the different elements with each other and the stability thereof... You can mesh and bootstrap people, things, resources, ideas organized as individual holons in the way the most appropriate to carry out a given purpose. The diversity and the dimensionality makes the strength of the structure as a whole.