Tag Archives: model collapse

263 – System governance is the key to shifting the local government paradigm

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850 words (9 minutes reading time) by Lancing Farrell

The need for a new paradigm in local government in Victoria has been mentioned in a few posts recently (see 241 – Rate capping – the final words (from our future), 253 – Minds Change: My Journey to Transform Local Government Performance, and 261 – Reinventing Local Government). Model collapse, as described by Carole Parkinson and Tim Whistler, signals the end of an existing paradigm. This raises critical questions about the current paradigm in local government and the need for change. A recent podcast in the Reimagining Government series by the Centre for Public Impact, ‘What on earth is a paradigm shift?’, discusses paradigms and provides insights and practical tips for those wanting to bring about transformative change.

Defining Paradigms

The podcast features host Adrian Brown and Professor Toby Lowe from the Centre for Public Impact, Henk-Jan Dekker from the International Centre for Environmental Research and Development, and Jessica Studdert from think tank ‘New Local’. Drawing on the work of Thomas Kuhn and Margaret Masterman, a paradigm was defined as a ‘grand explanatory narrative for how a part of the world works’.  It operates on metaphysical, sociological, and exemplar levels, shaping perceptions of what exists and what should be valued. Understanding how paradigms work is crucial for those seeking systemic change in local government.

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260 – Ministerial Interventions in Local Government

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600 words (7 minutes reading time) by Lancing Farrell

The two previous posts on model collapse and local government have prompted me to think about what has happened in the sector in the last few years. The sudden increase in Ministerial interventions does seem to indicate that something has changed. It may be more than just the introduction of rate capping in 2016.

I started asking colleagues what they think is happening. Unsurprisingly, several had views on what has happened, although no one was definitive. Everyone has anecdotal information from their council. I will have a go at describing the views told to me.

The first colleague reiterated the view put forward by Tim Whistler, that Covid prevented councillors building relationships with each other. It also affected the induction for newly elected councillors, which can be important in clarifying the responsibilities of a councillor, the Council, and the CEO and staff. Roles and responsibilities are cited in Ministerial Terms of Reference in almost all interventions.

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259 – Model Collapse in Local Government: A Performance Measurement Dilemma?

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700 words (8 minutes reading time) by Tim Whistler

In the world of artificial intelligence (AI), the concept of model collapse is a well-recognised challenge. Now it is potentially reaching into my everyday life if my Spotify-generated daylist starts to select songs from a previous daylist! Yet, my concern isn’t confined to personal playlists, and it should be echoing through the corridors of local government and raising questions about what performance measurement actually tells us.

Carole Parkinson’s question at the end of her footnote resonates with me: How can we detect model collapse in local government? It may well be a moot question, and model collapse is simply an explanation of the current situation, as one of Carole’s colleagues suggested.  This should become apparent if ChatGPT’s methods to identify model collapse in AI are accurate. Five seem particularly relevant for the local government context:

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258 – Model Collapse or Cultural Evolution? Mental Models and Victorian Local Government

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700 words (8 minutes reading time) by Carole Parkinson

In many aspects of human endeavor, the belief that successive generations inherently improve holds true. Take sports, for example, where each Olympics sees records shattered by athletes who are better selected, trained, and conditioned than their predecessors. This continuous improvement is driven by a powerful incentive for each generation to surpass the achievements of the previous one.

However, this upward trajectory doesn’t always apply universally. In the realm of artificial intelligence (AI), there’s a phenomenon known as model collapse. Without diverse human-generated training data, AI systems risk malfunctioning if inundated with AI-generated content. The first generation of AI benefits from decades of human ingenuity, but as subsequent generations draw from their own created information, the pool of new ideas dwindles, resulting in a homogenised output.

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