Sent to GMU 23 Oct 2000. This is an old 3/4 inch tape. There was also a VHS copy, which we sent to Arizona. In Kent, Ohio, the Nominal Group Technique (NGT), Delphi questionnaires, and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) are the techniques used in sessions with Kent City Council members seeking an orderly and systematic way to cut city expenditures to meet the city budget. Directors/narrators are James G. Coke and Carl M. Moore. The Facilitator is Ray Fitz . Jim Coke was a professor in Political Science department at Kent State Univ. Carl Moore taught in Kent State Speech & Communication department. Brother Ray Fitz a professor at University of Dayton, Ohio, was one of the first persons to work with John Warfield on development of ISM, in the early 1970's when Warfield was at Battelle Institute in Columbus. Apparently Academy for Contemporary Problems (ACP) at Battelle paid for the videotaping, since they are listed as publisher. Warfield told me in 2007 when I asked about Prof. Coke, that Jim Coke had known Ralph Widner, ACP's director, and that Coke had been at ACP for a while as visiting scholar, and had there begun to use ISM. This would explain why ACP was involved. On this tape Jim Coke does a good job of explaining Interpretive Structural Modeling. Warfield was awfully happy when he saw the video, believing that at last his ISM might get wider recognition. Warfield had hoped that Prof. Coke would continue with ISM use at Kent State and elsewhere. Unfortunately, Prof. Coke died only a year or so after the video was filmed. A wise and talented man who might have helped a lot was lost.

R.W. Feb 21, 2007