I learned a lot about William Randolph Hearst by watching the PBS American Experience documentary about him. He is best known as a purveyor of “yellow journalism,” promoter of the Spanish-American War, and the target of the Orson Welles film, Citizen Kane. The documentary shows that he has had a huge and continuing impact on … Continue reading What I’m Reading – PBS Documentary on William Randolph Hearst
“Facebook is like a pocketknife: You can use it to peel an apple or stab a janitor at school.” So said tech analyst (and talk-show host) Jimmy Kimmel. Noam Ebner (not a talk-show host) wrote, “Its positive characteristics and opportunities notwithstanding, the Internet has become something similar to a bad neighborhood after dark. … Even … Continue reading What I’m Reading – The Social Dilemma
ODR is likely to be an increasingly important part of legal and dispute resolution processes in the future, with potential benefits and risks. It particularly has great potential to help self-represented litigants (SRLs, aka “pro se” parties). So I was interested to read an article by my colleague, Amy Schmitz, and John Zeleznikow, Intelligent Legal … Continue reading Constructing Good ODR Systems
Who’d expect Netflix to produce a movie about dispute system design? Or that it would be really good? Its docudrama, Worth, about the process of designing and implementing the 9/11 Victims’ Compensation Fund, actually is terrific. (Note that this What-I’m-Reading series isn’t limited to just reading stuff.) It is based on Kenneth Feinberg’s book, What … Continue reading What I’m Reading – Worth
I’m starting this What-I’m-Reading series with two books by Swedish author, Fredrik Backman. They are his first book, A Man Called Ove (OOH-vah), and his latest book, Anxious People. Backman has become quite a phenomenon, publishing a series of books, some of which have been made into movies, including Ove. Ove is a grumpy, get-off-my-lawn … Continue reading What I’m Reading – Frederik Backman Books
Being retired from teaching and faculty meetings leaves time to do other things. (Have you noticed that teaching and faculty meetings take a lot of time?) In recent years, I have been reading books for pleasure, something I rarely did when I was employed. I particularly like to read histories and biographies, though I read … Continue reading What I’m Reading
What’s sex education got to do with dispute resolution? If you have to ask, maybe you should go back to high school. Wait, that’s a terrible idea. Instead, you might watch the Sex Education series on Netflix, which just dropped its third season. The premise is that an unlikely duo of high school students set … Continue reading Sex Education
Michael Lang and Peter Nicholson edited a book, Family Conflict During a Pandemic: Stories of Struggles and Hope. It is a collection of short contributions, including stories, essays, poetry and art work by 93 people from 17 countries including pieces in 9 languages. The pieces are organized in four sections: Authors explain how they and … Continue reading New Book on Family Conflict During a Pandemic
Peter T. Coleman, professor of psychology and education at Columbia University, an award-winning scholar and a prolific author, recently published his latest book, The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization. He holds a joint appointment at Teachers College and The Earth Institute. In his spare time, he is the director of the Morton Deutsch … Continue reading Peter Coleman’s Outstanding Evidence-Based Work on Reducing Polarization
Dwight Golann just wrote a nice article about mediators’ experiences mediating on Zoom: “I Sometimes Catch Myself Looking Angry or Tired …” The Impact of Mediating by Zoom, published in CPR’s Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation. Dwight solicited mediators’ reactions on the International Academy of Mediators listserv as well as in two focus … Continue reading Dwight Golann on a Year of Zoom Mediations
