New nerd merit badge: Inbox Zero – Boing Boing

I found this interesting tidbit on BoingBoing today, which speaks to the idea that we are beginning to associate achievement with getting through the data overload, becoming data overload overlords, so to speak. I am officially reminding you that my blogs are all Creative Commons Share Alike Attribution licensed, and that phrase is mine.

A while ago, I wrote about the launch of Nerd Merit Badges, to be worn by people who want to show off their geeky achievements. The first one was for folks who have contributed to an Open Source software project.

The new one, just announced, is for those dedicated souls who have strived to experience — if only for a moment — the Zen-like, fulfilling emptiness of Inbox Zero (in other words, cleaning out your email inbox). It’s a beaut! New nerd merit badge: Inbox Zero

via New nerd merit badge: Inbox Zero – Boing Boing.

Amazon.com: iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind: Gary Small, Gigi Vorgan: Books

Image via Wikipedia

Here’s a book that delves deeply into the topic raised in our article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” and I’m looking forward to reading it. It appears to be a bit more grounded in academic scholarship and research than the article was, and maybe just a little more even handed. Can you tell how I felt about the article? To the point: I’m not against the idea that our minds are changing, I’m against the idea that it’s a bad thing.

Image via Wikipedia

Their insights are extraordinary, their behaviors unusual. Their brains—shaped by the era of microprocessors, access to limitless information, and 24-hour news and communication—are remapping, retooling, and evolving. They’re not superhuman. They’re your twenty-something coworkers, your children, and your competition. Are you keeping up?

In iBrain, Dr. Gary Small, one of America’s leading neuroscientists and experts on brain function and behavior, explores how technology’s unstoppable march forward has altered the way young minds develop, function, and interpret information. iBrain reveals a new evolution catalyzed by technological advancement and its future implications: Where do you fit in on the evolutionary chain? What are the professional, social, and political impacts of this new brain evolution? How must you adapt and at what price?

While high-tech immersion can accelerate learning and boost creativity, it also has its glitches, among them the meteoric rise in ADD diagnoses, increased social isolation, and Internet addiction. To compete and thrive in the age of brain evolution, and to avoid these potential drawbacks, we must adapt, and iBrain—with its Technology Toolkit—equips all of us with the tools and strategies needed to close the brain gap.

via Amazon.com: iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind: Gary Small, Gigi Vorgan: Books.

NY Times Editor Hints At Return Of Online Access Fees

Again, in the context of our discussions in class about convergence, here is a clear example where the financial, industrial, communication, media, and technology aspects of running a newspaper today ask the editors and leaders of papers like the New York Times to consider how the ease of access, the lack of payment for said access, and the ability for news to be gotten in a thousand places for free all point to a need for creativity in solving the reimbursement problem. Technology, traditional business models, and new practices are converging to cause a change in the industry.

In an online question-and-answer exchange with readers this week, Keller said that although advertising generates the bulk of online revenue, “a lively, deadly serious discussion continues within The Times about ways to get consumers to pay for what we make.”

Possibility include charging for full-access subscriptions, developing a micro-payment model in which readers pay a few pennies each time they click on a page and selling news to be distributed on reading devices, as the Times already does with Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle.

via NY Times Editor Hints At Return Of Online Access Fees.

Journal Entry: Mediation Chapter 5

This chapter talks about the when and how of using the basic tools we learned about in Ch. 4. (p. 99) One question to keep in mind: “What do I want to accomplish, or what do I hope will happen, at this point in mediation?” (p. 100)

The concept of the goal triangle is introduced, in which we see the cooperative goals of building empowerment and recognition, building community consciousness, and building commitment. By engaging in mediation, we are perfectly enabled to meet these goals, whereas in other forms of dispute resolution, such as judicial proceedings, these goals are unrecognized and possibly unattainable. For instance if we are given a judgment against us, we may not feel particularly committed to it, but are coerced to follow the orders of the judgment. In transformative mediation, we collaboratively develop solutions and listen to others’ ideas for solution (empowerment and recognition), which potentially makes it easier to commit to them, because they are our collective solutions which benefit the disputants as well as others, potentially (community consciousness); the solutions are ours, and thus we own them (providing an easy path to commitment) (pp. 100-104).

In a section about appreciation, we are reminded to have disputants remember and try to celebrate what makes them interdependent: What is your best vision for the future? What would the situation be like without your differences? (pp. 104-105)

Co-mediation is discussed as beneficial in complex cases, cases where there is a lack of experience with mediation in one of the mediators, high tension disputes, longer sessions, etc. However, co-mediation can introduce problems as well, such as increased costs, and the potential for divergent mediation style (pp. 105-107).

The chapter then goes on to explore issues of diversity and cultural awareness. It suggests the following techniques for meeting diverse cultural needs in mediation. Expect different expectations, don’t assume understanding, listen carefully, seek ways to allow parties to appreciate each other, be patient, go for win/win solutions, do things differently. By keeping an open mind and watching for culturally influenced reactions, mediators can avoid potential new conflicts within mediation (pp. 108-114).

Finally, we are introduced to the LARC Model, which is a mnemonic acronym for listen, acknowledge, respond, commit. Figure 5.2 on page 116 describes the finer points of the LARC model, such as asking questions to clarify as part of the listen directive, and suggesting positive resources for change as part of the respond directive (pp. 114-116).

Domenici, K., Domenici-Littlejohn, & Littlejohn, S. W. (2001). Mediation: Empowerment in Conflict Management, Second Edition. (2nd), 198. Waveland Press.

Personal experiential influence:

I really enjoyed learning about the mediation Goal Triangle, in which we as mediators work on building empowerment and recognition between disputants, building community consciousness through the mediation process, and building commitment in the disputants, or rather helping them to build it themselves.

I think that building empowerment is mostly accomplished by allowing disputants to use their own voice to address the issues, rather than having the stroy told thorugh representatives, like in a legal proceeding.

I think that building recognition is accomplished by mandating active listening as part of the mediation process – what better way to get disputants to hear the others point of view than to require silent active listening and single speakers?

Community consciousness is almost a byproduct of mediation itself – if disputants find success in dealing with the conflict through mediation, they may take those newly found skills out into the world where they can begin to virally infect other conflictors with active listening, collaborative problem solving, and conflict as opportunity.

Because disputants use their own words, and agree throughout with reframed ideas, restatements, and respectful language, it is more likely than other forms of dispute resolution in gaining true commitment.