Last night marked the start of the celebration of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. In anticipation, several days earlier, I began rereading a book I’d acquired several years ago, Nothing Sacred, a controversial work by media critic Douglas Rushkoff that seeks 21st century meaning in the traditions and texts of Judaism.

Rushkoff argues that Judaism is “a religion dedicated to media literacy” — an approach to deconstructing, analyzing and questioning media’s messages — which offers digital-age lessons in participatory democracy for the secular world.

He points to Judaism’s core practices:

Judaism is a religion dedicated to media literacy. The initiation to adult practice is not an act of faith, but a demonstration of literacy called a bar (or bat) mitvah…Jews have to be able to not only read the text, but also understand what it means…

Further, Jewish rituals require community participation. The Torah scroll cannot even be read unless ten people — a minyan — are present. This was a safeguard against isolation and its destructive impact. If only such priorities were used in the media space, where an isolated, self-doubting viewer is considered the most valuable target for markets selling on TV or the Web.

In an undated interview with the Jewish Public Forum, Rushkoff observed,

The fact that Jews are not supposed to read the holy texts alone – we’re not even supposed to read the Talmud by ourselves – is also fascinating. It forces us to be social and interactive with our stories and laws, rather than alone with them. It’s more like participating in a chat room or newsgroup than sitting passively on a Web site. We can maintain some critical distance. We are invited to think and comment. The text is kept alive. Transparent.

In Rushkoff’s world, Judaism’s traditions translate into lessons for 21st century citizens.  We all bear responsibility to remake ourselves into knowledgeable, literate consumers of modern media who can analyze and decode its messages and gain resistance to propaganda and distortions of fact. Discussion and constant questioning, not blind-faith acceptance, are essential to uncovering truths and debunking false claims, whether in spiritual practices or political ones.

Today, as a new year begins, as the U.S. faces financial chaos, and a presidential election looms just weeks away, I pause for a moment to consider how Rushkoff’s insights on Jewish traditions apply to the secular texts that are the foundation of American democracy — our Constitution, our laws — as well as to the cacophony of messages through media — TV, radio, print, web — that seek to sway us.

Rushkoff of course is right: to participate fully, to be engaged citizens, we must demand media literacy of ourselves (and also, I would hasten to add, of those who would lead us).  We must be literate enough to decipher the messages that shape our lives and our decisions — at the moment, the choices we Americans will make in the voting booth in November.

As negotiators and mediators know from experience, knowledge and information are power. That’s true for all of the negotiations in life we face — the political, the transactional, and the personal.

What better way to celebrate access to information than by honoring Banned Books Week, which celebrates the freedom to read, and is sponsored by the American Library Association?

Curious to learn what books have been challenged or banned here in the U.S.? The Forbidden Library lists some of the titles.

Banned Books Week events take place this year from September 27 through October 4.  Join the celebration of intellectual freedom.

A friend recently sent me the following joke:

During a visit to a mental asylum, a visitor asked the director how to determine whether or not a patient should be institutionalised. “Well,” said the director, “we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient, and ask him to empty the bathtub.” “

Oh, I see,” said the visitor. “A normal person would use the bucket because it is bigger than the spoon or the teacup.”

“No,” said the director, “a normal person would pull out the plug. Do you want the bed near the window?”

What I love about the joke — apart from the fact that it’s actually clean and therefore suitable to repeat in the presence of clients — is how neatly it illustrates an all too common problem: sometimes, when we are presented with several options, they may blind us to other choices — including the simplest and most sensible one.

When you’re looking for solutions or preparing to negotiate, are good ideas going down the drain?

At The Pigs, a pub in Norwich, England, locals can trade food — produce they’ve grown or game they’ve caught — for beer. According to the sign posted in the pub, “If you grow, breed, shoot or steal anything that may look at home on our menu, then bring it in and let’s do a deal!”

That’s the story according to a video posted by ABC News this evening. (To view, click here and then on the link for the September 16 story titled, “Bartering for Beer”.)

No word yet on whether pub owners will also trade beer for professional services. Accountants, lawyers, mediators, and others, stay tuned.

Bartering is on the rise elsewhere in the world, including here in the U.S., as small business owners and others swap goods and services to cope with lean times and an economy in free fall. It’s a time-honored and creative way to continue to get to yes even when cash is short.

(Photo credit: Mike Johnson.)

Attorney John DeGroote has hit the ground running with the launch of his blog, Settlement Perspectives. Although his blog is just five posts old as of today’s date, John has already demonstrated the exemplary writing and skillful storytelling that are the mark of the successful blogger.

John tells readers the value he brings to the table:

I created this site to help clients and their counsel navigate the challenges that inevitably result from disputes, settlement efforts, impasse, and negotiation in general. The perspectives I bring are based on my experience, including more than 8 years as the Chief Litigation Counsel of a global company and the sometimes difficult lessons I learned before I got here.

In his first post, “Why Are We Here?“, John extends an invitation to readers to share their perspectives:

…it seems that a place where lawyers and clients can find new, and sometimes different, perspectives on how to settle disputes can save everyone time, money and risk exposure. With your contributions and comments, I think settlementperspectives.com can serve that purpose.

By the way, John has created a resources page for visitors to his site and was kind enough to include links to the World Directory of ADR Blogs and to Mediation Channel.

John, congratulations on the launch of what is already an impressive blog and one that I shall look forward to reading. It’s a pleasure to welcome you.

Anita Campbell, editor of Small Business Trends, an online publication covering trends and new directions that affect the small business owner, describes herself as “an entrepreneur at heart almost her entire life”.

Anita really understands that small business owners have big ambitions and wants to help them succeed.  Her enthusiasm for her subject matter and her depth of knowledge make her the ideal host for the “Back to Business” edition of Blawg Review, the weekly review of the best in blogging on law and legal issues.

Highlights of Blawg Review #177 include a tutorial on Twitter, a popular social networking tool; a new slant on web site bio pages; and a one-stop resource for tax information for small business owners.

MediationChannel.com

I was fascinated last week by the word clouds — graphic depictions — of the convention speeches of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain that appeared on so many web sites and blogs.

Word clouds are visual representations of words. The larger the word in the image, the more frequently it appears on the site.

I was delighted then when the folks at the National Arbitration Forum Blog created an ADR word cloud using Wordle, an online tool.

I generated the images you’re seeing by feeding the content of Mediation Channel and my other site, ADRblogs.com, to Wordl. You can create one for yourself using a blog’s feed or by submitting words of your own.

It’s the chance to see right before your eyes the weight words are given as Wordle captures in a snapshot what is important at a particular moment in time.

ADRblogs.com

In a recently published paper, experts in decision making Dolly Chugh, Katherine L. Milkman, and Max Bazerman asked an important question, “How Can Decision Making Be Improved?” (PDF):

We propose that the time has come to move the study of biases in judgment and decision making beyond description and toward the development of improvement strategies. While a few important insights about how to improve decision making have already been identified, we argue that many others await discovery. We hope judgment and decision-making scholars will focus their attention on the search for improvement strategies in the coming years, seeking to answer the question: how can we improve decision making?

They explained why the question matters, particularly today:

Errors are costly: We believe the importance of this question is somewhat self evident: decisions shape important outcomes for individuals, families, businesses, governments, and societies, and if we knew more about how to improve those outcomes, individuals, families, businesses, governments, and societies would benefit. After all, errors induced by biases in judgment lead decision makers to undersave for retirement, engage in needless conflict, marry the wrong partners, accept the wrong jobs, and wrongly invade countries.

(And, dare I say, make poor choices in the voting booth.)

Although the development of strategies to combat poor decision making won’t come in time for this election (or to undo the subprime mortgage crisis), this is an encouraging step forward. I can only hope that experts in behavioral decision making answer the challenge — and that the public actually pays attention when they do.

Related articles from Mediation Channel:

• What voters can learn from the field of negotiation
• In an election year, falsehoods not so easily banished by facts

My son graduated in June from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a double major in legal studies and philosophy.  As you might imagine, he’s an avid reader who enjoys the lively exchange of ideas, particularly around our family’s kitchen table during visits home. Over Labor Day weekend, while we were grilling steaks together, he asked me a question: why isn’t there a constitutional right to education in the U.S.?

I thought it a good question. Why not indeed? Given how important education is to human growth and potential, to political and social stability, to vanquishing poverty, and to participation in democracy itself, there should be.

Although education is not enumerated (yet) in the U.S. constitution, it has been honored in other ways.  The United Nations, recognizing the critical role education plays in transforming individuals and society, established International Literacy Day, observed on September 8. Hanna Hasl-Kelchner, author of the blog Legal Literacy, salutes International Literacy Day in the latest edition of Blawg Review, the weekly review of the best in legal blogging.

Hasl-Kelchner writes,

Literacy can’t function in a vacuum.  It must be nurtured before it can flourish, and thrive, and enrich us.  Celebrate literacy.  Ignorance of anykind is dangerous.  It can turn our daily playing field into a mine field.  Literacy, on the other hand, lets us successfully navigate the dangers and gives us the freedom to succeed.  It feeds the mind, the heart, and the soul.

I think my son would agree.

If you seek proof of civilization’s decline, look no further than Sidetaker, a site that lets the public be the judge in spats between quarreling lovers.

Don’t bother to seek nuance or middle ground here; there’s plenty of blame and fingerpointing for couples bickering over everything from toilet flushing habits to illicit affairs.

Sidetaker (slogan: “let the world decide who’s at fault”) of course is in this for the greater good:

…far too many divorces, break ups, and separations happen over non-critical disputes. Over 50% of American marriages end in divorce. In a fight, each person has their side and are usually backed by their friends (on either side). When you can create a jury of anonymous peers to decide who is right or wrong in an argument, then the bias is gone and the person at fault will just have to suck it up.

A noble sentiment indeed. This site is of the same ilk as People’s Court Raw, which brings the added dimension of video to lovers’ quarrels.

(Thanks to Tammy Lenski for the link.)

The International Mediation Institute (IMI), a public policy initiative creating international competency standards for certifying mediators, has conferred a great honor upon a select group of bloggers.

IMI has created a special section on its web site to recognize the work of mediation bloggers from countries around the world. IMI’s list of bloggers, with links and brief descriptions, is prefaced by these words from Herman Melville that capture beautifully the spirit of both mediation and blogging:

We cannot live only for ourselves.
A thousand fibres connect us with our fellow men;
and among those fibres, as sympathetic threads,
our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.

I feel privileged that Mediation Channel was among those included. I’m in the company of the likes of Geoff Sharp (New Zealand), Tammy Lenski (U.S.), Marcus Brinkmann (Germany), Sanjana Hattotuwa (Sri Lanka), and others who have contributed in significant ways to the quality of the conversation about ADR on the web. You can explore the complete list of mediation blogs at the IMI web site.

Thank you, IMI, for your generous support of our community of bloggers.

(Hat tip to Samil Demir who publishes the Turkish language Arabulucu Blog.)

Now available online is the latest edition of The Complete Lawyer, a web-based magazine focusing on quality of life and career satisfaction for attorneys, along with its special ADR column, “The Human Factor“. This issue of The Complete Lawyer discusses “The Brave New World of Associates.”  Articles include “Jettison the Myth of Individualism“, reflecting on the importance of building social capital.

“The Human Factor” focuses on ADR from the perspective of four attorneys who mediate - me and three colleagues, Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg and Brains on Purpose, Gini Nelson of Engaging Conflicts, and Victoria Pynchon of Settle It Now Negotiation Blog.

After writing the first three columns together, each of us will now solo, starting with Gini Nelson, who takes this issue of “The Human Factor” to discuss how “Joining A New Firm Is Like Traveling To A Foreign Country“. Then it’ll be my turn for the following issue.

The Complete Lawyer is published by Don Hutcheson, who has been an enthusiastic supporter of “The Human Factor” from the beginning. Thanks, Don, for being such a good friend to the four of us.

To meme or not to meme, that is the question.

Memes are single units of culture — ideas, behavior, customs, or trends — transmitted virally from one individual to the next.  On the internet, memes often spread and propagate through blogs, whose very nature makes them ideal for the viral transmission that memes depend upon to survive.

Between you and me, I am no fan of blog-memes.  They function like chain letters: when a blogger is “tagged” with a meme, he or she must respond in a designated way and pass the meme along, “tagging” other bloggers who in turn must contaminate still others with the meme.

I do acknowledge some positive things about blog-memes.  They don’t arrive with the predictions of doom commonly associated with chain letters, which promise misfortune or even death to those who break the chain.  And memes at bottom are impromptu games — a burst of spontaneity and playfulness — a welcome relief after the tedium of blogging about weightier topics. In short, they’re fun.

Why the reflection on memes? It seems I’ve been tagged by Ed., the anonymous Editor of Blawg Review to participate in a meme of his own making, inspired by the recent celebration of Blog Day on August 31:

The idea is to post links to five great blogs (other than law blogs) on your blawg and tag five of your favorite blawgers to do the same under the post title ‘5 Blogs & 5 Blawgers’.

Since there is little I wouldn’t do for Ed., this is one meme I am only too happy to take part in.

Here then are 5 great blogs:

• The Map Room.  I have always loved maps, which not only describe and measure the terrain to be traversed but are also culturally constructed, reflecting the wondrous geography of human minds and hearts. Maps depict places that exist in the world as well as those that exist in our imaginations only. This blog covers all those territories.
• Neuromarketing.  Motto: “Where Brain Science and Marketing Meet”.  I’ll let author Roger Dooley do the talking: “We cover both breaking news about relevant brain research as well as ‘big picture’ topics like ethical dilemmas posed by cutting-edge technology.” Fascinating, well-written, and fun.
• Ethics Newsline. This thoughtful and engaging blog serves as a “weekly digest of worldwide ethics news”. “Jane Austen’s Globalism: Three Lenses for the Future” is but one example of the kind of exemplary writing this blog is known for.
• Sociological Images. By showing visitors the images that media relentlessly bombard us with, this blog holds up a mirror to stereotypes, judgments, and cultural constructions and depictions of gender, race, religion, sexuality, and more. Not always workplace safe so browse with care.
• Small Business Trends.  A wonderful blog that generously offers smart advice for small business owners like you and me — like this recent article on using Google’s free tools to spot trends on the web.

And now to tag 5 unsuspecting blawgers:

First, my fellow Blawg Review virgins, Victoria Pynchon, Stephanie West Allen, and Gini Nelson. Next, my neighbor, Bob Ambrogi. And last but by no means least, Dan Hull.

Friends, may your blogs prosper whether you choose to meme or not.