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Daily Archives: February 24, 2021

The importance of technology competence when communicating electronically

Sui Generis – Nicole Black: “I’m sure that by now you’ve already seen the now infamous cat filter court hearing video. If not, Google it and watch it. I’ll wait. Now that you’re back, let’s talk about how you can avoid replicating that unfortunate predicament. The short answer? By maintaining technology competence when using electronic methods to communicate with clients and colleagues. It’s always been important to ensure that you understand how to use the technologies that you use regularly in your practice. But now that many of us are working – and appearing in court – remotely, it’s imperative that lawyers are technologically competent when communicating electronically. If you’re not sure what your obligations are when it comes to electronic communications or aren’t sure where to start, you’re in luck. The Florida Bar issued an updated guide last year that’s right on point: “Best Practices for Professional Electronic Communication.”  This 25-page ebook offers a comprehensive overview of the ins and outs of different types of electronic communication and the issues lawyers need to understand when using said technologies. The types of electronic communications covered include texting, email, social media, telephones and cellphones, laptops, and court appearances via videoconference. I recommend that you read the guide in its entirety since it contains at ton of useful information about securely and ethically communicating electronically. In the meantime, here are some highlights to get you started…”

5 hidden Google gems you aren’t using yet

Fast Company, Doug Aamoth – “For a tool most of us use every day to find stuff on the web, Google has more than a few helpful tricks up its sleeve that aren’t super apparent unless you know where to look. Here are a few I’ve found recently that have saved me countless clicks, spared… Continue Reading

Firefox 86 brings multiple Picture-in-Picture, “Total Cookie Protection”

Ars Technica – “Mozilla released Firefox 86 yesterday, and the browser is now available for download and installation for all major operating systems, including Android. Along with the usual round of bug fixes and under-the-hood updates, the new build offers a couple of high-profile features—multiple Picture-in-Picture video-watching support, and (optional) stricter cookie separation, which Mozilla… Continue Reading

46,218 news transcripts show ideologically extreme politicians get more airtime

Via LLRX – 46,218 news transcripts show ideologically extreme politicians get more airtime – Professors Joshua Darr, Jeremey Padgett and Johanna Dunaway research how changes in the media have shifted the incentives of elected officials and the considerations of voters, and what that means for American democracy. In recent work, they showed that extremely conservative… Continue Reading

Black and Hispanic people more ‘engaged’ with books than most Americans

Via LLRX – Black and Hispanic people more ‘engaged’ with books than most Americans are: New report from Panorama Project – David H. Rothman, cofounder of LibraryEndowment.org, discusses the new Panorama Project report that covers a variety of topics, ranging from piracy to synergies between books and other media. Specifically significant to Rothman is the… Continue Reading

A Simple Rule of Thumb for Knowing When the Pandemic Is Over

The Atlantic: “…The most obvious interpretation of “beating COVID-19” would be that transmission of the coronavirus has stopped, a scenario some public-health experts have hashtagged #ZeroCOVID. But the experts I spoke with all agreed that this won’t happen in the U.S. in the foreseeable future. “This would require very high levels of vaccination coverage,” said… Continue Reading

A guide to the identities and language of the far right

Poynter, James Stout:  “Journalists have had to cover the difference between white nationalism and western chauvinism in the last few months, with some confusion…Many of my colleagues more used to dissecting the differences between two parties that share a narrow neoliberal consensus have been, through no choice of their own, forced to cover the difference… Continue Reading

DaVinci Globe Earliest to Show the Americas

Leonardo Depicted America: Misread as the Moon. Advances in Historical Studies, 8, 139-147. “Leonardo da Vinci must have been aware that Columbus discovered new territories in the West. Until now, no material evidence had been found to substantiate this assumption. Here we show that Leonardo not only read Amerigo Vespucci’s letter (derived from a painted… Continue Reading