2017

• 2017-12-08

  NarraFirma 1.0

  I am finally ready to announce the release of NarraFirma 1.0. I’ve been working on it since the summer. I was able to give the software a nice solid overhaul in functionality and usability. The blog post on the NarraFirma web site describes the changes in detail. I’ll summarize just a few of the major… Read more

• 2017-11-14

  Here I am talking about stories and complexity

  Hello everybody. You might be wondering what I’ve been up to lately. To begin with, I’ve been busy visiting relatives, getting sick (then better), and having relatives visit. In October I attended my second NYSDRA (NY State Dispute Resolution Association) conference, where I showed another friendly group of people what it’s like to make sense… Read more

• 2017-07-18

  Togetherness

  A while back I was on a discussion list and people were talking about biological symbiosis as a metaphor for people communicating and collaborating. As a former biologist, I felt a responsibility to respond, so I wrote a sort of quick guide to sociality in the non-human world. Several people later thanked me for the… Read more

• 2017-05-19

  Presentations, podcasts, plans

  I’m cleaning my office again, so it’s time to catch you up on some presentations and podcasts I’ve been doing lately (outside of conferences). Last June I spoke at my very own local historical society on “Stories in your Family or Community.” In November I was interviewed by Bob Cudmore in his The Historians series… Read more

• 2017-05-12

  Narratopia Revisited

  Guess what? I’ve been working on Narratopia again. In case you don’t know: Narratopia is a game of conversational story sharing for 3-6 people. You build a web of connected stories about anything you like. You go on a journey of discovery by exploring experiences and connections. The game helps out by giving you ideas… Read more

• 2017-03-15

  Conference report, part six: Stories and NVC

   This is the sixth in a series of blog posts about two conferences I attended this fall (NCDD and NYSDRA). I started by describing the Red-Blue Dictionary and the exercise I designed for it (which I call “Ground Truthing with Stories“). Then I described a new conferences-and-meetings variant of the “Twice told stories” exercise, called “Bubble up stories,” I designed for… Read more

• 2017-03-06

  Conference report, part five: NYSDRA and childhood trauma

  This is the fifth in a series of blog posts about two conferences I attended this fall (NCDD and NYSDRA). Now I’ll finish the series with an account of some other meetings and conferences I attended and talk about what’s coming next. (Actually, this post was supposed to complete the series, but it turns out I will… Read more

• 2017-02-01

  Conference report, part four: Cross method mapping

  This is the fourth in a series of blog posts about two conferences I attended this fall (NCDD and NYSDRA). Now I’ll talk about Cross method mapping with the Group Works cards. As some will remember, I first started thinking about a way to connect the hundreds of methods and approaches that surround the practice… Read more

• 2017-01-26

  Conference report, part three: Sticker stories

  This is the third in a series of blog posts about two conferences I attended this fall (NCDD and NYSDRA). I started by describing the Red-Blue Dictionary and the exercise I designed for it (which I call “Ground Truthing with Stories“). Then I described a new conferences-and-meetings variant of the “Twice told stories” exercise, called… Read more

• 2017-01-24

  Conference report, part two: Bubble up stories

  This is the second in a series of blog posts about two conferences I attended this fall (NCDD and NYSDRA). I started by describing the Red-Blue Dictionary and the exercise I designed for it (which I call “Ground Truthing with Stories“). Now I’ll talk about the exercise I designed for the first plenary session of… Read more