Taking Peacemaking Public Among Cyberweek 2007 Panel Highlights–EngagingConflicts.com
Cyberweek 2007 was lots of fun, well-attended, stimulating,supportive — well, as tech-ADR shaker and mover John DeBruyn said, Cyberweek is itself one way of making and celebrating community among conflict specialists.
Among all its activities, Cyberweek hosted four online programs in its Mediation Excellence series put on by John DeBruyn. Tuesday’s Online Mediation Role Play Workshop featured a live role play demonstration utilizing audio conferencing, desktop sharing, and a collaborative web platform to deliver an interactive presentation to demonstrate online mediation and mediator training. Parties to the mediation viewed the mediator’s “flipchart” on their own computer screens as he typed on his computer, and “signed” the Agreement to Mediation in the viewing of all parties and the mediator by typing their names on the whiteboard visible to all.
Wednesday’s 40 ADR Web Sites in 60 Minutes featured New Zealand mediator Geoff Sharp’s “quick pick of the best” list that included Engaging Conflicts, I’m honored to report.
Thursday’s Mediation Excellence in Cyberspace featured Colin Rule, Director of Online Dispute Resolution for eBay and Paypal (which, by the way, handles between 30 and 40 million cases a year); Ethan Katsh, Professor of Legal Studies and Director of U. Mass.’s National Center for Technology and Dispute Resotion; Graham Ross, founder and Managing Director of The Mediation Room, and John DeBruyn with an informal history of online education, mentoring, networking and cooperation between mediators and mediation organizations in the quest for Mediation Excellence generally. Colm Brannigan, Sarah Cole of the new law professors’ blog Indisputably, and I were honored to then discuss the newer developments with blogging and other online media, and, finally, we all speculated about creating social community online for conflict specialists.
Friday’s program,Taking Peacemaking Public, well, it was wonderful. It was the first program I have put together and moderated for Cyberweek and I thank Ethan Katsh and John DeBruyn for the opportunity and support—- it was a wonderful experience. I posted the outline of the panel program here. We had so much fun and it was so stimulating we didn’t want the conversation to end… so it won’t. I’ve made TPP a category here at Engaging Conflicts, and I will be starting a TPP interview series for Engaging Conflicts Today as well (you can sign up for the newsletter over in the right side column).
Gini, Thanks SO much for including me in the TPP discussion. The exchange between the ADR people and the journalists about the peace-making and -keeping tasks ahead, the existing opportunities and the innovations in the field made me want to have a sleep-over with the entire group. Dorm room 3 a.m. More more!! and Brava!! to you for bringing us all together.
Thank you, Vickie– your contributions were, as always, invaluable. I look forward to our continuing this topic.
Gini