Gini Nelson's Engaging Conflicts

Occasionally, I’m asked and I’ll answer something that seems worth sharing (for what it’s worth — 5 cents?). Here’s a quick answer to “how to get your blog out there”:

To get the blog known, you must write blog posts; write regularly; and write “well” (giving value to the readers, in an authentic voice, written straight and simply). Next, you identify who you want to network with, in terms of who already has blogs that are related to yours; you add them to your blogroll to acknowledge their value to you; you consider commenting to their posts at their blogs; and you establish to them that your blog gives value through its posts and ask them to link to your blog (after your value is established to them). Third, there are some technical “tips”, such as putting the name of your blog in the post title (like I do); having your post titles be interesting in and of themselves to draw readers; and having your posts link to earlier, related posts in your blog. All these, step by step, grow your readership and credibility– and it won’t be fast, so be prepared to go the distance.

There is much more beyond this, but this is what you do to start, and you do this for at least 6 months in order to get used to this form of communication before you go the next round of activities. So… start blogging! Get the hang of it! See what amount of timing, what kinds of articles, what kind of voice works for you (by which I mean you will be able to continue it naturally on a committed basis).

If you have questions I might help with, please email me, and I’ll see what I can do.

Here are my notes for the presentation I made last Thursday at the ACR conference — just notes; you’ll have to go to the links for more information. (Oh, and I must confess that I may not recall all that we talked about, because we had a very lively, interactive discussion!)
October 2007 ACR/Phoenix Wikis and Podcasts and Blogs, Oh My! HIGHLIGHTS
Gini Nelson, MA, JD

This isn’t a “how to”, so much as an overview of some of what I have tried in the past 1 and 1/2 years (and I have tried alot!) and what I’m working on now.

What a blog is, what a blog’s component parts are, how to search within it, how easy it is to write a post:

• Gini Nelson’s Engaging Conflicts blog

Engaging Conflicts Today (emailed newsletter associated with the blog, as vehicle for professional and business development):

• http://engagingconflicts.com/index.php/archives/115 (Ken Feinberg interview announced)
• http://engagingconflicts.com/index.php/archives/317 (U.S. Magistrate Judge Wayne Brazil interview announced)

What’s right for you (really important question)? Static, brochure-like website? Blog (and note how many different templates there are for blogs)? Something with elements of both (and/or more)? Examples: Read more »

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 Read more »

Here’s what’s posted for tomorrow’s Cyberweek panel– call in to the phone bridge for the call. Phone 1-605-475-8590 and when prompted, enter the conference room ID number 5650382, with a pound sign added to the end. If you are calling using Skype, the number is +990008275650382.

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SORRY! I just got this message myself. This the new access number/information for the 4 panels I’ve posted about for Cyberweek.

We upgraded our conference bridge for recording capability and did not realize the access numbers changed until now. Here are the new numbers:

The Highspeed audio bridge conference room number is 5650382 and is available by phone at **New Access Numbers (10/16/07) 1-605-475-8590 and by Skype at +990008275650382. The audio conference is required for participation.

Sorry for the late notice

Please don’t forget about Cyberweek at http://www.odr.info/cyberweek2007. This is the annual online conflict resolution conference. It is quite impressive.As an example of the Cyberweek offerings, Jeff Aresty, President of The Internet Bar, and Jim Melamed, CEO of Mediate.com, will be offering a FREE 90 minute online webinar Tuesday October 16 at 1 pm ET; 10 am Pacific. The direct link for the free seminar is: https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/721282799. Just go there a few minutes before the scheduled session.This will be a practical conversation about the ODR tools and opportunities available today and where the field of Online Dispute Resolution is heading.Thanks for your consideration. We hope that you will consider Cyberweek generally and this valuable webinar session especially.

Here’s the [UPDATED] final schedule for the panels that Denver attorney John DeBruyn is shepherding — remember, all programs are online, and free!:

TUESDAY, October 16, 2 PM Pacific – Online Mediation Role Play Workshop: 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.

WEDNESDAY, October 17, noon Pacific – 40 ADR web sites in 60 minutes: Panel presentation with Geoff Sharp, Diane Levin, Robert Ambrogi, Colm Brannigan, Gini Nelson and John DeBruyn utilizing audio conferencing, desktop sharing, and a browser tour of the 40 sites.

THURSDAY, October 18, 1 PM Pacific – Mediation Excellence in Cyberspace HighSpeed audio conference/web visual interaction with Colin Rule, Ethan Katsh, Graham Ross, Colm Brannigan, Diane Levin, Gini Nelson and John DeBruyn. Objectives: (1) supporting Mediation Excellence in online dispute resolution; and (2) using the internet for education, mentoring, networking and cooperation between mediators and mediation organizations in the quest for Mediation Excellence generally. This program will also celebrate International Conflict Resolution Day which is October 18.

FRIDAY, October 19, 1 PM Pacific – Taking Peacemaking Public: All negotiation is built on trust. Trust is built on expecting and concluding that you are being listened to. We know that—-the public doesn’t. Why aren’t people beating down the doors of peacemakers, whether mediators, facilitators or negotiators? Does how we speak help lead them to conclude that they are not being listened to? How should we speak to them? How can the internet engage people online in ways that facilitate and promote peacemaking? Panel conflict specialists Gini Nelson, Vickie Pynchon, Colm Brannigan and Diane Levin will interact with the following guest panelists who regularly reach the public directly and effectively:

Michael Skoler, Executive Director, Center for Innovation in Journalism, Minnesota Public Radio at American Public Media. MPR’s Public Insight Journalism (PIJ) model features online simulations and collaborative tools, a public source network of over 30,000 people, a contact database that tracks expertise and interactions, and knowledge management software.

Sandra Blakeslee, a regular contributor to The New York Times who specializes in the brain sciences. Sandra will talk particularly about the need to tell stories to reach people, especially when explaining complex and subtle subject matter in science. Her newest book (cowritten with her son, also a science writer), just released within the past few weeks, is The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better.

Ben Stokes, Program Officer in the Digital Learning and Media area at The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, previously a co-founder of Games For Change, a spin-off from the Serious Games Initiative that concentrates on advancing the use of digital games for positive societal change. Prior to this, he was the e-learning architect for Student Activist Community and a program manager overseeing digital learning projects at NetAid under the umbrella of Education for Global Citizenship.

Here’s an earlier post with registration information.

Here’s the latest [UPDATED] on the Cyberweek 2007, Friday, Oct. 19 panel. This earlier post gives the registration information for the entire week’s free programs.

• Michael Skoler, Executive Director, Center for Innovation in Journalism, Minnesota Public Radio at American Public Media. MPR’s Public Insight Journalism (PIJ) model features online simulations and collaborative tools, a public source network of over 30,000 people, a contact database that tracks expertise and interactions, and knowledge management software.
• Sandra Blakeslee, a regular contributor to The New York Times who specializes in the brain sciences. Sandra will talk particularly about the need to tell stories to reach people, especially when explaining complex and subtle subject matter in science. Her newest book, just released within the past few weeks, is The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better.
• Ben Stokes, Program Officer in the Digital Learning and Media area at The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, previously a co-founder of Games For Change, a spin-off from the Serious Games Initiative that concentrates on advancing the use of digital games for positive societal change. Prior to this, he was the e-learning architect for Student Activist Community and a program manager overseeing digital learning projects at NetAid under the umbrella of Education for Global Citizenship.

The University of Massachusetts at Amhearst National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution (NCTDR) has announced Cyberweek 2007, a week-long, all online, free conference on all things online dispute resolution. Details and links for registration are at the end of this post.

I’m especially excited about a panel I’m setting up right now for John DeBruyn, the “go to guy” up in Denver, CO on spreading the word on innovative use of online tools for dispute resolution, and the 2007/2008 Chair of the Colorado Bar Association’s ADR Section. It’s called Taking Peacemaking Public, and will include as one panelist Michael Skoler, Executive Director, Center for Innovation in Journalism, Minnesota Public Radio at American Public Media. MPR’s Public Insight Journalism (PIJ) model features online simulations and collaborative tools, a public source network of over 30,000 people, a contact database that tracks expertise and interactions, and knowledge management software.

For more information on Cyberweek 2007:

Last year I posted about OneWebDay (what some call “an earthday for the web”) and here we are again… it’s tomorrow!

The mission of OneWebDay is to create, maintain, advance and promote a global day to celebrate online life. From the OneWebDay site:

OneWebDay, Sept. 22, is an Earth Day for the internet.

Here’s a very short overview video that will give you the idea (watch here) and a Rocketboom interview about OneWebDay (here). The first OneWebDay took place in 2006.

It’s easy to take the web for granted. But it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on what the web could mean to humankind in the future. That’s the purpose of OneWebDay, held each September 22.

There are substantial threats to the free flow of information online, all over the world. Many governments censor online content. (see opennet.net). Many people in developing nations can’t get online at all. We need to ensure that the internet used by future generations will be open and empowering — access to the internet is central to the future of humanity.

The idea behind OneWebDay is to encourage people to think of themselves as responsible for the internet, and to take good and visible actions on Sept. 22 that (1) celebrate the positive impact of the internet on the world and (2) shed light on the problems of access and information flow.

OneWebDay is a global, decentralized event. We’re encouraging people around the world to meet up on Sept. 22 to talk about how the web could change lives around the world in the future. We’re aiming for at least fifty of these events, and thanks to the Internet Society and others we’ve already heard from Poland, Italy, Colombia, the Philippines, Bulgaria, Kenya, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Belgium, Ethiopia, Tunisia, and other countries. In the US, there will be events in Los Angeles, Boston, Austin, and New York.