Real-Time Online Video Meetings (11/16/09)
John Folk-Williams
Despite my share of disappointments with the latest “revolutionary” computer technology, I’ve become quite optimistic about online video meetings. In contrast to promotions about the potential of “game-changing” breakthroughs, the newly available services look not just promising but extremely useful right now.

Did You Miss The ODR Cyber Week :Web 2.0: Going From Oh? To Know (11/09/09)
Jeff Thompson
Well, You are in luck as the archive has been posted below. You can forever listen to me (Jeff Thompson) moderate a panel of the web's best ADR professionals:

Mediating eDiscovery Disputes – Allison Skinner’s Brilliant Idea (11/02/09)
Victoria VanBuren
Allison O. Skinner is an attorney and full-time mediator at Sirote & Permutt and has written two outstanding articles about resolving eDiscovery disputes as a Mediator to develop a “Mediated Discovery Plan.” What a great way to help parties take advantage of the mediation process to reduce the out of control costs of eDiscovery and at the same time reach an amicable plan to deal with eDiscovery. Allison has setup a great model that will surely be widely adopted.

Old Friends, the Internet and Mediation (10/27/09)
James Melamed
A short trip to the SF Bay Area this past weekend provided me with an enhanced understanding of how integrated electronic communication has become with the coordination of complex face-to-face events, be that a soccer game, hospital visitation or, perhaps, a difficult mediation.

5 ADR Bloggers, 1 Hour, All Your Questions, Live! (10/26/09)
Tammy Lenski
ODR Cyberweek begins Monday and I’m thrilled to be part of a live event near the end of the week: Going from OH? to KNOW!. The brainchild of Jeff Thompson, one of my favorite bloggers and a guy with a pretty compelling bio, the event brings together five major ADR bloggers to discuss our tips and strategies, the tools we use, how blogging has helped us, and to take your questions.

Web Resources For Online Meetings – 1 (10/12/09)
John Folk-Williams
This post gives a quick overview of one of the key meeting technologies: web conferencing. This provides the core functionality of today’s online collaborative experience. While the basic technology has been in use for some time, it’s only in the last few years that it has become affordable to smaller organizations. No longer restricted to in-house networks of large agencies, online meetings are accessible from any computer by means of a single link in an email or instant message.

E-Mediation: Will I Be Replaced By Software? (10/05/09)
Phyllis Pollack
As some of you know, I am the incoming president of the Southern California Mediation Association (“SCMA”). Before I take my oath of office, I must go through a rite of passage which is chairing the SCMA’s Annual Fall Conference. This year it will be held on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at Pepperdine University, Malibu, California.

"The Sinister March of Net Niceness" (8/31/09)
Colin Rule
From Valleywag (warning: heavily airbrushed and quite cleavagey model picture after the link): "...that's the thing about being impolite online: it might be needlessly abrasive 95 times out of 100, but those other five times it's awesome, conveying fresh perspective readers would not have seen were it not for the cloak of anonymity.

Online Dispute Resolution (7/06/09)
Jeff Thompson
Recently I had a conversation with someone in regards to Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) and how the person thought it had less human interaction compared to traditional ADR methods. I responded saying I actually think instead of viewing as ‘less’ or ‘more’, it is another choice for the parties. ODR is a new form of human interaction.

Just Launched A Dispute Resolution Blog? Here Are 6 Things Effective Bloggers Do (6/15/09)
Diane J. Levin
As a blogger who’s been at this now for over four years, I have been fortunate enough to know first-hand the impact of blogging on the way ADR professionals practice.

Conflicts Of Interest In The Age Of Twitter And Facebook: Neutrals Must Find Right Balance (6/08/09)
Diane J. Levin
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn - if you are active on any of those sites or on the many others like them - then you no doubt have frequent opportunities to connect.

Skype Calling — Mediation in the 21st. Century (5/11/09)
Steve Mehta
As a mediator, and as a prior communications major in college, I recognize and accept the fact that complex mediations often require an interpersonal touch that can only be achieved in person. However, that is not always possible.

New Zealand Considering Ongoing Mediation Role for Online Piracy Disputes (4/01/09)
Keith Seat

A possible last minute compromise between copyright holders and internet service providers would rely on independent mediators to help resolve internet piracy complaints. Mediation would replace an obligation on ISPs and server operators to investigate piracy complaints and bar clients from the web, which would be imposed by the revised Copyright Act. Advocates of internet freedom marched on Parliament to protest the legislation, which was set to take effect at the end of February.

New Zealand Herald (February 20, 2009)

Negotiating Twitter: a mediator test drives the hot social media craze (3/23/09)
Diane J. Levin
Since February, I’ve been test-driving Twitter, the social media tool that everyone these days seems to be talking about. It’s a social and business networking, instant messaging, and microblogging service, all rolled into one. Twitter invites users to respond to the question “What are you doing?” Every day, thousands of users log in, eager to answer, using cell phones or computers.

The Culture in the Code (3/09/09)
Daniel Rainey
In the United States, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has become a routine, and sometimes even a dominant force in the resolution of disputes that traditionally would have gone through some formal, legal process. One observation from the United States will probably serve to make the point. The American Bar Association (ABA), the premier professional association for attorneys in the United States, now has as its largest interest group the Section on Dispute Resolution – a group within the ABA dedicated to dispute resolution outside the formal legal system.

Cross-Border Internet Dispute Book Review (3/09/09)
Jeff Thompson
Interested in Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)? A new book is out on such a topic.

Screen-2-Screen Mediation For Face-2-Face Mediators (10/27/08)
Geoff Sharp
In light of Vickie Pynchon's recent posts Negotiating by Email? Think Again! and More Dangers in Negotiating by Email, this online course on how to mediate by email looks interesting.

Social media: join the shift from monologue to dialogue (7/07/08)
Tammy Lenski
In Making Mediation Your Day Job, I discuss at length the way dialogue and conversation are replacing the old monologue marketing model and what mediators should do about it. Still not convinced it’s worth your while to network online and use social media to promote your business? Take a look at this excellent slideshow, filled with some pretty interesting data. For instance: 36% of consumers think more positively about companies that have blogs. Millenials spend 16 hours or more per ...

Mediating f2f Holographically (6/10/08)
Geoff Sharp
Ok, when you are truly a carbon neutral mediator in future years and refuse to travel big distances to your high stakes mediations, remember you saw world’s first live holographic video feed here on blah... blah...See these guys? They are on stage together, but the chap on the left is in Bangalore, India and the two on the right are in San Jose, CA. This is now!My guess is that, within a decade, many of us will insist on mediating with 3D holographic display technology beaming up the...

Resolucion de disputas en y por internet (4/12/08)
Nora Femenia, Ph.D
El desarrollo de los métodos alternos de resolución de conflictos ha llegado al medio electrónico, donde tiene un poderoso aliado. Dado el crecimiento vertiginoso de las transacciones online, urge desarrollar nuevos métodos de resolver conflictos adaptados al medio electrónico. El internet ofrece tanto seguridad como privacidad, rapidez y bajo costo al procesamiento masivo de quejas y disputas con clientes de comerciantes online. Aquí se describen sus principios, sus diferencias y algunas exitosas aplicaciones prácticas.

Online Mediation Moves to Second Life (4/07/08)
Keith Seat

Law students in a dispute resolution class at the University of Dayton Law School are honing their skills in mediations held in the online world of Second Life, where each participant is shown as an avatar or animated character who communicates through its user’s voice or by text messages. In addition to the general communication among the group, separate private Instant Messages can occur simultaneously. Compared to communicating through conference calls, personality can come through in how the avatars are dressed and move. Biases based on appearance or voice can be eliminated, but gestures and facial expressions that are important to communication are also lost.

Dayton Daily News (March 16, 2008)

Four Questions About International Online Dispute Resolution Part Three (4/07/08)
Gini Nelson
Today’s post continues a series co-authored by myself and international business attorney Vonda K. Vandaveer on the use of online dispute resolution to solve problems associated with traditional ADR. [Earlier posts: Part One, Part Two.] This post addresses the question: What Disputes Work Well for ODR? Online ADR works well for most business disputes, assuming the parties want to obtain a mutually-acceptable resolution to their problem as opposed to “winning.” ODR is amenable to the same...

Four Questions About International Online Dispute Resolution Part One (3/31/08)
Gini Nelson
Today’s post introduces a series co-authored by myself and international business attorney Vonda K. Vandaveer. For business leaders, alternative dispute resolution rather than litigation has no doubt become the preferred process for handling problems, thanks to its efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and flexibility. As businesses become more global, however, the traditional methods of face-to-face mediation, arbitration or other dispute resolution processes pose significant logistical...

Four Questions About International Online Dispute Resolution Part Two (3/31/08)
Gini Nelson
Today’s post continues a series co-authored by myself and international business attorney Vonda K. Vandaveer on the use of online dispute resolution to solve problems associated with traditional ADR. [Earlier posts: Part One.] This post addresses the question: How Does ODR Work? ODR takes advantage of technology that most everyone in business already uses, such as computers, internet, email, instant chat, video conferencing, telephone conferencing, and increasingly VoIP (e.g. Skype). ODR...

Skype Meeting Tips (3/31/08)
Tammy Lenski
As more and more of my business calls are international, I've found Skype an invaluable tool for keeping the phone bills reasonable and being able to see eye-to-eye with the person at the other end of the phone line. So I appreciated Chris Garrett's Tips for Better Skype Meetings. For example, Chris suggests, Add contacts as your first job - Rather than waiting 'til the last minute, it is best to swap and add contact information before. Also share landline or mobile numbers ...