Colin Rule
On Video:
Online Dispute Resolution Becoming Default System for ADR
(1:56) Colin talks about how online dispute resolution is becoming a default system for a number of businesses and organizations in resolving their disputes.
Online Dispute Resolution Explained
(1:23) Colin provides an example of how an online dispute resolution system works within a market setting such as Ebay.
Technology will Increasingly Become Norm for Human Interaction
(4:02) Colin discusses how technology will become more and more integrated into daily life, becoming a norm for human interaction, conferences, and dispute resolution contexts.
Online Dispute Resolution Gaining Popularity
(2:17) Colin talks about the start of online dispute resolution (ODR) and how corporations wanted to invest and incorporate ODR into their businesses. Articles:But that’s not just directed at Mr. Obama. It’s directed at all of us. What the president promised was a “global plan,” not an American plan. The same is true on all the other issues that the Nobel committee cited, from nuclear disarmament to climate change — none of these things will yield to unilateral approaches. They’ll take international cooperation and American leadership. "The Sinister March of Net Niceness" 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. Beer Summits And Presidential Mediations I've wanted to post something on Obama's Beer Summit for some time, but I thought it best to let the dust settle before weighing in. The racial hot buttons made it harder to focus on the conflict management approach behind the engagement. I think now the time has come to process what happened. Discussions Vs. Disputes Vs. Controversies A friend in the eBay Israel office shared this with me... pretty interesting... Obama And Open Government The White House announced its Open Government initiative today. My good friend Beth Noveck's fingerprints are all over this. I urge you to visit the site and participate in the "Brainstorming" phase. This is an exciting step forward in both participating and transparency for the Federal level in the US. Conflict Resolution Governance The president tends to seek conflict resolution rather than drama. He has been compared to Franklin D. Roosevelt, confronted with an economic crisis. The Mediator-in-Chief Well, I suppose no long time reader of this blog would be surprised to hear I'm in a good mood today. This has been a dark period in our nation's history, and I'm filled with optimism today that we'll be able to heal this nation and get back on the right path. Obama's words reaffirm my hope that he would bring an understanding of the importance of resolving conflicts into the Presidency. Empiricism vs. Human Nature Ah the David Brooks I've come to know and love showed up today: "...the current financial crisis — how so many people could be so stupid, incompetent and self-destructive all at once... the crisis has delivered a blow to classical economics and taken a body of psychological work that was at the edge of public policy thought and brought it front and center. Nobel Lecture by Martti Ahtisaari, Oslo, 10 December 2008 On this last day of a very difficult year for the world, I'd like to end the year with a speech from this year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize: "Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, Distinguished members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Dear Friends and Colleagues around the world... Trying To Perceive Things That Aren't True My sense is that this financial crisis is going to amount to a coming-out party for behavioral economists and others who are bringing sophisticated psychology to the realm of public policy. At least these folks have plausible explanations for why so many people could have been so gigantically wrong about the risks they were taking. Companies Unlikely to Use Arbitration With Each Other New research about arbitration adds fuel to the fire for the argument that consumer dispute resolution is really at base a manipulative technique to minimize financial exposure from business. I believe it can be done correctly, so that justice is done. But it appears from this study that many businesses do not feel the same way. Credit where credit is due A trademark Brooks turnaround in today's column: "...big gaps in educational attainment are present at age 5. Some children are bathed in an atmosphere that promotes human capital development and, increasingly, more are not. By 5, it is possible to predict, with depressing accuracy, who will complete high school and college and who won’t. I.Q. matters, but Heckman points to equally important traits that start and then build from those early years: motivation levels, emotional... A Universal Language Jeff Goldfien in the ADRNC Newsletter: "I was struck by a statement by Senator Obama, reported in the press yesterday, responding to an accusation by conservative Christian leader James Dobson that Obama was distorting the message of the both the bible and the constitution in his discussions and entreaties to various religious groups and leaders... Sara Kugler of the Associated Press reported that, "Speaking to reporters on his campaign plane before landing in Los Angeles, Obama said the... A Credo for Facilitators Peter Adler, head of the Keystone Center and a giant in the field of dispute resolution, recently published a great "credo for facilitators" that he first came up with some years ago. I really like his set of seven beliefs at the end of the credo: "1. A GOOD FAITH CONTRACT. We believe the job of the “facilitator” involves a three way good faith contract that must be honored by (a) those who are sponsoring or convening the process; (b) those who are serving as facilitators of... Microsoft and Yahoo: Where Were the Mediators? David Hoffman in the 5/12 Christian Science Monitor: "When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer met with Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang earlier this month, what kept them from making a deal? With Microsoft offering $33 per share for Yahoo's stock, and Yahoo willing to take $37, was there truly an unbridgeable gulf? The $4 gap seems trivial in comparison to the potential value of the deal. So did Microsoft and Yahoo walk away from a deal that would have made both sides better off? This type of bargaining failure... Divided We Fall Kristof in the Times today: "To understand your feelings about Wednesday night’s debate, consider the Dartmouth-Princeton football game in 1951. That bitterly fought contest was the subject of a landmark study about how our biases shape our understanding of reality. Psychologists showed a film clip of the football game to groups of students at each college and asked them to act as unbiased referees and note every instance of cheating. The results were striking. Each group, watching the ... How to Disagree Very interesting post from Paul Graham: "The web is turning writing into a conversation. Twenty years ago, writers wrote and readers read. The web lets readers respond, and increasingly they do—in comment threads, on forums, and in their own blog posts. Many who respond to something disagree with it. That's to be expected. Agreeing tends to motivate people less than disagreeing. And when you agree there's less to say. You could expand on something the author said, but he has probably... New Book: Eye of the Storm Leadership A few years ago, my friend Peter Adler hosted a meeting on Capitol Hill entitled "Political Courage and the Power of Bridge-Building" that involved some notable participants from the beltway scene. That conversation served as the seed that's grown into a new book and DVD series entitled "Eye of the Storm Leadership: 150 Ideas, Stories, Quotes, and Exercises on the Art and Politics of Managing Human Hurricanes." Information on the book is available... Negotiating, as a Precursor to an Attack Reuel Marc Gerecht in the NYT 2/20/08: "The Bush administration should advocate direct, unconditional talks between Washington and Tehran. Strategically, politically and morally, such meetings will help us think more clearly. Foreign-policy hawks ought to see such discussions as essential preparation for possible military strikes against clerical Iran’s nuclear facilities... For far too long, the United States has failed to wage a war of ideas with the Iranian regime over the proposal... Making voting choices by "unconscious cognition" Brooks in today's Times: "...many of the theories we come up with are bogus. They are based on the assumption that voters make cold, rational decisions about who to vote for and can tell us why they decided as they did. This is false. In reality, we voters — all of us — make emotional, intuitive decisions about who we prefer, and then come up with post-hoc rationalizations to explain the choices that were already made beneath conscious awareness. “People often act without knowing why... Generosity in the Genes "Generosity May Be Genetically Programmed, Israeli Study Says" by Alisa Odenheimer: "Philanthropists may be genetically programmed to donate to charities, while misers may be wired to hold on to their wealth, Israeli researchers say..." "The study looked at 102 men and 101 women, and took DNA samples to see who had a gene that had been linked to social bonding in animals. They then played an online game that involved making a choice whether to give away money or horde it. Those who... Using Email In Couples Counselling Great new article from ADR pioneer David Hoffman on Mediate.com today. From the conclusion: "Because email is such a new medium {...}the techniques for successful communication via computer may be less intuitive and require more conscious attention... Experience suggests that there is considerable potential in email communications for both misunderstanding and enhanced understanding. As Collaborative Practitioners, we have the added benefit of working on cases with colleagues who join ... Why I'm glad I don't live in Gapun Damian Whitworth in today's Times of London: "Human beings argue about everything from adultery to Zionism and we do so in different styles, whether we are submissive, passive, aggressive, abusive, abusive-passive, aggressive-abusive, submissive-aggressive or submissive-passive-aggressive-abusive... But are there any broad differences between the sexes in the way that we argue? US research into marital stress on the heart has thrown up an intriguing finding about the way some are prone ... Dignity, Not Democracy David Ignatius in today's Post: "We talk about democracy and human rights. Iraqis talk about justice and honor." That comment from Lt. Col. David Kilcullen, made at a seminar last month on counterinsurgency, is the beginning of wisdom for an America that is trying to repair the damage of recent years. It applies not simply to Iraq but to the range of problems in a world tired of listening to an American megaphone. Dignity is the issue that vexes billions of people around the world,... Misinterpreting Email Communications Daniel Goleman in the 10/7 NYT: "We were having an e-mail exchange about some crucial detail involving publishing rights, which I thought was being worked out well. Then she wrote: “It’s difficult to have this conversation by e-mail. I sound strident and you sound exasperated.” At first I was surprised to hear I had sounded exasperated. But once she identified this snag in our communications, I realized that something had really been off. So we had a phone call that cleared everything... Disputes Growing In Virtual Worlds The Business Shrink, October 10th, 2007: "With virtual world’s forming into the next big thing on the horizon, the real world is starting to play catch up. Traffic stats are increasing and the money pouring into virtual worlds is starting to translate into real world money that cannot be ignored. Just recently a report was released by Screencast.com, a business research and intelligence gathering company, that listed subscription sales for online virtual worlds rising to $526,000,000 in the US ... From Colin Rule Mediate.com has been the driving force behind bringing the dispute resolution field online for more than a decade. It has provided an important public face for our work, and it has done so with integrity and respect for every practitioner, no matter how many cases they've handled. I congratulate Mediate.com on passing this milestone, and here's to another decade of spreading the good word about conflict resolution. Finding The Roots Of Cooperation In Game Theory I think the missing link in conflict resolution is game theory. There are legions of practitioners who will talk about the spiritual side of peacemaking, or how mediation is more art than science, or about the links between mediation and meditation. I try to remain open to those conversations, but I think they alienate more people than they attract to the field. Every Time I Give Up on David Brooks... ...he comes back and says something nuanced: "...most political and social disputes grow out of differing theories about the self, and I find Hofstadter’s social, dynamic, overlapping theory of self very congenial. It emphasizes how profoundly we are shaped by relationships with others, but it’s not one of those stifling, collectivist theories that puts the community above the individual. It exposes the errors of those Ayn Rand individualists who think that success is... Cognitive Dissonance / Attribution Error Shankar Vedantam in today's Washington Post: "The different perceptions of victims and perpetrators in Baumeister's experiment are a result of a phenomenon known as cognitive dissonance, Tavris and Aronson argue in a new book titled "Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me)." When we do something that hurts others, there is a part of us that recognizes our action as despicable. But that comes into conflict -- into dissonance -- with our belief that we are good people. The solution? We reinterpret our ... Questioning Integration David Brooks in the 6/6 New York Times: "Nothing is sadder than the waning dream of integration. This dream has illuminated American life for the past several decades — the belief that the world is getting smaller and that different peoples are coming together over time. Over the course of the 20th century, the civil rights movement promised to heal the nation’s oldest wound. Racism and discrimination would diminish. Blacks and whites could live together, go to school together and... Race ToTthe Bottom Kristof in today's Times: '“We see war coming,” Mr. Nkunda said, and he pulled out his laptop to show a map indicating that various government-backed forces are being dispatched to attack him. He added: “The only reply to war and ammunition is war and ammunition.” I told him — a bit nervously — that such tribalism and fighting has torn apart a country that should be one of Africa’s richest. But Mr. Nkunda, who quotes Gandhi, emphasized that what counts here is simply force. “You go by... Study Finds High-testosterone People Feel Rewarded By Others' Anger Science Daily, reporting on a U-Michigan press release, May 12: "Most people don't appreciate an angry look, but a new University of Michigan psychology study found that some people find angry expressions so rewarding that they will readily learn ways to encourage them... "It's kind of striking that an angry facial expression is consciously valued as a very negative signal by almost everyone, yet at a non-conscious level can be like a tasty morsel that some people will vigorously work... Exciting Interational Online Competition -- Win an All-Expense Paid Trip to Hong Kong! I am one of the organizers for the InternetBar.org competition designed to encourage ideas and interaction around the problem of creating a trusted online environment, which is one of the biggest issues in creating a useful online dispute resolution community. The contest is open to a wide range of students and recent graduates from a number of disciplines (this is NOT a law school-limited competition) and will run from now through July of this year. All of the particulars are included in the... Statement on Respectful Online Communication Participants at the recently concluded Fifth International Forum on Online Dispute Resolution - Liverpool, England April 19-20, 2007 agreed to the following statement, to help progressive debates in support of online civility and respectful communications. 1 Comment Optimal Email Animals It's not unusual to find periodic columns decrying how technology is undermining the authenticity of human interactions, but it is relatively unusual to hear such sentiments coming from a blog A-lister like Robert Wright... In his (what seems to me) hastily put together op-ed in today's NYT, Wright says "I have a theory: the more e-mail there is, the more Prozac there will be, and the more Prozac there is, the more e-mail there will be." The main thesis seems to be that in the past... The Agents of Normalcy and Entrenchment Interesting backlash to the O'Reilly's Blogger Code of Conduct. Nate Anderson on Ars Technica talking about "the tyranny of good intentions": "Tim O'Reilly wants to bring... civil back, and he’s doing it by launching a voluntary new code of conduct that is bound to kick up a bit of controversy. Commenters to O'Reilly's blog have already called the plan something that "reeks of prohibition and candlelight marches," and an example of "the agents of normalcy and entrenchment subconsciously... Blogging Code of Conduct Lots of buzz on the internets today about Tim O'Reilly's proposed Blogging Code of Conduct... My opinion: It's about damn time. The conversation really kicked into gear with the NYTimes article on the 9th. Author Darcy Padilla put it this way: "A recent outbreak of antagonism among several prominent bloggers “gives us an opportunity to change the level of expectations that people have about what’s acceptable online,” said Mr. O’Reilly, who posted the preliminary recommendations last... Beginnings of Morality in Primate Behavior Nicholas Wade in NYT (March 20, 2007): "... primatologists have shown... a sizable overlap between the behavior of people and other social primates..." "Though human morality may end in notions of rights and justice and fine ethical distinctions, it begins, Dr. de Waal says, in concern for others and the understanding of social rules as to how they should be treated. At this lower level, primatologists have shown, there is what they consider to be a sizable overlap between the behavior of... Settling Disputes With a Blackberry Patricia Cohen in the Times: "There was a time when ... points of trivia might arise at dinner or over drinks and lead to a brain-racking long debate or an unsettled and angry standoff. But now... hand-held wireless devices can immediately settle disputes over points of fact." "Kimberly Cardiel, a bartender at the ESPN Zone restaurant in Times Square, said that when she started working there more than seven years ago, bar bets or plain old disputes about sports would be decided by checking... Exploring the 'Online Disinhibition Effect' I'm a big fan of Daniel Goleman, and he has an interesting piece in the New York Times: "...[there is] a larger pattern plaguing the world of virtual communications, a problem recognized since the earliest days of the Internet: flaming, or sending a message that is taken as offensive, embarrassing or downright rude... thoughts expressed while sitting alone at the keyboard would be put more diplomatically — or go unmentioned — face to face. Flaming has a technical name, the “online... ODR and Web 2.0 Innovation over the past five years has occurred in a wide variety of areas, from more flexible graphics to faster connections to richer communications options. It’s difficult to keep track of the full alphabet soup of innovation on the net (PHP, AJAX, SVG, CSS, etc.) but the latest wave of advancements, and the sites that make use of them, are broadly referred to as “Web 2.0" because of the revolutionary potential they offer to reinvent interaction between people over computer networks. Keystone Conference: Megatrends for Mediators in Technology Colin Rule speaks to megatrends in mediation focusing on technology issues.  Video
John Helie: A Pioneering Leader in the Field of Dispute Resolution John Helie was the 2005 recipient of the ACR Mary Parker Follet Award. Read this article to find out more about John and why he recieved the award. Introduction to Online Dispute Resolution for Business ODR for Business is designed to inform the senior management, general counsels, and risk managers of large companies and start-ups alike about the benefits of using Internet-based dispute resolution to resolve disputes before they escalate. It is intended to provide businesspeople with the information necessary to begin integrating ODR into the way their organization operates. Preview the first chapter online. New Mediator Capabilities in Online Dispute Resolution This article focuses on some of the possibilities ODR opens up to mediators and arbitrators, and how these capabilities might fundamentally affect the dispute resolution process. 1 Comment Online Dispute Resolution Links A comprehensive listing of links to articles, news items, and resources on the internet that pertain to Online Dispute Resolution. ODR Section Editorial Fall 2000 Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) presents both a major opportunity and a major challenge for the ADR field. For the first time, dispute resolution isn’t really an alternative—the courts don’t work online, so dispute resolution is often the default. Products: |
Copyright 1996-2009 © Resourceful Internet Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
