Via my friend Colin Rule comes news of a new conflict resolution blog published by Sanjana Hattotuwa, ICT for Peacebuilding, created as a medium for exploring “the use of Information Communications Technology (ICT) and its possible uses in conflict transformation and peacebuilding.”

Sanjana’s work breaks revolutionary new ground. As he puts it,

ICT is often associated with e-commerce or e-govenrment. A couple of years ago, when I first proposed possible linkages between ICT and peacebuilding, there weren’t many who took me seriously.

That’s changed with time.

ICT4Peace, though as yet embryonic, is soon gaining currency as an important field that’s distinct from other related domains of ICT, such as governance.

I helped setup InfoShare to pursue some of the possibilities of using ICT for peace in Sri Lanka in 2003. The on-the-ground experience of using technology in support of an on-going peace process is one that was without historical precedence or parallel.

Using this experience, I conducted my research in Australia on Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW), ICT and Peacebuilding. Throught my research, I explored ideas to bring together these seemingly diverse fields of theory and practice into a new spheres of collaboration.

At around this time, I was also introdoced [sic] to Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) - another interesting use of technology to resolve commercial disputes. My growing interest in ODR led me to push the boundaries of its theory and application - introducing it to the complex domains of ethno-political conflict and strategically envisioning future scenarios for ODR…

This blog is an attempt to cover issues on a regular basis that are of interest to me and a visionary and practitioner of ICT4Peace.

To view more of Sanjana’s research, visit his website.

Technorati tags: Blogging, conflict resolution, mediation, mediation blogs, online dispute resolution, technology

The internet, with its endless capacity for facilitating community and collaboration, has increasingly become a place of complex social interactions, where real-world transactions are negotiated through the medium of cyberspace and where virtual worlds emerge complete with laws, social norms, currencies, political structures, and economies.

But virtual worlds are more than just mere entertainment. They can serve as effective teaching tools as well.

Socialstudygames.com reports that the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy has announced finalists in their “Reinventing Public Diplomacy Through Games” Awards. Finalists as reported on the USC web site are:

Exchanging Cultures, a diplomatic game built inside “Second Life,” was created to facilitate the creating virtual communities and relationships based on the exchange of cultural items like: dances, art crafts, food receipts, architectural models, clothing, cultural routes and images of real original places for travelers and explorers.LINK.

Global Kids Island: Fostering Public Diplomacy Through Second Life Global Kids, Inc. envisioned a Public Diplomacy program within Second Life where the youth in the after-school program will spend the month learning about a global issue, experience an interactive and experiential workshop designed to educate about the issue. Their demonstration will be shown at the awards ceremony. For more information on the organization: LINK

Hydro Hijinks is a class project designed to promote discussion about international water issues and to educate players from around the world about sources of international conflict over water rights. Watch the video tour of the game at: LINK

Peacemaker is a cross-cultural political video game simulation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which can be used to promote a peaceful resolution among Israelis, Palestinians and young adults worldwide. More information, please visit their website: LINK

Winners will be announced at a ceremony on May 8.

USC is currently involved itself in a Public Diplomacy and Virtual Worlds project designed to “explore how virtual worlds can be used as effective tools to bridge cultural gaps, to foster new ways to resolve conflict, and to learn and teach new skills in dealing with each other to build a better world.”

In addition to these projects, the gang at odr.info recently reported on the outstanding efforts of one inventive team of peer mediation educators, Jennifer Nieto and Peggy Ward, to utilize Second Life, a Massively Multiplayer Online Game (a virtual world in which numerous participants can interact simultaneously), as a tool for enabling high school students to role play in mediation simulations and practice mediation skills in a non-threatening virtual environment. (I was totally psyched to discover a link to Online Guide to Mediation on their site, for which I am most grateful.)

Technorati tags: peer mediation, virtual worlds, Culture and Society, Internet, online dispute resolution, conflict resolution

Where would mediators be without controversy and conflict? In a way it’s ironic that the work we do might ultimately put us all out of business if only we do it well enough.

Speaking of controversy, especially the intractable kind, few state court opinions in recent years have sparked as much controversy both locally and nationally as did Goodrich v. Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision which held that the Massachusetts Constitution forbids the Commonwealth from denying the benefits and protections of civil marriage to same-sex couples.

Opponents of gay marriage in Massachusetts wasted no time in circulating an initiative petition to define marriage as the union of a man and woman, which Attorney General Tom Reilly, in a highly disputed move, subsequently certified to appear on the November 2008 state ballot.

Supporters of same-sex marriage have fired their own shot across the marital bow in filing Johanna Schulman v. Thomas Reilly et al., a civil action for declaratory relief relating to this petition with the Supreme Judicial Court, which will hear arguments in this matter at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 4, 2006.

Webcasts of oral arguments, including this one, are viewable online at the Suffolk University Law School web site at http://www.suffolk.edu/sjc/.