One of the talents that a mediator offers is the ability to help people see their world — and the people and problems in it — in wholly different ways.

I was therefore delighted to discover in the Boston Public Library’s online map collection a map that does exactly that–invites people to see the world anew.

For centuries now traditional maps have offered a Eurocentric view, depicting the world with the northern hemisphere on top. This map, however, literally and figuratively turns convention on its head.

To explore similar cartographic creations, also pay a visit to the The Upsidedown Map Page.

A new blog with a unique perspective gets off to a good start: IDR Mediation Blog, which focuses on insurance coverage disputes and their resolution.

It is published by California-based attorney-mediators Lance LaBelle and David Ezra of Insurance Dispute Resolution Mediation Services (IDR), a firm established to respond to the growing need for dispute resolution neutrals who specialize in insurance law.

Please join me in welcoming this latest addition to the World Directory of ADR Blogs and to the always-growing mediation blogosphere.

There are so many sights (or is that sites?) worth seeing on the information highway. It’s hard to find them all, let alone have time to explore them in depth. To save you some time and mileage, here are some recommended destinations this week for conflict resolution professionals:

Stephanie West Allen continues her Legal Highlights series at her blog Idealawg with an interview with the influential Kenneth Cloke, a pioneer and leader in the alternative dispute resolution field.

Erin Gleason at Open Discourse: International Dispute Resolution gets in the last word in the spot-on post “Cross-Cultural Negotiation: The Neutral’s Responsibility“.

Josh Weiss interviews David Lax, author of: 3-d Negotiation: Powerful Tools to Change the Game in Your Most Important Deals, in this week’s edition of Negotiating Tip of the Week.

Victoria Pynchon ponders the extent to which we’re hard-wired for collaboration in “Unhappy Lawyers and the Cooperative Hard Wire” at the Settle It Now Negotiation Blog.

Ross Runkel at his Arbitration Blog asks an important question: “Arbitration – Is Justice Served?”

Geoff Sharp at Mediator Blah…Blah… presents a three-part series on BS detection, here, here, and here. Bring your shovel and hip boots.

Diversity Advantage invites thought on leveraging diversity in a brainstorming session.

Language Log looks at pseudoscience, journalism, and people’s propensity to seek out urban legends which confirm their prejudices, and also takes a poke at doublespeak in the “war on terror”.

Any mediator who’d like to get in on the blogging fun would do well to read Tammy Lenski’s latest post on “Choosing a Name for Your ADR Blog“.

Finally, happy belated birthday and wedding anniversary to Mediation Mensch Dina Lynch!

Thanks to a nifty (and free) online tool called Grazr that aggregates blog feeds, the World Directory of ADR Blogs now includes a Reading Room where you can browse through the headlines of the blogs in its catalogue. (Comfy chair and reading light not included.)

(A big hat tip to employment law blogger George Lenard, who so generously shared his discovery of Grazr’s blogrolling abilities with his readers. For those seeking an alternative to Bloglines, this may be it.)

One of the best ways for me to stay abreast of the latest in legal thinking is to read Blawg Review, the weekly review of the best in law blogging. Hosted each week by a different blogger, Blawg Review takes my curiosity to new places, bringing me a fresh perspective on the world of law and justice.

Sharp, incisive, and savvy, this week’s edition is no exception. Blawg Review #85 is hosted by Australian legal scholar Peter Black at Freedom to Differ, a blog which speaks its mind about law, the internet, and media. Blawg Review #85 takes readers on a tour of law blogs world-wide.

Next week’s Blawg Review will be hosted by Colin Samuels at the dependably excellent Infamy or Praise. Be sure to tune in.

Although studies abound that purport to show that social isolation is growing and that the Internet may be to blame, don’t believe it. Here’s one reason why:

Last month I participated in a panel discussion on “Marketing Mediation Excellence”, which explored the impact of the internet on marketing. John DeBruyn, a transactional attorney based in Denver, served as moderator, and panelists included bloggers Robert Ambrogi, Gini Nelson, and Geoff Sharp, along with dispute resolution professional Louise Wildee.

What set this apart from other panel discussions I have participated in was that this one was held online. While some of us were in front of a real-world audience, the rest of us participated thanks to the miracle of digital technology, joining the discussion from across the U.S., or, in Geoff’s case, from the other side of the world in New Zealand. The same was true of many audience members.

What brought these panelists together? One word: Blogging.

Although I have made many contacts the old-fashioned way—through personal introductions, conference attendance, and committee work–nothing has connected me to the world around me faster or more dramatically than blogging has succeeded in doing.

Blogs bring people together like no conference or convention can. It allows for conversation in a multitude of ways.

Here’s one: Publish a post and instantly the whole world hears your message. But this is no one-way conversation–because most blogs permit reader comments, the world can talk back.

Here’s another: Another blogger reads your post. Intrigued by the viewpoint or links you shared, he or she riffs on what you’ve written and links back to you, amplifying the conversation. Suddenly your voice is joined by someone else’s. Other bloggers chime in and the chorus of voices grows.

Here’s another: Someone discovers your blog. One of your posts has sparked their imagination or triggered questions. They email you to tell you. Or they email you a link to an article they think you’d find interesting. Or they email you just to say hello.

With a little encouragement, these conversations can ultimately give rise to meaningful connections–to collegiality, to inspiration, to collaboration. These connections, as I have happily discovered, can produce discoveries, insights, and, most rewardingly, friendships.

Contrary to popular belief, blogging is not a solitary activity. It is joyfully, boldly public.

You can shout into the canyon and hear your own voice echo back.

But wait and shout again, and you will hear other voices rise in greeting.

The number of blogs catalogued by the World Directory of ADR Blogs has more than doubled since I launched it in June 2006, today listing more than 80 blogs representing 15 countries.

It originally listed nine blog categories:

General Alternative Dispute Resolution Blogs
ADR-Friendly Blogs
ADR Marketing Blogs
Arbitration Blogs
Conflict Resolution & Peace Blogs
Mediation Blogs
Negotiation Blogs
Online Dispute Resolution Blogs
Restorative Justice Blogs

To reflect the increasing variety of blogs that have joined the ADR conversation, I recently added two new categories: Video Blogs and Podcasts and Innovations in the Practice of Law.

“Video Blogs and Podcasts” of course needs no explanation. Listed there you will find:

Conflict Learning Audio (Bill Warters)
Mediation vBlog Project (Geoff Sharp)
Negotiating Tip of the Week (Josh Weiss)

“Innovations in the Practice of Law” are blogs published by those who are dedicated to pushing the boundaries on the traditional practice of law. These bloggers champion the human side of the law and seek innovative ways to deliver justice, serve clients, resolve disputes, or transform the future of legal practice. Typically these bloggers are mediators themselves, are advocates of ADR, or embrace other kinds of collaborative practices. In this category are:

Human Law (Justin Patten)
Idealawg (Stephanie West Allen)
Legal Sanity (Arnie Herz)
the [non]billable hour (Matt Homan)
SHLEP: The Self-Help Law ExPress (David Giacalone)
What About Clients (Dan Hull)

As always, if you wish to add your blog or someone else’s to the World Directory of ADR Blogs, please let me know. It’s a commercial-free site, and there is no cost to be listed. The Directory has information on submitting your blog and submission guidelines.

Technorati tags: alternative dispute resolution, blogging, mediation, mediation blogs, conflict resolution

A belated happy birthday to my friend Bob Ambrogi, who last Sunday celebrated four years of blogging excellence. Bob, an attorney and ADR professional, publishes LawSites, one of the legal field’s most prominent and deservedly well respected blogs.

Congratulations, Bob. Here’s to many more years of great blogging.

This is a web site you’ve got to see to believe–for a fee, you can arrange for an alibi or excuse for any occasion. From the web site:

We all encounter sensitive situations in our life. These may include family problems, social issues, work or financial difficulties. When you don’t want to involve your close friends and relatives for privacy reasons it is time to contact Alibi Network. Let us be your Privacy Partners.

Is it proof of humankind’s enormous capacity for deception, or evidence that people will go to any length (and expense) to avoid an argument? You decide.

Visit the Alibi Network to see for yourself.

In a joint study that may ultimately teach us much about the prejudices humans harbor regarding class and privilege, Harvard and Stanford psychologists have discovered that children as young as 5 prefer lucky people over the unlucky:

“Our experiments show the difficulties that confront youngsters as they make judgments of those touched by luck or misfortune… Young children express stronger liking for the beneficiaries of good luck compared to the victims of bad luck and generalize this preference to those who share membership in a group. Because the disadvantaged are more likely to experience negative events beyond their control - such as the tendency for the poor to be most impacted by natural disasters - this innocuous preference for the privileged may eventually grow more harmful, further increasing negativity toward the disadvantaged. Such preferences may, in turn, help explain the persistence of social inequality.”

(Via Boing Boing.)

Readers, please accept my apologies for the long silence.

A perfect storm of 16-hour-long work days, a severe cold simultaneously afflicting every member of my family including me, and a houseful of relatives on Thanksgiving combined to produce unfavorable blogging conditions.

In any event, it’s good to be back!

Digital technology has proven itself a powerful tool in the hands of educators. Virtual worlds like Second Life provide space for online learning, for everything from peer mediation training to experimental law school classes.

Computer games also serve as a medium for transmitting ideas, influencing minds, and building public awareness of critical social and political issues.

By way of example, consider two very different games:

A Christian video game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces, based on the popular series of novels, pits the Lord’s faithful in an apocalyptic battle against the Antichrist’s Global Community Peacekeepers. According to a review in today’s Boston Globe, the game offers up both Scripture and moral choices to players, allowing them to wage either physical or spiritual warfare, using prayer as a weapon:

[Y]ou can create a band of soldiers who’ll protect Tribulation Force territory from Carpathian incursions. But they’re supposed to use minimal force. Every time they kill, even if it’s justified, it weakens their moral fiber. Force them to kill too often, and they’ll fall away from the faith and move to the Dark Side.

According to the Eternal Forces web site, “unnecessary killing will result in lower Spirit points which are essential to winning”.

Meanwhile, a very different kind of action unfolds at Prisoners of War, an educational game and a joint project between Nobelprize.org and the Nobel Peace Center. Its purpose is to teach players about the work of three-time Nobel Peace Prize winner the International Committee of the Red Cross and the protections afforded by the Geneva Conventions to prisoners during wartime.

Visit Nobelprize.org to learn more about its other educational peace games. (With a hat tip to ICT for Peacebuilding for the link.)

Anyone seeking to develop their cultural awareness–and to avoid embarrassing gaffes while traveling abroad–will want to read this comprehensive list of faux pas around the world.

(Via Kottke.org Remaindered Links.)

One of my friends, who does a great deal of public speaking, likes to ask his audience whether anyone is celebrating a birthday that day. Often in a large group two people will discover that they share a birthday. (The statistical likelihood of two people in a large group sharing a birthday is fairly high, surprisingly enough.) It’s a fun way to break the ice.

Speaking of birthdays, mediator, educator, and blogger Tammy Lenski is celebrating one herself. Two in fact: ten years in the dispute resolution field, and four years blogging about it.

Tammy has declared November “Birthday Month” and will be marking the occasion by publishing a retrospective of her most memorable posts.

Many happy returns, Tammy!

While I was cleaning off my desk late last night, I came across the Summer 2006 issue of the Association for Conflict Resolution’s quarterly magazine, ACResolution, which contained an article I’d written for them back in April, “Three Reasons ADR Professionals Should Be Blogging”. It gave me the opportunity to plug my World Directory of ADR Blogs project, which listed about 40 blogs at the time.

Seven months have passed since I wrote that article. The head count since then has more than doubled, with more than 80 ADR blogs now listed.

You can view the full list at the World Directory of ADR Blogs web site, broken down by categories, or you can browse through all the blog feeds in one location at the Bloglines subscription page I created for the Directory.

In any event, I’m pleased to announce the addition of three more this week. Two of them are firsts–a blog from the Netherlands and another from Australia, together with another from the U.S. They are:

Fer Kousen Conflictmanagement.
The first Dutch blog to be added to the Directory, this eponymous blog, which will explore the subject of conflict management in both Dutch and in English, is published by Fer Kousen, an internal mediator at the Ministerie van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit (Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) in the Hague. (Be sure to check out “Mediation (Oil on Canvas)”. No translation is necessary.)

The Australian Mediation Association Blog.
Callum Campbell, the founder and director of Mutual Mediations, a dispute resolution firm based in Brisbane, has launched the first Australian blog to explore mediation, negotiation, and other interest-based, collaborative approaches to addressing conflict.

Southern California Mediation Association Blog.
Victoria Pynchon, California-based attorney-mediator, and prolific and talented author of two blogs, Settle It Now Negotiation Blog and Settle It Now Mediation Blarg, has launched one more, this one for the Southern California Mediation Association (SCMA). The SCMA Blog was created to serve as a forum for communicating with SCMA members, ADR professionals, and the public about mediation and conflict resolution.

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As always, if you wish to add your blog or someone else’s to the World Directory of ADR Blogs, please let me know. It’s a commercial-free site, and there is no cost to be listed. The Directory has information on submitting your blog and submission guidelines.

Technorati tags: alternative dispute resolution, blogging, mediation, mediation blogs, conflict resolution

Settle It Now Negotiation Blog (”everything you always wanted to know about negotiation but were afraid to ask”), published by attorney-mediator Victoria Pynchon, has taken up residence at a smart new address. You can now read Vickie’s incisive analyses and reflections on negotiation, law, and alternative dispute resolution at http://www.negotiationlawblog.com/, where you can find informative articles like “Loss Aversion: Negotiating with a Full Deck“.

Congratulations to Vickie on the new digs.

It’s election time here in the U.S., and as any American can tell you, politics these days isn’t democracy in action, it’s a blood sport. Not only are politicians having a tough time being civil to each other, so, too, are members of the voting public. Even among my own family, we try to avoid politics and stick with less controversial topics–like religion and sex.

There may be hope, however, for those who long for a better way to debate the important issues of our times.

As reported today on Colin Rule’s Blog at the Center for Internet and Society, the Public Conversations Project seeks participants for RedBlue, an online dialogue project that will bring people on opposite ends of the political spectrum together:

RedBlue will be an interactive Internet application that will provide an exciting yet safe way to engage directly with someone on “the other side” of the political spectrum. This new approach to civic engagement is designed to leave behind the confrontational and polarizing forms of discourse that dominate today’s Red vs. Blue debates and reintroduce Americans to the old-fashioned notion that in matters of public policy, there can be room for reasonable people to disagree.

RedBlue will create a private, one-on-one online dialogue process by matching participants with contrasting views. “Counterparts” will learn about the ground rules of productive dialogue, then engage on a difficult issue by viewing or reading a fictional narrative scenario that frames a front-page issue in personal, rather than theoretical, terms. Their email-style discussion will be monitored by a “virtual facilitator” that will make suggestions, provide feedback, and offer to step in when the heat of the moment threatens to derail the civility of the dialogue.

For more information, visit http://www.redblueus.org/.

British attorney Justin Patten is celebrating one year of blogging excellence at Human Law, a weblog that explores the human connection between law and technology.

Happy birthday to Human Law and to Justin–congratulations.

Since this blog goes a long way in defining my online persona, I generally take care in what I say and how I say it. As a mediator who pays close attention to language and communication, I know how much words matter.

However, the following post requires me to use a word that your mother would wash your mouth out with soap for saying. If foul language offends you, then I will not be offended if you would prefer to skip over this post.

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Every workplace has one–often several. They are a radioactive source of conflict, negativity, and stress. Chances are you’ve worked alongside one. In fact, on occasion in our lives, if we’re truly honest with ourselves, we’ve been one.

I’m talking about the subject of the latest book by Bob Sutton, Professor of Management Science and Engineering in the Stanford Engineering School, and Co-Director of the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization. Coming out in February 2007 is The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t, a book that offers advice on understanding, neutralizing, and inoculating your workplace against this workplace scourge.

If you’re wondering why Sutton put the “A” word in the title of his new book, it wasn’t due to lack of imagination or vocabulary. In Sutton’s view, as he explains on his blog, “asshole” carries a visceral clout no other word can:

… no other word works as well for describing these demeaning and mean-spirited people. …when I tangle with [a] nasty person, I don’t think “what a jerk” or “what an abusive person.” The first thing that comes to mind is “what an asshole.” That is also the word that nearly everyone I know uses to describe these creeps, even though they may later censor it…

That certainly resonated with me, and probably with any mediator who has ever dealt with workplace conflict. It undoubtedly resonates with anyone who has ever held a job.

Especially in a workplace filled, with, well, you know who.

The World Directory of ADR Blogs just keeps growing. Today’s additions are:

Votelaw
Just in time for U.S. Election Day on November 7 comes Votelaw, a blog occupying the intersection of politics and law: redistricting, campaign finance, the right to vote, election law and administration, and politicians in trouble. Votelaw is published by Alabama attorney and mediator Edward Still, whose mediation practice includes not only employment, discrimination, civil rights, consumer, education, and land use cases but also voting and elections matters. (Edward will also be hosting the November 6 “Law Blog the Vote” edition of Blawg Review, the weekly review of the best in law blogging.)

The Work It Out Blog
The Work it Out Blog is published by Allan Revich, a Toronto-based mediator and negotiator specializing in union and management issues. This blog contains information and commentary about conflict management and negotiation, with an emphasis on workplace issues.

A warm welcome to both these blogs.

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My friend Geoff Sharp, incidentally, has written “The Mediator’s Guide to the Blogosphere“, a superb article posted at Mediate.com and their first one ever on blogging, which spells out some compelling reasons why mediators should get in on the blogging fun. Don’t miss it.

(As always, if you wish to add your blog or someone else’s to the World Directory of ADR Blogs, please let me know. It’s a commercial-free site, and there is no cost to be listed. The Directory has information on submitting your blog and submission guidelines.)

Technorati tags: alternative dispute resolution, blogging, mediation, mediation blogs, conflict resolution