Conflict Hotline - Nonviolent Communication Call-in Show

The Bay Area Nonviolent Communication group has been producing a monthly community television program on addressing conflicts in our lives using nonviolent communication techniques. The program Conflict Hotline: Where What You Say Next Can Change Your World features roleplays of conflicts provided by callers, replaying them using NVC techniques. Host Miki Kashtan provides advice and tips on ways to replay the conversation in more productive ways. The monthly programs, broken into 10-minute segments, are posted to YouTube for viewing later. To find out more about when the programs are happening live so that you can call in or watch the live video stream, visit this link. Great collection of conflict examples that could be used as teaching clips.

  

Mediation Video Contest Entries

The ABA Section of Dispute Resolution is hosting a mediation video contest. Here's the entries that have been posted to YouTube. The deadline for entries was January 15, 2010. Some real creativity here...

  

Audio Interview on Reframing Campus Conflict

I mentioned this earlier in a book announcement post, but I wanted to call attention to it again. Campus ADR colleagues Nancy Giacomini and Jennifer Meyer Schrage are interviewed by Patty Porter in this BlogTalk Radio show episode. They explore some of the wide range of topics covered in a new edited volume entitled Reframing Campus Conflict: Student Conduct Practice Through a Social Justice Lens.

  

Symposium on Restorative Justice in Campus Conduct Administration

A Symposium on Restorative Justice in Campus Conduct Administration is scheduled for March 15, 2010 in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Sponsored by Eastern Mennonite University's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, James Madison University's Office of Judicial Affairs, and Virginia Tech's Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, the symposium will feature Howard Zehr, PhD, and David Karp, PhD, both renowned experts in the field. David Karp is the co-editor of a book exploring this topic in some detail - Restorative Justice on the College Campus.

March 16-18 will provide additional training for professionals on Implementing Restorative Justice Practices within Campus Conduct Administration (limited to 35 persons.) The events will explore best practices using restorative justice with student conduct/judicial affairs, "major threat" cases, including options for behavior assessment teams, and strategies to better focus on identifying and repairing harm, including dialogue with harmed parties. For more information on fees and registration visit: www.emu.edu/rjsymposium

  

2009 Community Mediation Diversity Training Research Report

The Dispute Resolution Center in Ann Arbor Michigan recently released a new report looking at diversity training practices at community mediation programs around the country. The study combined an online survey with follow-up phone interviews. 299 community mediation centers were initially contacted by email and 44 surveys were completed including programs from 12 different states. A pdf version of the final report is available here. The research, supported by the State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) of Michigan, will help inform a Michigan statewide diversity in ADR initiative that is currently underway.

  

Online Conflict Management Coach - Princeton Ombuds Office Tutorial

The Ombuds Office of Princeton University has a nicely refreshed website. A feature of special interest is the Online Conflict Management Coach tutorial. The flash-based tutorial explains some key concepts about conflict (comparing it to fire - both potentially dangerous and a key resource in life) and then walks the viewer through a series of questions about a current conflict you may be involved in. Based on your responses, a recommendation of a strategy is provided, along with some tips on how that strategy might be carried out effectively. The viewer is introduced to the various conflict management styles and the potential pros and cons of each. The "online coach" tool appears to be free for use by folks both on and off campus, providing a great resource to promote self-reflection or to prepare for a shared conversation about handling a difficult situation. (Hat tip to LL for pointing this out to me).

  

Community-based Dispute Resolution Practices in Afghanistan

An interesting new series of reports has been released exploring informal, community-based dispute resolution practices in Afghanistan. The qualitative research project was conducted by Deborah Smith and colleagues from the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit with funding from the United Kingdom Department for International Development. Interviews and focus groups were used to get a close-up look at local practices.

As noted in the reports,

In studying the processes used for dispute resolution, this research has focused on four central themes: the processes used in resolving and or regulating disputes at community level; the relationships between these processes at the community level and state actors at district-level; the principles underlying the outcomes of dispute resolution processes; and equity within these processes, with a particular focus on gender equity. Gender equity itself has been analysed in regard to four dynamics: women’s ability to access dispute resolution processes which are dominated by men; women’s contribution to these processes, in comparison to men’s contribution; women’s role as decision-makers in resolving disputes; and the outcomes for women as compared to men of the decisions made within these processes.

A zipped up package of 3 pdfs provides the following...
- A Holistic Justice System for Afghanistan (Policy Note), by Deborah J. Smith and Jay Lamey
- Community-Based Dispute Resolution in Nangarhar Province (Case Study), by Deborah J. Smith
- Community-Based Dispute Resolution in Bamiyan Province (Case Study), by Deborah J. Smith and Shelly Manalan
Note: Case studies from Balkh and Kabul Provinces will be released in 2010.

Here's a short sample from the report on the Bamiyan Province:

A wide variety of disputes are resolved at the community level; most common among these are disputes about access to and use of resources, particularly land, but also water and sources of fuel and fodder. Other disputes that may be resolved at the community level are both deliberate and accidental killings, disputes about marriage arrangements, disputes about sexual abuse or deviance, other acts of violence, theft, and payment for services. These disputes vary in size considerably, from those between neighbours over a land boundary to those between villages over access to and ownership of larger portions of land. They can be disputes between family members of both a criminal and domestic nature, such as violence within the family or issues of inheritance.

Interesting stuff!

  

ARTNATOMY - Understanding Facial Displays of Emotion

The ARTnatomy tool was developed to help artists learn about the anatomical basis of facial expressions. I rediscovered the flash-based tool recently while working on a nonverbal communication project and I thought blog readers might enjoy trying it out. The web version is free, and a downloadable application is also available for purchase if you want to be able to run the tool offline. It provides an interesting look at the wide range of expressions the human face can present and offers one tool for creating a face with realistic emotions properly displayed (be sure to click on the Level II tab to see the expressions generator). To learn more about the science behind reading facial expressions, check out the Facial Action Coding System.

  

OpenCongress.org Bill Tracking Tools and Widgets

OpenCongress.org is a website developed by the Participatory Politics Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation to help people connect with what is happening in Congress. As they explain, "OpenCongress brings together official government data with news and blog coverage, social networking, public participation tools, and more to give you the real story behind what's happening in Congress." Read about the impressive set of features in the About OpenCongress section.

I got interested in using OpenCongress.org as a way to track a newly introduced House Bill that would promote conflict resolution and mediation in educational settings. You can keep up with this bill via this link: H.R.4000 - Conflict Resolution and Mediation Act of 2009 or via a widget that tracks a given bill's progress.



Of special interest to readers of this blog is the fact that you can track specific issues, including one labeled "Alternative dispute resolution, mediation, arbitration" and create a widget on this issue to embed in a blog or website. Here's the ADR issue widget output.



OpenCongress.org has a robust open api for developers. Learn more here.

  

New Tactics in Human Rights - A Resource for Practitioners

The New Tactics project has been actively collecting and cataloging innovative approaches to addressing human rights abuses. Here's a video explaining their work.



A compilation of these methods is now available in part or as a whole as New Tactics in Human Rights - A Resource for Practitioners. The workbook organizes the tools into a number of bundles including Prevention Tactics, Intervention Tactics, Restorative Tactics and Building Human Rights Cultures and Institutions.

Also of interest is a collection of resources for educators interested in integrating New Tactics ideas and information into the classroom. These resources include: articles, guides, group activities, exercises, and classroom modules. Visit New Tactics Resources for Educators to view the current collection.