Arbitration & Mediation

Resources online and beyond for the aspiring mediator

By Diane Levin

Greetings to regular readers, new visitors, and to the members of the Mediation Works Executive Mediation Training, with whom I have the pleasure of working this week. To stimulate your curiosity and to encourage further exploration, I’ve pulled together a list of essential resources for aspiring mediators:

Mediate.com is always at the top of my recommended resource list. This premiere ADR site offers

• A vast library of articles organized by Section or searchable by Topic, Term or Author
• An archive of over 100 video interviews featuring conversations with giants in the ADR field
• A round-up of the best each week in conflict resolution blogging
• A brand-new Simulations Section with videos depicting simulated mediations, a collection of great learning and teaching tools

Recommended mediation reading. The following posts recommend books in print and online articles for the mediation library:

• Listening in at the mediation table: books that teach readers how to talk like a mediator
• Recommended books for mediators, ADR professionals: a brief bibliography
• Print and online resources for mediation and negotiation

Top ADR blogs. I know of no better resource for staying current with the latest issues in dispute resolution and negotiation than my fellow bloggers, who make it their business to keep abreast of essential news and trends. I collected my own list of essential bloggers to follow. You’ll no doubt find some of your own at the World Directory of ADR Blogs at ADRblogs.com, a site which tracks and catalogs dispute resolution blogs from across the globe, and one of my ongoing web projects.

Online discussion.

• Join the LinkedIn Commercial and Industry Arbitration and Mediation Group founded and moderated by Karl Bayer, Robert Bear, Victoria Van Buren, and Philip J. Loree, Jr. Some of the most thoughtful discussion I’ve seen in any electronic discussion group.
• You’re also cordially invited to join mediator Jeff Thompson’s brainchild, ADRhub, the Werner Institute?s ADR portal. Open to “academics, practitioners, scholars, professionals, students, ?newbies? and those interested in getting involved in the field“, ADRhub offers its members web events, news, online chat, job and event postings, and much more.

Mind and cognition. How people reach judgments and make decisions is of great interest to mediators. For intellectually curious mediators and negotiators interested in staying on top of the results of the latest research, here is a list of the best social and brain science blogs.

Self-awareness tools. Remaining vigilant for cognitive errors can be a challenge but is essential for effective dispute resolution practice. The following tools can help keep minds open.

• The Interactive Johari Window, a tool allowing users to map personality awareness with the aid of friends, family, and colleagues.
• Face Research, online psychology experiments about preferences for faces and voices
• The Moral Sense Test, a study into human moral judgment
• The Implicit Association Test, the best known of the implicit social cognition instruments
• Northeastern Illinois University Department of Psychology Cognitive Neuropsychology Experiment Site; the current study involves perception of emotional expression
• The Cognition and Language Laboratory, ongoing experiments in language, thought, and memory
• The Perception Lab at the School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, Scotland, provides opportunities to participate in online studies on perception
• The Police Officer?s Dilemma, created by the Stereotyping & Prejudice Research Laboratory, a video game that tests the effect of racial bias on decisions to shoot.

Negotiation sites, blogs, and podcasts. A list of value-creating resources.

• Negotiating Tip of the Week
• PON Clearinghouse: Free Negotiation Downloads
• Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
• Settle It Now Negotiation Law Blog
• HBS Working Knowledge
• She Negotiates: issues relating to women at the negotiating table

Mediation marketing. I only recommend one site: Dr. Tammy Lenski’s “Making Mediation Your Day Job“. Accept no substitutes. Tammy is the real deal, a successful professional mediator and author with an international reputation and the respect of mediators around the world.

Readers, if you have other suggestions, by all means please feel free to add them in the comment section below.

Full post as published by Online Guide to Mediation on May 13, 2010 (boomark / email).