The exhibits fall into three categories below. Many will be accessible during the whole week but if there is a date next to the item, it will not be available until that day. Clicking on the red ball next to an item will enable you to link to or obtain more information about the item.

Simulations

Software Demos

Miscellaneous Tools and Resources

Resolution Forum Online Mediation Simulation

Observe an online mediation at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time.  Go to the logon page to see a description of the dispute and to get instructions for logging on.  You can access the logon page anytime to read about the dispute but the doors open fpr observers at 7 PM EST Monday November 9.  (If you go to this page early to read the scenario and return later, you may have to press the Reload/Refresh button on your browser before being able to log on). Join us for this experiment with software developed by Resolution Forum in Houston, Texas.

Note: The transcript of the mediation that took place on November 9th can be read at http://www.umass.edu/cyber/resolution1.html

How to Sell Something Online

For most people, the Web is a means for publishing information or for advertising. In general, the Web is thought of as a giant information resource and the reason for accessing Web sites is to access and obtain information. This model of the Web is changing, however, and it is changing quite rapidly. Alongside Web sites that provide goods and services freely are Web sites that sell goods and services.

If you have visited Amazon.com or Dell Computer or, in our field, the Harvard Negotiation Project, you have visited sites that provide you with a virtual shopping cart, that allow you to fill that shopping cart with items you wish to buy, and to actually buy them by providing a credit card number.

The Web site as information resource may be all that you think your organization needs. Indeed, there may be no reason for your organization to even think of selling any product online. And until recently, thinking of trying to sell something online would have been complicated and costly. What has been changing recently is that it is much less costly and much less complicated than it had been to sell something online.

If you wish to sell fewer than ten items online, you can actually set up a "store" in less than fifteen minutes at iCat.com and there will be no cost at all. I suspect that in a year or so, setting up a store online will prove to be easier than setting up a conventional Web site and will not cost much more than is charged for Web site hosting today.

I had originally intended to write something about the various online entities that will set up a "store" for you but the current issue of PC Magazine provides a much more comprehensive survey than I had planned to do. Everything that you might wish to know about the current state of selling online is available (for free, ironically) at http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/features/e-comm_prod98/index.html

Transcripts of online dispute settlement from

• Resolution Forum
• Online Ombuds Office

How to ask questions and collect data online: Polls and Surveys

One of the most common online activities is to send out a questionaire. One of the most common face to face processes to ask how people feel about something or, in a committee, to take a vote. When groups meet online, the more frequent way of polling, surveying and questioning is to circulate something via email. This is also the most inefficient way of ascertaining people's views on something. There are a growing number of web-based software applications that automate data collection and analysis. At the Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution, we are happy to provide advice about online surveys. Here are two very different examples of low cost online surveys or polls:

• VoxPopuli - a free service provided by ArsDigita. We have created one poll that you might wish to try  While these polls are free and graphical, they are obviously limited.
• SurveySaid - software that allows the creation and analysis of Web surveys. We created an online survey with SurveySaid to survey members of the dispute-res listserv. A more ambitious survey using SurveySaid was conducted by Josh Gordon. His paper on this survey shows some of the statistical possibilities of online surveys.

 

The Third Party Calendar

The Third Party is a set of tools or utilities that have been developed at the Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution. These resources can be employed along with traditional techniques and strategies to enhance the mediation process. They are java applets that are currently being beta tested. They may not work with earlier versions of Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. We are making the Calendar available on Wednesday and our Dispute Map/Outliner available on Thursday.