ScienceBlogs reinitiated a revised “Ask a ScienceBlogger” feature, wherein an expert will respond to readers’ questions. This week they responded to this question:

What’s the difference between psychology and neuroscience? Is psychology still relevant as we learn more about the brain and how it works?

They conclude that studying both psychology and neuroscience is the best way to understand it all: behavior, the nervous system, the mind.

Remember, please move your bookmark to www.EngagingConflicts.com.

Our Committee on Mediator Ethical Guidance is now ready to accept your inquiries and provide advisory responses to your requests. Section Chair John Bickerman is pleased to announce this important project for the Section and the field: “There is no greater way for consumers to have confidence in the services that mediators provide them then to know that mediators are following the ethical duties of their profession. As the leader in policy and practice in the field of dispute resolution, the DR Section is pleased to be able to provide guidance to mediators, the parties and lawyers who use their services.”

The current scope of the Committee is limited to the consideration of ethical issues pertaining to mediation. The Committee may accept an inquiry from an ABA member, an individual who is not an ABA member, an organization or may consider an issue on its own initiative. While it may draw on other sources of authority, such as opinions or other guidance issued by state ethics authorities, its focus will be on interpreting the American Bar Association Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators (2005) and applying them to the issue presented.

Here’s their intake form.

Here’s the link to the full ABA announcement.

Thanks to Geoff Sharp, a New Zealander attorney, mediator, and blogger for this!

Remember to move your bookmark to www.EngagingConflicts.com.

Please remember to move your bookmark to the new site: www.EngagingConflicts.com.

Role playing

Here are three intresting ethical computer games:

You can help stop the crisis in Darfur as you role play in a refugee camp in www.darfurisdying.com

You can see what it is like to live in poverty and try to stay healthy in Haiti in the Unicef Voices of Youth game Ayiti: The Cost of Life

You can save and rebuild an island in the World Food Program’s Food Force.

Here’s a post about another source of ethical games and puzzles (from March 9) :

Games and puzzles

ERC, the Ethics Resource Center, a site devoted to organizational ethics in the US, has a selection of ethical games and puzzles (mostly crosswods). link here

And another (from Feb. 6):

Ethics Games

In case you want to practice – new computer game that is “sweeping the Federal Agencies…”, the US Office of Government Ethics proudly presents… here

Also the Institute of Business Ethics in the UK has some great teaching material – the business cases can be found here.

Thank you, Thinking Ethics!

Remember, please move your bookmark to www.EngagingConflicts.com.

And I wanted to post about the article Are Librarians Totally Obsolete? because they aren’t, and we need to be reminded of all the reasons why. To me, it’s about literacy, and critical thought, and being able to use the wonderful resources available on the net and elsewhere (like in libraries) without being unduly distracted or lost because of everything else (overwhelmingly) available on the net. I love the net, and I want people to know how to use it well, and to know where else to go.

Here are the highlights of the 33 Reasons Why Libraries and Librarians are Still Extremely Important in Will Sherman’s superb article, and his Conclusion:

1. Not everything is available on the internet

2. Digital libraries are not the internet

3. The internet isn’t free

4. The internet complements libraries, but it doesn’t replace them

5. School Libraries and Librarians Improve Student Test Scores

6. Digitization Doesn’t Mean Destruction

7. In fact, digitization means survival

8. Digitization is going to take a while. A long while.

9. Libraries aren’t just books

10. Mobile devices aren’t the end of books, or libraries

11. The hype might really just be hype

12. Library attendance isn’t falling – it’s just more virtual now

13. Like businesses, digital libraries still need human staffing

14. We just can’t count on physical libraries disappearing

15. Google Book Search “don’t work”

16. Physical libraries can adapt to cultural change

17. Physical libraries are adapting to cultural change

18. Eliminating libraries would cut short an important process of cultural evolution

19. The internet isn’t DIY

20. Wisdom of crowds is untrustworthy, because of the tipping point

21. Librarians are the irreplaceable counterparts to web moderators

22. Unlike moderators, librarians must straddle the line between libraries and the internety.

23. The internet is a mess

24. The internet is subject to manipulation

25. Libraries’ collections employ a well-formulated system of citation

26. It can be hard to isolate concise information on the internet

27. Libraries can preserve the book experience

28. Libraries are stable while the web is transient

29. Libraries can be surprisingly helpful for news collections and archives

30. Not everyone has access to the internet

31. Not everyone can afford books

32. Libraries are a stopgap to anti-intellectualism

33. Old books are valuable

Conclusion
Society is not ready to abandon the library, and it probably won’t ever be. Libraries can adapt to social and technological changes, but they can’t be replaced. While libraries are distinct from the internet, librarians are the most suited professionals to guide scholars and citizens toward a better understanding of how to find valuable information online. Indeed, a lot of information is online. But a lot is still on paper. Instead of regarding libraries as obsolete, state and federal governments should increase funding for improved staffing and technology. Rather than lope blindly through the digital age, guided only by the corporate interests of web economics, society should foster a culture of guides and guideposts. Today, more than ever, libraries and librarians are extremely important for the preservation and improvement of our culture.

 Bravo, Will! 

Please remember to change your bookmark to the new site: www.EngagingConflicts.com.

Use of this psychological type analysis is better studied in the law practice field than in the mediation practice context. The most notable law-related works are University of Florida Law Professor Don Peters’ article, Forever Jung: Psychological Type Theory, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Learning Negotiation, 42 DRAKE LAW REVIEW 1 (1993); and Florida Coastal School of Law Professor Susan Swaim Daicoff’s book, Lawyer, Know Theyself: A Psychological Analysis of Personality Strengths and Weaknesses, American Psychological Association (2004). Direct works are slowly showing up in the mediation practice context, most notably in Sondra S. VanSant’s Wired For Conflict: The Role of Personality in Resolving Differences, Center for Application of Psychological Type, Inc. (2003).

The other workshops offered Saturday are:

 

Journey into the Heart of Conflict: A Creative Exercise for Your Inner Author (Using Both Sides of Your Brain) presented by Cynthia Olson, with Wallace Ford

 

Mediation is the journey into the complexity of conflict, searching collaboratively for the links which can tie the elements of resolution and transformation. The mediator’s own journey and experience contributes to this adventure – we are where we’ve been. Come write a book about your personal journey, take the next step on your quest!

 

Cultural Competency for Mediators, presented by Tonya Covington

 

As the country becomes more diverse and the majority population prepares to become the minority, cultural competency is imperative. This is particularly true in New Mexico, where mediators are increasingly called upon to mediate inter-cultural disputes. Learn tips on mediating for other cultures and across cultures.

 

Engaging Reluctant Parties, presented by Stéphane Trustorff Luchini

 

Prospective participants in a conflict intervention process may initially indicate reluctance or resistance to participate when approached by a mediator or other intervenor. Such parties may be engaged to participate, and when they do, will likely report satisfaction with the process as do parties who initially readily agree to participate. For mediation and restorative justice that uses mediation to be widely accepted, mediators may have to be able to effectively engage initially reluctant or resistant prospective participants. Stéphane Trustorff Luchini will present research findings and practice applications, and facilitate an illicitive inquiry of this topic with workshop participants.

 

Building Your Mediation Business, presented by Debra Oliver

 

Are you one of those mediators and/or facilitators who would like to transform your volunteer practice into a paying proposition or quit your day job? If so, you won’t want to miss Debra Oliver as she talks about the importance of marketing yourself, thinking and acting like an entrepreneur. Debra will also talk about the importance of finding good mentors and the value of mentoring others.

 

Ethics and Power in Mediation, presented byWallace Ford

 

New Mexico Mediation Association has a statement of ethics to which all members agree, as does the Association for Conflict Resolution. This statement points the mediator toward the moral and spiritual foundations upon which our conflict resolution is built. This workshop will explore key moral and spiritual themes embedded in the mediation experience, distinguishing the frames-of-reference we use and identifying the metaphors of well-being which guide our work. Particular attention will also be paid on how reason-giving establishes the power dynamic of conflict and ways the mediator narrates balance.

 

Latino Families and Domestic Violence, presented by Mariana Montejano (Community outreach trainer, New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence)

Domestic violence is a crucial issue for any mediator working with family and divorce mediation to be able to screen for and recognize. Cultural context shapes everyone’s life and domestic violence occurs in most if not all cultural contexts. This session will discuss domestic violence in the context of Latinas’ lives – daily experience, reality (“way of living”), and psyche (“way of thinking”) to better understand domestic violence within the Latino community. Come explore how to work specifically with this cultural group.

Thank you, New Mexico Mediation Association for sponsoring this event, and thank you, to all presenters for their volunteer efforts in enriching the practice of mediation!

Governor Bill Richardson yesterday signed the New Mexico Mediation Procedures Act, establishing confidentiality for certain mediation communications. Mediation is broadly defined to include any process that facilitates communication and negotiation between mediation parties, or promotes reconciliation between mediation parties. Mediator is also broadly defined to include any individual who holds herself out as a mediator and who conducts a mediation.

The confidentiality protection is limited, however, to mediation pursuant to mandatory court- or other governmental proceedings, or to voluntary mediation pursuant to a written contract, and includes exceptions for administrative facts (such as when and for how long the mediation occurred), for communications that relate to preventing or correcting wrong-doings, or concerning professional misconduct or malpractice relating to the mediation itself, among other exceptions.

Congratulations to the hard working and persistent New Mexico mediation community for their work with legislators and other governmental officials to effectuate this!

Click here to open a pdf copy:

nm-mediation-procedures-act.pdf

Please remember to move your bookmark to the new site: www. EngagingConflicts.com.

combines public television programming, community activities and events, and on-line discussions to encourage contemplation and conversation about how love and forgiveness can effect meaningful change in individuals and society.

As I like film, I’m particularly interested in the PBS programming, which comprises the broadcast of three documentaries: The Mystery of Love, The Power of Forgiveness, and Unforgivable?

The Power of Forgiveness includes interviews with Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, and Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel. Here’s a description:

This film examines the power of forgiveness in alleviating anger and grief caused by the most dramatic transgressions imaginable and those that are more commonplace. Among its subjects the film will feature families of victims from the tragedy of 9/11 and forgiveness education in Northern Ireland, where unforgiveness has been a way of life for generations.

You can check the film’s special, pre-PBS release screening schedule to see if it is coming to a city near you.

The Campaign’s website also includes Practices, and Resources, of love and forgiveness.