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The organizing committee wishes to thank CIDA for its generous contribution to the ODR Forum. Therir grant allowed 15 practitioners, experts and community based conflict resolovers to participate in this forum. Our guests included: Ms. Morenike Obi-Farinde Nigeria Ms. Jacqueline A. Morris Trinidad Dr. Xue Hong China Ms. Juliana de Oliveira Marcal Timor Leste Ms. Joana dos Santos Camoes  Timor Leste Mr. Deepak Pillai Malaysia Mr. Ayo Kusamotu  Nigeria Mr. Sanjana Hattotuwa  Sri Lanka Dr. Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab Egypt Mr. Tumaini Anthony Minja Tanzania Mr. Sher Shah Khan Pakistan Ambassador Patricia Durrant Jamaica Mr. CUI Xinmin  China Ms. Chittu Nagarajan India Mr. Timothy Tse China

Delegates from the following nations are in attendance: Egypt, Canada, USA, Ireland, China, Hong Kong, East Timor, India, Jordan, Germany, Pakistan, Nigeria, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Trinidad, Korea, Malaysia, Italy, United Kingdom, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Spain, Cameroon, Iran, and of course, our friends from Japan!

The Forum has had the benefit of a wonderful photographer working with us. Miss Courtney Broughton, a learner at Victroia's Camosun College has been taking pictures of the event, and these are posted under the photos tab. Thank you Courtney, you have been a joy to work with.

The 2008 International Forum on Online Dispute Resolution has completed its first day of meetings. Day one began with a moving invocation by First Nations Elder, Greg Sam, who brought the greeting and welcome of the traditional peoples of Vancouver Island. President Jose Ramos Horta of East Timor, Nobel Peace Prize winner, sent a video message to the delegates, and his particpation was warmly responded to by the 150 delegates. The presentations from the day will be posted on the Program tab of this website.

21st-century trend: solving conflicts on the Internet Lindsay Kines, Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, June 19, 2008

In the pre-Internet world of John Wayne, when men were men and online referred to a hooked fish, people settled their disputes face to face in a courthouse or on a dusty street.

Nowadays, they're more likely to meet Facebook to Facebook.

As the world economy changes and more people conduct business over the Internet, disputes increasingly get resolved on the information highway instead of main street at high noon.

The rapidly growing field of online dispute resolution, which is the focus of a two-day forum in Victoria this week, now tackles everything from battles between states to disagreements between buyers and sellers on eBay, said Frank Fowlie, an ombudsman for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

"If you've bought something from me and you live in Australia, I live in Canada, and we've used eBay that's based in the United States, it could be a very complicated system legally to work through that," Fowlie said. Online mediation and arbitration systems, however, allow the aggrieved parties to reach agreements that save time, money, and often relationships, he said.

"It's taking off," Fowlie said. "We're starting to see courts in different parts of the world use online systems to manage small claims. We're starting to see a lot of corporations using it as a mechanism to deal with their clients."

Colin Rule, director of online dispute resolution for eBay and PayPal, said it's a phenomenon driven by advances in technologies and the young people who use them.

"You have older generations who don't really get technology: 'Why would anybody try to resolve a dispute over instant messaging? That seems ridiculous!' But the younger generation is constantly on their phones and constantly on Facebook, and they expect that they're going to use those channels to achieve resolution."

Eventually, Rule said, it will be commonplace "for people to say, 'You know what? Why don't we just meet online?' Click. One p.m. Talk with someone over your computer. It will be the same thing as driving across town to meet with them."

That's not to say that brick courthouses will become an obsolete venue for resolving disputes, he said.

"We'll always have the big courthouses, but they might be less utilized in the future. We might fit them out with HDTVs."

lkines@tc.canwest.com

The program is online at http://centra.bentley.edu/main/User/GuestAttend.jhtml?s_guid=000000343bb... from 8 am to 3pm (eastern) on June 10.

This program is the followup program to our April 10-12, 2008 inaugural Bentley Symposium. At that program, we outlined opportunities for new legal and online dispute resolution structures, strategies for linking the developing world with the legal environment, and how the use of technology can help to achieve poverty alleviation and the legal empowerment of the poor. The programs are a collaboration between BGCC and InternetBar.org and InternetBar.org Institute.

We have invited Mark Frazier and ShannonEwing of OpenWorld. They will be here in person and they have much to contribute to the microfinance world. IN particular, they have developed Openworld's initiatives for micro scholarships, online work-study, and grassroots learning initiatives in Asia and Eastern Europe. They have developed an Academy toolkit and Virtual Business Incubator projects; and, in a joint venture with InternetBar.org, they are promoting online marketplaces for microfinance projects around the world.

Also coming from Eastern Michigan University (EMU) is Dr. David Victor, Director of International Business Programs for their College of Business. Dr. Victor is actively involved in microfinance programs in Africa, and very active in EMU's global ethics programs. His current focus on ethics is of particular interest in the ethics arena.

He points out that: "…the innovative power of cyberspace derives from its breaking of boundaries and the resultant freed of its users from pre-existing constraints. By definition, though, the elimination of these constraints poses questions that as yet have no answers. For example, in a cyberworld beyond the reach of any national laws or even international agreements, what can (or will) govern abuses in commerce such as fraud? Likewise, in a cyberworld without standards, what can (or will) ensure quality controls for fields that require standards such as education?

An integrated world commons becomes a place not only beyond the traditional reach of national laws but beyond any given set of ethics. If ethics derive from a given set of cultural norms, then the foundation for most questions arising in the Internet commons becomes what is (or will be) the ethical norms of cyberspace."

Jeff Aresty, Adjunct Faculty
Bentley College

Our registration is now at capacity, and the online sign up is now closed. Should you wish further information on the ODR Forum please contact: ombudsman@icann.org

Thank you.

The 2008 International Forum on Online Dispute Resolution will likely be closing off registrations by the end of the week. We are approaching maximum capacity for delegates. We presently have representation from 31 countries.

We have been informed by President Ramos - Horta's office that he is unable to attend the ODR Forum, due to his ongoing convalescence, and the burden that the many hours of flying would cause. We are very pleased that President Ramos Horta will address the Forum with video message.

We continued to offer the President our best wishes for a complete recovery.

The ODR Forum will be held in conjunction with the North West Ombudsmen Group Meeting. At the NWOG ombudsmen from the Pacific North West, including British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho meet to discuss issues and trends of regional and mutual interest. This is a unique gathering as classical (i.e. provincial ombudsman), executive ombudsman (i.e. for coroprate consumers) and organizational ombudsman (internal concerns in universities, employment etc) come together, and this is one of the few meetings across the globe where the three forms of ombudsmen interact.

We would like to particularly welcome the newly appointed Ombudsman for Veteran's Affairs, Pat Stogran, and the Ombudsman for the Province of British Columbia, Kim Carter. Both will be participating in the ODR and OmMbudsman panel.