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of each option. It is, for example, possible to construct parallel lessons
which show how mediation, arbitration, or litigation can be used to
handle the same dispute. Users could then decide which approach they
find most attractive. Programs can also offer in-depth lessons on sub–
issues of likely interest-strategies for dealing with anger, technical
uncertainty, or racial tensions, for example.
By conducting Web-based training programs with national or inter–
national audiences, it is possible to assemble groups of people who are
interested in working together on highly specialized issues which are
directly applicable to their immediate needs. People who are encounter–
ing a problem this week can find peers to talk to who have worked
through the same problem last week. The increasing availability of vir–
tually no-cost, Internet-based, long distance telephone service will also
do much to unite these widely separated students into a true learning
community. Local face-to-face programs could never realistically expect
to assemble groups of people with such an immediate interest in a spe–
cialized conflict topic.
Thus far, at least for our field, the Web has been a relatively pas–
sive medium in which brochures and working papers are presented in
difficult-to-read, on-screen formats. But more interactive materials
are possible . Computer game manufacturers have clearly demon–
strated that computers can provide an enormously interactive and
engrossing experience. Simcity
3000,
for example, is probably teach–
ing kids more about the way that cities work than their high school
or college teachers (unless, hopefully, they specialize in urban plan–
ning). Strategy games are also long-time big sellers, and managing is
about strategy as much as anything else .
It
should be possible to build
fascinating games in which people can match their skills with his–
tory's great peacemakers-trying to figure out how they would
resolve international crises or long-term, intractable conflicts.
It
may also be possible to develop much less expensive Web-based
negotiation and mediation mechanisms capable of helping people deal
with minor disputes which were previously beyond the reach of media–
tion services . This is still a controversial issue and it's not yet clear
whether we might be able to replace mediation's human touch. But pre–
liminary experiments at on-line mediation seem promising.
In traditional technical fields, the ultimate source of knowledge is
basic and applied scientific research. There are also relatively clear
research protocols which are widely accepted as methods for finding
the "correct" answer. In a field like conflict resolution, the nature of
knowledge is more complex and ambiguous. Many of the field's most
