Names and Things

Pieces of two conversations over the past couple of days have gotten me thinking about how to label some of the work in which I am directly (and tangentially) involved with the InternetBar.Org and SMU.

The first conversation occurred yesterday at lunch with Jeff Aresty and Tony Picchioni: Jeff is the founder and President of InternetBar.Org, and Tony is the department chair for the dispute resolution program at Southern Methodist University. Tony mentioned that he is working with faculty to consider changing the name of the program to get away from the dispute resolution or conflict resolution label. It seems that the university is finding the same reaction that Colin found at eBay – disputes and conflict are seen as negative, while customer relations, customer service, and other less confrontational sounding labels are seen as positive. These reactions and the impulse to re-label is, I think, an extension of a debate that has long gone on in the “field” (if we can agree there is one). Many differentiate between conflict and disputes, and many question the use of the term resolution as part of our name, given the fact that many in the general “field” don’t aim toward resolution of discrete issues/disputes/conflicts as a primary goal. It is not merely an academic exercise. As Bernie Mayer and many others have forcefully argued, it matters what we call ourselves, and what labels we use to describe our work. It will be interesting to see what SMU decides regarding the label of their program.

The other conversation was with Jeff over breakfast this morning. On a conference call with the IBO Board of Directors (which I missed due to incompetence in managing my schedule) there was a discussion of the PeaceTones initiative, which I helped found and which is near to my heart. (http://peacetones.org/) The Board Member asked, “What does music in Haiti have to do with ODR (online dispute resolution)? “ Good question. If one defines the field of dispute resolution, and by extension online dispute resolution, literally so that resolution of discrete issues/disputes/conflicts is the goal, and so that the mainstream ADR models that derive from rational action and contact theory are the presumed guides to practice, maybe music in Haiti has little to do with ODR. But if one looks at the sweep of work that is done under the rubric of dispute resolution, to include traditional mediation and facilitation, and transformative mediation, and peacebuilding, and community building, and capacity building, and relationship development, then music in Haiti, at least as IBO is working with music in Haiti, has a lot to do with “dispute resolution.”