Maximizing Technology to Establish Trust in an Online, Nonvisual Mediation Setting - ADRhub - Creighton NCR2024-03-28T17:53:31Zhttp://www.adrhub.com/forum/topics/maximizing-technology-to-establish-trust-in-an-online-nonvisual-m?feed=yes&xn_auth=noThank you so much Susan!tag:www.adrhub.com,2011-10-29:4905899:Comment:309872011-10-29T07:41:03.407ZNoam Ebnerhttp://www.adrhub.com/profile/NoamEbner
Thank you so much Susan!
Thank you so much Susan! I think your Six Building Blo…tag:www.adrhub.com,2011-10-29:4905899:Comment:311722011-10-29T04:46:04.528ZKatie Seilerhttp://www.adrhub.com/profile/KatieSeiler
I think your Six Building Blocks of Trust could apply to on or offline situations. I am a social media intern and as I was reading each point, I began to notice that these building blocks of trust tie into social media and how you should portray information on Facebook, Twitter, etc.<br></br><br></br><cite>Susan Nauss Exon said:</cite>
<blockquote><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Now that you have had a chance to review a summary of my Six Building Blocks of Trust, welcome to this discussion of…</p>
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I think your Six Building Blocks of Trust could apply to on or offline situations. I am a social media intern and as I was reading each point, I began to notice that these building blocks of trust tie into social media and how you should portray information on Facebook, Twitter, etc.<br/><br/><cite>Susan Nauss Exon said:</cite>
<blockquote><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Now that you have had a chance to review a summary of my Six Building Blocks of Trust, welcome to this discussion of how to use technology to establish trust in an online, nonvisual mediation setting such as email, chat rooms, and instant messaging. I look forward to a week full of rich dialogue. During the week, I hope to explain the building blocks in more detail and hope to learn from you too.</p>
<p>For example, one of the most interesting building blocks for me is Building Block #2, Create Social Presence. I have learned that face-to-face communication is a rich medium because both visual and verbal cues are transmitted. Email, on the other hand, is considered a lean medium because it lacks both types of cues, thus reducing social awareness and hindering our ability to interact with others. Noam Ebner has written about email negotiating, noting that people in lean media tend to be more self-involved and fail to ask questions to understand someone else's underlying interests and motivations. Email negotiators, therefore, are more contentious than F2F negotiators and may exhibit a competitive negotiation style. Email also has advantages. Due to the asynchronous nature, people have time to contemplate before responding and may feel more comfortable participating in an email exchange, thus reducing "social influence bias among individuals . . . ." If the virtual mediator is aware of the effects of lean media, she can capitalize on this information to help disputants improve their online communication.</p>
<p>What do you think? I look forward to your input.</p>
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</blockquote> Everyone, thanks for such a f…tag:www.adrhub.com,2011-10-29:4905899:Comment:309832011-10-29T00:13:35.082ZSusan Nauss Exonhttp://www.adrhub.com/profile/SusanNaussExon
<p>Everyone, thanks for such a fun-filled, rich dialogue this week. I have enjoyed moderating this discussion thread about how to maximize technology to establish trust in an online, nonvisual mediation setting. I appreciate the helpful comments that everyone made about my Six Building Blocks of Trust.</p>
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<p>I want to end with a couple of reminders. As pointed out, many of these building blocks apply both to a face-to-face setting and virtual setting. They go beyond mediation and can…</p>
<p>Everyone, thanks for such a fun-filled, rich dialogue this week. I have enjoyed moderating this discussion thread about how to maximize technology to establish trust in an online, nonvisual mediation setting. I appreciate the helpful comments that everyone made about my Six Building Blocks of Trust.</p>
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<p>I want to end with a couple of reminders. As pointed out, many of these building blocks apply both to a face-to-face setting and virtual setting. They go beyond mediation and can be used in many aspects of our lives. Credibility plays such a large part in developing a trustworthy demeanor both in yourself as a virtual mediator and in the mediation process. The building blocks inter-relate with one another as shown by our discussion. And, finally I have discovered that I have much more to explore and learn about engendering trust as a virtual mediator. If you are interested in reading my upcoming law review article, it will be published in the next issue of the University of La Verne Law Review. Based on the discussion thread this week, I think I'll have to do more research and publish more on this interesting subject. Thanks again to all who contributed. My best, Susan.</p> Thanks for your thoughtful qu…tag:www.adrhub.com,2011-10-29:4905899:Comment:310732011-10-29T00:03:22.392ZSusan Nauss Exonhttp://www.adrhub.com/profile/SusanNaussExon
<p>Thanks for your thoughtful question, Nora. Creating a social presence is a way to connect psychologically to others. Thus, I am hesitant to say you should always do one thing or another. For example, if you are mediating with a Type A, no nonsense business person who is well-educated, articulate and wants to get to the point when discussing things, I do not think that person would connect well to someone who communicated casually. I think you want to get to know your participants and figure…</p>
<p>Thanks for your thoughtful question, Nora. Creating a social presence is a way to connect psychologically to others. Thus, I am hesitant to say you should always do one thing or another. For example, if you are mediating with a Type A, no nonsense business person who is well-educated, articulate and wants to get to the point when discussing things, I do not think that person would connect well to someone who communicated casually. I think you want to get to know your participants and figure out who they are so that you can connect to them when communicating. That is why I have found during the past few years that I spend more and more time during the convening process communicating with participants (usually attorney representatives) as I prepare for a mediation session. I have to confess, however, that initially I like to have private telephone calls with intermittent emails as I prepare for the mediation session.</p>
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<p>Now back to my hypo. If all of my communication is by email, I will want to make sure from the outset that I exude credibility and the best way I can do that is my establishing my qualifications, competence, and knowledge of mediation. I will take the time to do everything that has been discussed this week to ensure an accurate, authentic, well-organized, and clear message. As soon as I receive an email response, I should be able to tell if the sender has taken time to think through what he or she writes so that the message is clear and well-organized, has taken the time to proofread, etc. This assumes, however, that the sender is accustomed to typing and otherwise communicating via the Internet. If you find that someone is having trouble with virtual communication, that is a clue that online mediation may not be the best bet. <br/> <br/>
<cite>Nora Urbanski said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://www.adrhub.com/forum/topics/maximizing-technology-to-establish-trust-in-an-online-nonvisual-m?xg_source=msg_com_forum&id=4905899%3ATopic%3A28772&page=6#4905899Comment30978"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Professor Exon,</p>
<p>I am very interested in this topic. I participated in an online negotiation simulation recently and fond that the lack of personal elements like eye contact and facial expressions made it difficult to feel connected or really engaged with the person I was interacting with. In reference to building block #2 “Create Social Presence” can you give an example of how this would be accomplished online? Is this like using more casual words or phrasing? For example using “couldn’t” instead of “could not” to sound more conversational? </p>
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</blockquote> Greetings,
While I do not h…tag:www.adrhub.com,2011-10-28:4905899:Comment:311632011-10-28T22:25:38.188ZGregory Caridihttp://www.adrhub.com/profile/GregoryCaridi
<p>Greetings,</p>
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<p>While I do not have any personal experience in online mediation, I feel like of all the forms of ODR, mediation would be the most difficult to perform successfully online (ignoring the more technical complexities and difficulties of other forms of ODR). Of all the many types of alternative dispute resolution, mediation, because it is focused on mutual solutions as compared to adversarial success, seems to require close relationship, trust, and an overall positive…</p>
<p>Greetings,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>While I do not have any personal experience in online mediation, I feel like of all the forms of ODR, mediation would be the most difficult to perform successfully online (ignoring the more technical complexities and difficulties of other forms of ODR). Of all the many types of alternative dispute resolution, mediation, because it is focused on mutual solutions as compared to adversarial success, seems to require close relationship, trust, and an overall positive rapport. Developing this closeness seems enormously difficult in an online setting. I have had a number of relationships with people over the internet, and even after many years I often have trouble connecting or really understanding the other person's interests or concerns during a conversation. It is simply difficult to empathize through a computer screen.</p>
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<p>That said, I think these building blocks are definitely a step in a positive direction. Of the above six building blocks, I think numbers two and three are the most vital to success. In any online interaction, it seems imminently important to ensure that the parties know that the mediator is a human being who can understand their struggles. To ensure this, it is vital that a mediator write and communicate in a way that establishes his or her humanness. I think people are naturally doubtful of strangers over the internet. To alleviate this doubt via specifically chosen words and style seems to be the only way to really create a positive negotiation.</p>
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<p>I'd also like to discuss issues of professionalism with respect to this issue of establishing a human relationship. It seems that the internet, for the most part, appeals to younger generations. And these younger generations who have grown up with the internet will soon be the businesspeople and citizens who employ online mediation more readily. These same young people are rarely trained in any sort of online etiquette. In fact, I think most believe the internet is a space where they are able to drop etiquette entirely. It seems like this would be a serious problem as more mediations are moved to the internet. Do any online mediators here have a problem with online etiquette? Do you notice a difference between online mediation and face to face mediation with respect to this issue?</p> This is a very interesting to…tag:www.adrhub.com,2011-10-28:4905899:Comment:308742011-10-28T20:13:05.405ZChristopher Jauron Hoodhttp://www.adrhub.com/profile/ChristopherJauronHood
<p>This is a very interesting topic! In fact, the whole idea of resolving disputes online has always made me leery due to the trust factor. I have a hard enough time trusting people in face to face environments hence; I really find it difficult to trust individuals online, especially with confidential disputes/matters. I normally judge an individual's intention and motive based on their facial expressions and body movement. The inability to see these aforementioned features online presents me…</p>
<p>This is a very interesting topic! In fact, the whole idea of resolving disputes online has always made me leery due to the trust factor. I have a hard enough time trusting people in face to face environments hence; I really find it difficult to trust individuals online, especially with confidential disputes/matters. I normally judge an individual's intention and motive based on their facial expressions and body movement. The inability to see these aforementioned features online presents me with discomfort which makes it difficult for me to trust. To that end, I think the information that you laid out will be very beneficial to mediators because it provides them with the building blocks to handle individuals such as myself that have online trust issues.</p> Dee, I think the greatest typ…tag:www.adrhub.com,2011-10-28:4905899:Comment:311462011-10-28T18:56:31.636ZSusan Nauss Exonhttp://www.adrhub.com/profile/SusanNaussExon
Dee, I think the greatest type of checks and balances is the permanent record that email creates.<br></br>
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<cite>Dee Head said:</cite><br />
<blockquote cite="http://www.adrhub.com/forum/topics/maximizing-technology-to-establish-trust-in-an-online-nonvisual-m?commentId=4905899%3AComment%3A31144&xg_source=msg_com_forum#4905899Comment31144"><div><div class="xg_user_generated">I agree that trust is an integral issue of the online communication situation and building rapport is vital to this and…</div>
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Dee, I think the greatest type of checks and balances is the permanent record that email creates.<br/>
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<cite>Dee Head said:</cite><br />
<blockquote cite="http://www.adrhub.com/forum/topics/maximizing-technology-to-establish-trust-in-an-online-nonvisual-m?commentId=4905899%3AComment%3A31144&xg_source=msg_com_forum#4905899Comment31144"><div><div class="xg_user_generated">I agree that trust is an integral issue of the online communication situation and building rapport is vital to this and your building blocks seem to feed right into the building of this trust. I just wonder what types of checks and balances can be used to verify the direction of the mediation. I hope I made my point clear.<br/> <br/>
<cite>Susan Nauss Exon said:</cite><br/>
<blockquote cite="http://www.adrhub.com/forum/topics/maximizing-technology-to-establish-trust-in-an-online-nonvisual-m#4905899Comment29475"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>I have divided Building Block #6 into four areas to help promote a trustworthy online environment:</p>
<p>1) Platform Design and its Underlying Code - although the underlying code is hidden, platform design must be accessible and bandwidth becomes important. To enable quick interface, a good idea is to use a minimal number of images and small icons can be visually pleasing. Colin Rule has a good discussion of how best to design a platform in his book, Online Dispute Resolution for Business: B2B, E-Commerce, Consumer, Employment, Insurance, and Other Commercial Conflicts (2002).</p>
<p>2) Ease of Use - in a research study conducted by Hassanein & Head, they determined that ease of use of a website creates a positive experience which in turn lends itself to trustworthiness. This idea interrelates with Building Block #1 in terms of how to design your website.</p>
<p>3) Ability to Protect Confidential Information - ODR participants must feel confident that their private information will remain private. As you design a program, therefore, you must ensure that technology ensures confidentiality.</p>
<p>4) Trust via Visible Components - because the underlyng code is not immediately noticeable a good way to establish a trustworthy website is to include visible components that individuals can readily see and experience. These visible components include: quality user interface design; speed; and reliability. Again, Colin Rule has a good discussion of this in his book.</p>
<p><cite>Nick Buda said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://www.adrhub.com/forum/topics/maximizing-technology-to-establish-trust-in-an-online-nonvisual-m?commentId=4905899%3AComment%3A29848&xg_source=msg_com_forum#4905899Comment29848"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Professor Exon,</p>
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<p>After reading this discussion I can see it is extremely important to build trust rapidly between the mediator and the parties. Your first five building blocks make sense to me on how a mediator would build trust. However, I am slightly unsure of how to put the sixth block into context. How does the mediator promote a trustworthy environment by using the technology itself? Thank you.</p>
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<p>Nick</p>
<p>Law Student</p>
<p>Univ. of Nebraska </p>
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</blockquote> I agree that trust is an inte…tag:www.adrhub.com,2011-10-28:4905899:Comment:311442011-10-28T18:53:40.082ZDee Headhttp://www.adrhub.com/profile/DeeHead
I agree that trust is an integral issue of the online communication situation and building rapport is vital to this and your building blocks seem to feed right into the building of this trust. I just wonder what types of checks and balances can be used to verify the direction of the mediation. I hope I made my point clear.<br></br>
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<cite>Susan Nauss Exon said:…</cite>
I agree that trust is an integral issue of the online communication situation and building rapport is vital to this and your building blocks seem to feed right into the building of this trust. I just wonder what types of checks and balances can be used to verify the direction of the mediation. I hope I made my point clear.<br/>
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<cite>Susan Nauss Exon said:</cite><br />
<blockquote cite="http://www.adrhub.com/forum/topics/maximizing-technology-to-establish-trust-in-an-online-nonvisual-m#4905899Comment29475"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>I have divided Building Block #6 into four areas to help promote a trustworthy online environment:</p>
<p>1) Platform Design and its Underlying Code - although the underlying code is hidden, platform design must be accessible and bandwidth becomes important. To enable quick interface, a good idea is to use a minimal number of images and small icons can be visually pleasing. Colin Rule has a good discussion of how best to design a platform in his book, Online Dispute Resolution for Business: B2B, E-Commerce, Consumer, Employment, Insurance, and Other Commercial Conflicts (2002).</p>
<p>2) Ease of Use - in a research study conducted by Hassanein & Head, they determined that ease of use of a website creates a positive experience which in turn lends itself to trustworthiness. This idea interrelates with Building Block #1 in terms of how to design your website.</p>
<p>3) Ability to Protect Confidential Information - ODR participants must feel confident that their private information will remain private. As you design a program, therefore, you must ensure that technology ensures confidentiality.</p>
<p>4) Trust via Visible Components - because the underlyng code is not immediately noticeable a good way to establish a trustworthy website is to include visible components that individuals can readily see and experience. These visible components include: quality user interface design; speed; and reliability. Again, Colin Rule has a good discussion of this in his book.</p>
<p><cite>Nick Buda said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://www.adrhub.com/forum/topics/maximizing-technology-to-establish-trust-in-an-online-nonvisual-m?commentId=4905899%3AComment%3A29848&xg_source=msg_com_forum#4905899Comment29848"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Professor Exon,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After reading this discussion I can see it is extremely important to build trust rapidly between the mediator and the parties. Your first five building blocks make sense to me on how a mediator would build trust. However, I am slightly unsure of how to put the sixth block into context. How does the mediator promote a trustworthy environment by using the technology itself? Thank you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nick</p>
<p>Law Student</p>
<p>Univ. of Nebraska </p>
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</blockquote> Another good question, Tim. I…tag:www.adrhub.com,2011-10-28:4905899:Comment:311422011-10-28T18:44:04.568ZSusan Nauss Exonhttp://www.adrhub.com/profile/SusanNaussExon
<p>Another good question, Tim. I really appreciate your thoughtful insight. Within Building Block #3, I discuss the need to be consistent in behavior and responses, have clear and well-organized answers, provide professionalism and transparency, among other principles. There are great ways to meet all of these principles. Try to include one main theme per email. If you need to discuss more than one point, then carefully organize the points by paragraph. Include a descriptive subject line. In…</p>
<p>Another good question, Tim. I really appreciate your thoughtful insight. Within Building Block #3, I discuss the need to be consistent in behavior and responses, have clear and well-organized answers, provide professionalism and transparency, among other principles. There are great ways to meet all of these principles. Try to include one main theme per email. If you need to discuss more than one point, then carefully organize the points by paragraph. Include a descriptive subject line. In other words, never send an email without something in the subject line that provides good direction for the text of the email. Just like mediators reframe and summarize in a face-to-face mediation, they can do this in emails to prevent misunderstandings. In fact, if the virtual mediator uses techniques of reframing and summarizing, this may prevent misunderstandings in the first place.</p>
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<p>Within Building Block #4, I discuss the need to model positive personal characteristics. For example, the virtual mediator can reflect helpfulness and friendliness in her emails. Studies have shown that if we interject a bit of social commentary (personal information), we can help to build interpersonal relationships. Thus, if people like each other, they are more willing to trust them. The mediator can model active listening skills by responding with good questions that signal she has heard what the mediation participants have said. The mediator also can promote enthusiasm in emails. Examples might include: "I appreciate how hard everyone is working," or "it is wonderful to see the good faith efforts of everyone as you work hard to reach a resolution."</p>
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<p>I hope this gives you some information to take back to your class.</p>
<p><cite>Timothy Joseph Lenaghan Jr said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://www.adrhub.com/forum/topics/maximizing-technology-to-establish-trust-in-an-online-nonvisual-m?xg_source=msg_com_forum&id=4905899%3ATopic%3A28772&page=5#4905899Comment30851"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Professor Exon,</p>
<p>I find your Six Building Blocks of Trust very interesting, especially because digital interactions are becoming the norm. This week, my Advocacy in Mediation class discussed the difficulties in effectively communicating over email and other written electronic mediums. So I wanted to ask you a little more about Building Blocks 3 and 4.</p>
<p>One concern that seemed to come up often was how a mediator can maintain impartiality and trust when electronic communications can be misread or taken the wrong way. In the event that one party in a mediation misreads a communication from the mediator, causing the trust between them to suffer, how do you suggest that the mediator handle the situation?</p>
<p>I know that a simple apology would be appropriate, but written communications through the internet don't carry the same emotional weight as face-to-face interactions. I'm concerned that if one party has the perception that the mediator is in the other party's corner, purely written electronic communications won't be enough to undo the damage.</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tim Lenaghan</p>
<p>University of Nebraska Law Student</p>
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</blockquote> Jeff, I believe the quote you…tag:www.adrhub.com,2011-10-28:4905899:Comment:309572011-10-28T18:25:31.122ZSusan Nauss Exonhttp://www.adrhub.com/profile/SusanNaussExon
<p>Jeff, I believe the quote you are referring to from Monday is as follows:</p>
<p><br></br>"So much of our credibility is built upon reputation (the way people perceive us). We have to show we know what we are doing and a great way is to highlight ourselves as a mediation process expert. So in the beginning of the mediation, we can simple introduce ourselves, highlight our qualifications, and explain the process that is about to unfold. This is nothing new; however, I suggest this because I…</p>
<p>Jeff, I believe the quote you are referring to from Monday is as follows:</p>
<p><br/>"So much of our credibility is built upon reputation (the way people perceive us). We have to show we know what we are doing and a great way is to highlight ourselves as a mediation process expert. So in the beginning of the mediation, we can simple introduce ourselves, highlight our qualifications, and explain the process that is about to unfold. This is nothing new; however, I suggest this because I believe that in an online setting where the mediator and participants cannot see one another, it might be too easy for the mediator to forget something so simple. By doing so, the virtual mediator can begin to engender 'swift trust.'"</p>
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<p>I am not saying that swift trust is overlooked in online settings. What I am saying is that whether you are the mediator in a F2F or online setting, a way to quickly establish trust is through your own introduction, capitalizing on your qualifications and accomplishments, education, etc. This type of information provides credibility for the mediator, which in turn helps to engender trust in the mediator, at least initially.</p>
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<p>So now to your question: "Do you think a formal and institutionalized ODR certification would be an appropriate means to build trust, and if so, what would training or qualifications for that entail?" This is an interesting concept because it signifies that not only is the mediator trained traditionally as a mediator, she also has special ODR skills. That would play directly into Building Block #5, Sustain Mediator Competence, and actually wrap up everything we all have said this week. We have to pay special attention to the way we communicate in writing. We can easily translate what we say in a traditional, F2F mediation to text, yet we need to slow down and be thoughtful in how things are said and what specific words are used because we are creating a permanent record. Perhaps a communications professor who has online experience could teach a segment of an ODR certificate. The psychology of conflict could be translated into the ODR setting and be taught. Obviously, an ODR certification would need to include training on the use of different types of online platforms. Overall, however, we cannot lose sight of the fact that we are all different and our ability to trust someone, including a process like mediation, depends so much on our subjective interpretation of reputation and credibility, which brings us back to Stan's comment on Monday that credibility is a conditions precedent to trust.</p>
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<p>This is just a start. How about others? What else should be included in ODR certification?</p>
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<p><cite>Jeff Kanger said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://www.adrhub.com/forum/topics/maximizing-technology-to-establish-trust-in-an-online-nonvisual-m?xg_source=msg_com_forum&id=4905899%3ATopic%3A28772&page=5#4905899Comment30834"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Professor, </p>
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<p>Thank you for posting these building blocks. I do have a question regarding a comment you made early on in the discussion chain on Monday. In that post you mentioned building "swift trust" that is essential in a traditional mediation sometimes being overlooked in on-line settings. Do you think a formal and institutionalized ODR certification would be an appropriate means to build trust, and if so, what would training or qualifications for that entail?</p>
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<p>Thanks, </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jeff</p>
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