Edinburgh, United Kingdom,
June 28 2003
Venue: School of Law, The University of Edinburgh, Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh EH8 9YL UK

For any inquiries, please contact Arno R. Lodder (lodder@rechten.vu.nl)

Program Committee

Arno R. Lodder - Computer/Law Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Eugene Clark - School of Law, University of Canberra, Australia
Thomas F. Gordon - Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems, Berlin, Germany
Ethan Katsh - Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA
Colin Rule - Raab Associates, USA
Ernest M. Thiessen - Smartsettle, ICAN Systems, USA
Bart Verheij - Faculty of Law, Universiteit Maastricht, The Netherlands
Douglas N. Walton - Faculty of Philosophy, University of Winnipeg, Canada
John Zeleznikow - Joseph Bell Centre for Forensic Statistics and Legal Reasoning, Edinburgh, UK

Online Dispute Resolution

Alternative Dispute Resolution (negotiation, mediation, arbitration) has moved dispute resolution away from litigation and courts. Online Dispute resolution (ODR) extends this trend. Whilst ADR represents a move from a fixed and formal process, ODR, by designating cyberspace as a location for dispute resolution extends this process by moving ADR to virtual environment of the Internet. The earliest ODR-initiatives were research projects (such as the Virtual Magistrate, Online Ombuds Office) and date back to the mid 1990s.

Since 1999 online dispute resolution services are also offered commercially. Current providers include Cybersettle.com, Smartsettle.com, Onlineresolution.com, and The WIPO arbitration centre (see also this list of current ODR projects and websites). The DotCom-crash in the Spring of 2000 had its impact on the field of ODR. But while most ODR-providers where US-based till then, from 2000 onwards Europe started to catch up. As a consequence, the number of ODR-providers world-wide has still increased over the last years. However, the services offered remain more of the same. The Eureopean initiatives concern basically blind-bidding and the settling of country domain name disputes.

We are at the verge of a new era in which online dispute resolution will become more and more a full grown alternative to off line methods of dispute resolution. Even courts are moving online (cf. Michigan Cybercourt); so ODR is no longer the same as eADR (electronic ADR). One of today’s challenges is the effective use of (new) technology. There is still much to be learnt, e.g. about the following topics: useful kinds of interaction; useful kinds of support provided, application of advanced technology and AI methods, acceptance by users and by (legal) professionals. ODR is a field of its own, but developing successful ODR is primarily a multi-disciplinary enterprise. The ODR workshop is a forum for the exchange of ideas between people with different backgrounds such as providers of ODR-services, and researchers in the field of ADR/ODR, argumentation, negotiation, and AI & Law.

Call for papers

Authors are invited to submit both papers up to a max. of 5000 words, and position papers of app. 500 words.

Deadline for submission:     May 4, 2003
Notification of acceptance: May 26, 2003
Final papers due: June 13, 2003

At the day of the workshop proceedings including all papers are distributed.
After the workshop either all or a selection of the papers, including a report of the workshop,
will be published.
 

Submissions should be sent to Arno R. Lodder (lodder@rechten.vu.nl)

Relevant paper topics include but are not restricted to the following:
- The success and failure factors of ODR;
- The use of technology (e.g., e-mail, video conferencing, online environments);
- Discussion of implemented ODR systems;
- Argumentation and ODR;
- Theories on ADR/ODR;
- ODR-projects;
- ODR-protocols;
- Taxonomy of disputes suitable for ODR;
- Interaction between the parties in ODR;
- Design issues;
- Acceptance issues.