North American Institute for Conflict Resolution (NAICR), is developing a project to create a digital library of dispute resolution and peace-building books, articles and training materials, to be made available online by subscription and at modest cost.
Such a resource could put an outstanding collection into the hands of virtually every school and library, in every corner of the world reached by the Internet.
THE BENEFIT TO SCHOOLS: With the high cost of publications and the shrinking funding for schools and libraries, few schools have access to even a scanty collection of the burgeoning materials in the conflict resolution and peace-building field.
Many create new curricula and materials for lack of the means of finding what already exists. This resource would make it possible to build on the best materials available, to assign students research and studies in the subject and otherwise to broaden the dialogue. Once this relatively small effort is successful, there is no telling where it could lead, in terms of making instruction-related materials more widely available.
Because of computer access, schools and libraries have the added benefit of not needing to handle the materials physically, nor find space to house those that are not frequently used. This means that the resource adds little burden to the schools operating costs - ie., the subscription fee plus computer availability and access, which can serve many other purposes. The model envisioned for this work is as follows:
A: USER ACCESS: Users access the materials through subscription and ad hoc use. Some of the materials will be freely available. Section C: Document Management describes some of the varying levels of subscription services.
B: BENEFITS TO CONTENT CREATORS AND COPYRIGHT HOLDERS Content creators and copyright holders will be compensated in two ways: by individual document pricing (if they so choose) and by profit-sharing. Levels of participation can be established
that give greater or lesser access to the materials. The profit-sharing relationship with NAICR will create an incentive to keep document prices reasonable. Because copyright holders are relieved of publication, promotion and distribution costs for materials distributed through this Digital Library, they should see real advantages to it.
C. DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT: Through use of a sophisticated document management platform, distribution will be available in various levels of access, from partial and full viewing to downloading. Access can be controlled to allow (1) viewing only, (2) printing (with number of copies controlled), and (3) download. In addition, materials can be searchable by author, title, topics and keywords in summaries as well as in full-text.
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NAICR has the expertise and support network to pull together a worthwhile collection. NAICR co-founder and project leader is Barbara Ashley Phillips, a mediation pioneer and author of two books in the field. As a nonprofit corporation based in the U.S. with offices in Oregon and in Alberta, Canada, NAICR is in a unique position to access North American and world-wide support.
This project needs resounding support from the school community to get off the ground. Let us know how we can best serve schools - and specifically your school - with this resource. And let us know if you are interested in and can constructively contribute to the work of the Schools Advisory Committee for this Project.
Please reply to info@crtraining.org, Re: Online Dispute Resolution Library.
Thank you.
Barbara Ashley Phillips
Executive Director
