Mediating Using Skype

I had the privilege of being part of a fascinating project involving mediation over the Internet using Skype. Giuseppe Leone has been investigating the use of communication tools to enable mediation remotely. Cost effectiveness has always been an important factor for mediation, and where there is a party who is in another country, it can be very difficult to mediate in person because of the cost of travelling. Other solutions are needed, and Giuseppe has undertaken a pilot study using Skype. I took part in two trial mediations, one as a party and the other as a mediator. Generally the experience was very useful, and there is now an article on Mediate. Com about this. The article is at http://www.mediate.com/articles/LeoneG2.cfm and I recommend reading this to see in detail how this works. As part of my work as ombudsman, such a tool is definitely useful.