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Cybermediation

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Events (9)Blogs (5)Resources (2)Courses (1)

Introduction

The development of digital technology is impacting our societies and professional fields. It is expected that the technology sector will continue to rapidly, possibly exponentially, develop in the coming years. This trend will have deep consequences in virtually every area of society. Peacemaking has traditionally been considered a ‘low tech’ field in which inter-personal skills, savoir-faire, and emotional intelligence are considered to represent the most important attributes of a good mediator.

At the same time, the field is evolving and needs to adjust to changing social contexts, which is increasingly impacted by digital technology. Against this background, the UN Department of Political Affairs, DiploFoundation, the Geneva Internet Platform, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, swisspeace, and researchers from Harvard University have established a consortium tasked to explore how digital technology affects mediation in preventing and resolving violent conflicts. The initiative was launched on 13 March 2018, in Geneva.

The objectives of the #Cybermediation initiative are to:

  • Inform mediation practitioners about the impact of new information and communication technologies on mediation, including their benefits, challenges and risks in relation to peacemaking
  • Develop synergies between the mediation community and the tech sector Identify areas of particular relevance and co-operation

The initiative focuses on four thematic areas in detail:

  • The impact of new technologies
  • Social media
  • (Big) data
  • Artificial intelligence

DiploFoundation and the Geneva Internet Platform are coordinating the activities of the thematic working groups on big data and artificial intelligence.

Big data

The exponential growth of data in modern society brings new opportunities for better informed mediation. This working group will focus on the relevance of digital data to, for example, better understand positions and public sentiments in preparation for mediation. At the same time, it will look into some of the main challenges of using new types of data, related to the reliance on the private sector, the quality of data, as well as privacy, security, and ethical considerations.

Artificial intelligence

The field of artificial intelligence (AI) advances at a fast pace, and AI tools are increasingly used in various domains. Some of these tools could be used to facilitate and support mediation activities, such as machine translation systems and text-mining applications. There is also considerable research being done on whether AI could be used to automate certain negotiation functions (the so-called ‘autonomous negotiating agents’). This group will look at existing AI tools and their possible applications in mediation activities, while also exploring the potential role of automated and autonomous negotiation systems in mediation efforts.

Activities

DiploFoundation and the Geneva Internet Platform will conduct research and organise regular meetings (online and offline) to improve our understanding of the impact of these technologies on mediation. We will raise monthly questions about big data and AI for an online discussion about these topics.

Interested in joining the working groups on big data and AI? Send an e-mail to Katharina Höne at katharinah@diplomacy.edu.

From our blog

Report of ‘The Potential of Virtual Reality for Peace Mediation’ roundtable

DiploFoundation

24 November 2020

Cybermediation, Digital diplomacy, Diplomatic theory and practice

Title of event: The Potential of Virtual Reality for Peace Mediation Date 5 Nov 2020    On 5 November 2020, two member organisations of the CyberMediation Network – Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) and DiploFo...

13 Dialogues on humAInism

Jovan Kurbalija

20 November 2019

Artificial Intelligence, Cybermediation, Digital diplomacy

The interplay between tech and humanity stands at the core of the discussion on the future of AI (and our society). It is often centred around a few topics as described in the Socratic-style dialogues below. Please l...

[WebDebate #30 summary] AI for peacemaking: New tools

DiploFoundation

17 June 2019

Artificial Intelligence, Conflict resolution & Mediation, Cybermediation, Diplomatic theory and practice

In our June WebDebate, we explored the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) for peacemaking:  the opportunities AI tools offer for mediation, the feasibility of these tools, and how they fit into the role and wo...

Cybermediation: What role for blockchain and artificial intelligence?

DiploFoundation

12 October 2018

Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, Cybermediation

Last week, the Geneva Internet Platform hosted an event on #Cybermediation, as part of the #Cybermediation initiative. The discussion, moderated by DiploFoundation\'s Interim Director Dr Stephanie Borg Psaila, focused...

Training and courses

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Advanced Diploma in Internet Governance

Starting 24 Jul 23

Resources

2020

Virtual Reality and the Future of Peacemaking (Briefing Paper #14)

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2019

Mediation and artificial intelligence: Notes on the future of international conflict resolution

Over the last years AI has emerged as a hot topic with regard to its impact on our political, social, and economic lives.... Read more...

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