technology-religious view, which considers technology as a cure-all, and both of these
are subject to the same pitfall of oversimplification. See, David Postman, ‘Five Things
We Need to Know About Technological Change, Talk Delivered in Denver Colorado
March 28, 1998 ‘(Denver, Colorado, 28 March 1998) available at http://www.cs.
ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/materials/postman.pdf (accessed 18 June 2018).
As a highly critical media theorist Postman underlines that there is always a philosophy
embedded in technology and that it affects how people perceive technology. Postman
admits that his image of technology originates from media theorist Marshall McLuhan’s
theory coined by the famous phrase ‘the medium is the message’. Postman has been
quoted in ODR literature by Katsh, see, Ethan Katsh, ‘ODR: A Look at History – Few
Thoughts About the Present and Some Speculation About the Future’ in Mohamed S
Abdel Wahab, Ethan Katsh and Daniel Rainey (eds), Online Dispute Resolution: Theory
and Practice. A Treatise on Technology and Dispute Resolution (Eleven International
Publishing 2012) 19.
56 The American Professor of Linguistics Robert Wachal was the first to describe
digitalisation as a societal change in his 1971 article on social implications of computers. See, Robert Wachal, ‘Humanities and Computers: A Personal View’ (1971) 256
The North American Review 30.
57 For example, modems were used in 1990s to access the World Wide Web through
analogue telephone lines.
58 Also McGinnis and Pearce attribute the challenges of technology that the legal
profession must face largely to increasing computational power, exemplified by
Moore’s Law. See JO McGinnis and RG Pearce, ‘The Great Disruption: How
Machine Intelligence Will Transform the Role of Lawyers in the Delivery of Legal
Services’ (2014) 82 Fordham Law Review 2041, 2041–3066.
59 ‘Impact Assessment on Directive on Consumer ADR and Regulation on Consumer
ODR’ (European Commission 2011) SEC (2011) 1408 final.
60 ‘Report of Working Group III (Online Dispute Resolution) on the Work of Its
Twenty-Second Session (Vienna, 13–17 December 2010)’ (UNCITRAL, Working
Group III 2011) A/CN.9/716 8.
61 Online Dispute Resolution Advisory Group, ‘Online Dispute Resolution for Low
Value Civil Claims’ (Civil Justice Council 2015) 24–25 https://www.judiciary.gov.
uk/reviews/online-dispute-resolution/odr-report-february-2015/ accessed 18 June
2018).
62 ‘The fourth party does not except in a few well-defined instances such as blindbidding, replace the third party. But it can be considered to displace the third party
in the sense that new skills, knowledge and strategies may be needed by the third
party. It may not be coequal in influence to the third party neutral, but it can be an
ally, collaborator, and partner.’ Katsh and Rifkin, ‘Online Dispute Resolution: Resolving Conflicts in Cyberspace’ (San Francisco: Jossey Bass 2001) 93.
63 AR Lodder and J Zeleznikow, Enhanced Dispute Resolution Through the Use of
Information Technology (Cambridge University Press 2010) 79–85.
64 For example, Colin Rule considers the main difference between ODR and ADR to be
in communication methods, as technological applications enable a variety of different
options from asynchronous emails and threaded discussions to synchronous communication such as chatting, instant messaging, or video conferencing. See Colin Rule,
Online Dispute Resolution for Business. B2B, E-Commerce, Consumer, Employment,
Insurance, and Other Commercial Conflicts (Jossey-Bass 2002) 44–48.
65 ‘In offline settings, arguably, the features of the place where parties meet are not
important, but when parties meet online the role of cyberspace is of paramount
importance, because the fourth party shapes the ay expertise is delivered and the way
communications take place. In online negotiation and online mediation the use of the
software (fourth party) helps the parties in reaching an agreement by taking on part of
56 Theoretical implications of dispute resolution technology
are subject to the same pitfall of oversimplification. See, David Postman, ‘Five Things
We Need to Know About Technological Change, Talk Delivered in Denver Colorado
March 28, 1998 ‘(Denver, Colorado, 28 March 1998) available at http://www.cs.
ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/materials/postman.pdf (accessed 18 June 2018).
As a highly critical media theorist Postman underlines that there is always a philosophy
embedded in technology and that it affects how people perceive technology. Postman
admits that his image of technology originates from media theorist Marshall McLuhan’s
theory coined by the famous phrase ‘the medium is the message’. Postman has been
quoted in ODR literature by Katsh, see, Ethan Katsh, ‘ODR: A Look at History – Few
Thoughts About the Present and Some Speculation About the Future’ in Mohamed S
Abdel Wahab, Ethan Katsh and Daniel Rainey (eds), Online Dispute Resolution: Theory
and Practice. A Treatise on Technology and Dispute Resolution (Eleven International
Publishing 2012) 19.
56 The American Professor of Linguistics Robert Wachal was the first to describe
digitalisation as a societal change in his 1971 article on social implications of computers. See, Robert Wachal, ‘Humanities and Computers: A Personal View’ (1971) 256
The North American Review 30.
57 For example, modems were used in 1990s to access the World Wide Web through
analogue telephone lines.
58 Also McGinnis and Pearce attribute the challenges of technology that the legal
profession must face largely to increasing computational power, exemplified by
Moore’s Law. See JO McGinnis and RG Pearce, ‘The Great Disruption: How
Machine Intelligence Will Transform the Role of Lawyers in the Delivery of Legal
Services’ (2014) 82 Fordham Law Review 2041, 2041–3066.
59 ‘Impact Assessment on Directive on Consumer ADR and Regulation on Consumer
ODR’ (European Commission 2011) SEC (2011) 1408 final.
60 ‘Report of Working Group III (Online Dispute Resolution) on the Work of Its
Twenty-Second Session (Vienna, 13–17 December 2010)’ (UNCITRAL, Working
Group III 2011) A/CN.9/716 8.
61 Online Dispute Resolution Advisory Group, ‘Online Dispute Resolution for Low
Value Civil Claims’ (Civil Justice Council 2015) 24–25 https://www.judiciary.gov.
uk/reviews/online-dispute-resolution/odr-report-february-2015/ accessed 18 June
2018).
62 ‘The fourth party does not except in a few well-defined instances such as blindbidding, replace the third party. But it can be considered to displace the third party
in the sense that new skills, knowledge and strategies may be needed by the third
party. It may not be coequal in influence to the third party neutral, but it can be an
ally, collaborator, and partner.’ Katsh and Rifkin, ‘Online Dispute Resolution: Resolving Conflicts in Cyberspace’ (San Francisco: Jossey Bass 2001) 93.
63 AR Lodder and J Zeleznikow, Enhanced Dispute Resolution Through the Use of
Information Technology (Cambridge University Press 2010) 79–85.
64 For example, Colin Rule considers the main difference between ODR and ADR to be
in communication methods, as technological applications enable a variety of different
options from asynchronous emails and threaded discussions to synchronous communication such as chatting, instant messaging, or video conferencing. See Colin Rule,
Online Dispute Resolution for Business. B2B, E-Commerce, Consumer, Employment,
Insurance, and Other Commercial Conflicts (Jossey-Bass 2002) 44–48.
65 ‘In offline settings, arguably, the features of the place where parties meet are not
important, but when parties meet online the role of cyberspace is of paramount
importance, because the fourth party shapes the ay expertise is delivered and the way
communications take place. In online negotiation and online mediation the use of the
software (fourth party) helps the parties in reaching an agreement by taking on part of
56 Theoretical implications of dispute resolution technology