Hawke Research Institute
In 1998, a UNESCO task force was established in Paris to develop a Culture of Peace News Network (CPNN) which is based on a network of partnerships between UNESCO and organisations including: the American Association of Retired Persons, the World Scout Movement, the Balkans Peace Studies Centre, the University of Murcia, Melbourne University, Deakin University, the University of South Australia, the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the University for Peace, Costa Rica.
The collaboration for the Australian part of UNESCO’s CPNN research project is between: Associate Professor Dianne Bretherton, Director of Melbourne University’s International Conflict Resolution Centre (a member of UNESCO’s CPNN management team); Dr David Mellor, Centre for International Relations, Deakin University and Dale Bagshaw, Coordinator of the Centre for Peace, Conflict & Mediation, University of South Australia. There will also be collaboration with the other overseas organisations/partners in the project with regard to the international aspects of the project.
The Australian partners will work cooperatively to establish and run an Australian CPNN website in the year 2000 and beyond, which will focus on research, education and development. The Australian project has three teams: a Technology Team and a Moderator Team located in Melbourne, and an Activities Team located at the University of South Australia.
The Culture of Peace News and Media Network (CPNN) is a project of UNESCO and its partners for the year 2000. The objective is to develop a network of internet sites that provide information about local actions and media productions for a culture of peace and non-violence. It is hoped such a network will increase popular demand for peace news and media.
The content will be contributed by visitors to the site and will be edited by trained moderators (internet editors) in order to create positive debate. In Australia, these trained monitors/editors include undergraduate and postgraduate students and other interested staff and students from within the three universities involved. It is also hoped that school teachers, senior school students and other members of the community will also be interested in training as moderators.
CPNN provides an opportunity for people, young and old, to write stories about people, events and individual or group projects and reviews of books, films, plays, songs, computer games or other media items, within a framework of the values of a culture of peace. It actively supports and gives recognition to actions and campaigns that promote a culture of peace and non-violence.
Community groups or students who undertake a project in one country will be able to communicate with similar groups in other countries about their experiences. Moderators engage in dialogue with reporters around the eight keys drawn from UN resolutions and incorporated in the Manifesto 2000 written by the Nobel Peace Laureates.
CPNN uses the new information technology with its advances in communication technology to promote the values of a culture of peace and non-violence. CPNN is an internet service and resembles other such services in being informative, up to date, lively and interesting. It actively engages volunteers as readers, reporters, moderators and site organisers.
News and media items submitted for inclusion in the CPNN site will be rated by reporters and moderators on the eight keys drawn from UN resolutions and incorporated in the Manifesto 2000 written by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.
The content of CPNN sites will come from visitors to the site who submit reports to trained moderators. 'CPNN moderators' (online editors) are trained to work with the 'CPNN reporters' in order to create positive debate which will promote a culture of peace. Visitors are invited to become CPNN reporters by contributing reports on news and media productions and adding their ideas and opinions to posted discussions. CPNN reporters may be, for example:
The content of CPNN sites will come from 'CPNN reporters' who submit reports to trained moderators. Moderators (online editors) are trained to work with the 'CPNN reporters' in order to create positive debate or dialogue which will promote a culture of peace. The CPNN reports are moderated by people trained to:
CPNN has developed a training workshop for Internet moderators that can be offered in on- and off-line modes. The International Conflict Resolution Centre at the University of Melbourne have conducted two moderator training sessions, each over two days, and another moderator training session will be conducted for interested South Australians at the University of South Australia in April or May 2000.
To date, participants in the training have come from as far afield as Algeria, Argentina, Australia, the Balkans, Burundi, Canada, Chile, France, Holland, Mozambique, the Philippines, Russia, Spain and the USA.
The two-day training consists of: an introduction to UNESCO and the Culture of Peace Program; discussion of the role of the media; practice in reporting peace news and reviewing peace media; conflict peace and violence on the internet; the role of the moderator in improving reports; the role of the moderator in linking reports; and evaluation of the training.
The training is interactive and aims to give participants an experience that is dynamic, challenging, thought provoking and fun; the same qualities that need to permeate CPNN.
The development of CPNN training has used an action research design. Action research uses a cyclic strategy of: observation, planning the action, carrying out the action, evaluating or reflecting on the action. This process of looking at what worked or didn’t work merges with the observation stage of the next cycle. Action research is consistent with the values of peace because it involves participants in the design of the project and allows their voices to be heard.
The Australian partners propose to research the effectiveness of on-line mentoring as an approach to promoting a culture of peace. Research questions will include: What makes a good internet moderator? What do good moderators do? How do moderator skills fit with the facilitation skills that students learn and what additional skills are required? What are the different meanings that moderators and reporters from different cultural backgrounds give to the concept of peace?
The Centre for Peace, Conflict & Mediation at the University of South Australia, with support from the Hawke Research Institute, has taken responsibility for coordinating the Activites Team for the CPNN Project in Australia. Two postgraduate students from the Master of Conflict Management course, Elayne Neill and Catherine Watkins, and a fourth year social work student on exchange from Buffalo in New York have undertaken moderator training. At this stage, two schools have agreed to pilot the project: the East Adelaide Primary School and Ross Smith High School.
For further information contact: Dale Bagshaw, Coordinator,
Centre for Peace, Conflict & Mediation, University of South Australia (dale.bagshaw@unisa.edu.au).
