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The Participation Portal

Anyone with an interest can join the Beyond Intractability CL3 Community,     Membership is free and we ask only that you contribute constructively to our efforts to improve conflict prevention, moderation, and governance.   Members can post almost any kind of (related) information in a variety of ways, ranging from short comments on existing resources, suggestions of new resources, or writing of new material.  We have to get many dialogues going between people with different interests and views, building (we hope) into global conversations and occassional cross-boundary working groups formed by people who want to work together to develop and implement innovative ideas  

New Participant Registration -- To join the CL3 Community and obtain a username and password, we ask only that you fill out a simple online form.

 A variety of participation options, ranging from quick-and-easy to substantial (but rewarding) time commitments are listed below:

• Member Challenges / Responses -- Members struggling with specific peace/conflict/governance-related problems or issues can pose those problems to the Commons where members can suggest possible solutions or responses. These problems and responses will, as they accumulate, be incorporated into the Beyond Intractability's full-text searchable knowledge base.
  • Problems, issues and responses to those challenges can be posted here.
     
• Feedback Opportunities -- All resource postings will include an opportunity for members to provide constructive comments regarding the usefulness of particular materials and ways in which they might be integrated with other knowledge or practical insights.
  • To rate resources posted anywhere on the Commons or Beyond Intractability, and to offer your comments on those resources, simply login using your username and password and click on the "add new comment" link at the bottom of each page.
  • You can also see ratings and comments offered by others here.
     
• "Items of Interest" Announcements / Member "Bright Ideas" -- For members who would like to offer innovative approaches to governance or conflict problems, we provide a "Bright Ideas" section, where members can briefly summarize how they would respond to a particular challenge and then offer links to additional information. Members can also post announcements of relevant publications, instructional programs, or datasets that are likely to be of interest. (Neither the Commons nor Beyond Intractability will formally evaluate or vouch for the quality of such information. We will, however, provide the feedback mechanisms described below.)
  • "Items of Interest " can be entered here.
  • "Bright Ideas" can be entered here.
     
• Working Group Facilitation -- For members who want to work together to advance some aspect of the Beyond Intractability agenda, we provide collaborative tools for the joint authoring of documents and the solicitation of outside comments. This aspect of the site will provide access control mechanisms that will allow working groups to confidentially develop draft documents which can then be made available to wider audiences for review.
  • Informal working groups can quickly and easily be facilitated using our phpBB Forums.
  • More extensive working group support using the full features of the CL3 system is also available. Simply submit a comment form explaining what you would  like to do and we will get back to you with details.
     
• Development of the  Beyond Intractability Agendas -- Beyond Intractability's efforts to reduce destructive conflict and improve governance are focused on advancing an agenda that seeks better ways of responding to the core challenges. We actively seek member help in refining and prioritizing this agenda. 
  • The first step toward helping us improve the site is to use the comment links at the bottom of each page where we describe ways of approaching the big conflict and governance challenges from the perspective of practitioners, educators, and research and development people.
  • Those interested in taking a more extensive role in the development of Beyond Intractability's agenda are encouraged to submit a comment form explaining your areas of interest and we will get back to you with options.

• Commons Editors and Moderators -- Beyond Intractabiliyt is recruiting editors with in-depth expertise on specific BI topics to take the lead in organizing particular sections. To minimize the amount of time required of editors, we will provide a variety of labor-saving tools and the support services of the Commons staff. As a further incentive, we will acknowledge these and other major substantive contributions in an "ever-present" contributor box.
  • To learn more about our editor and moderator program simply submit a comment form explaining your areas of interest and we will get back to you with details.
     
• Social Networking -- The CL3 Community is a 21st-century network that will make appropriate use of online social networking sites (e.g., LinkedIn and Facebook) to encourage the formation of mutually supportive groups focused around our principal peace, conflict, and governance challenges.
  • The social networking program is not yet available but will be developed over the next several months. Anyone interested in helping us pursue this important aspect of the BI program should let us know using the comment form.
     
• Peer Review Publication Opportunities -- Beyond Intractability has already expanded considerably by the long-running participation of John Paul Lederach of the Kroc Institute. Professor Lederach asks all of his graduate students in his spring peacebuilding class to write a piece for Beyond Intractability.  We review those pieces and publish the good ones (usually many of them) in the system.  We welcome other graduate instructors to set up similar relationships with Beyond Intractability , and welcome submissions from students, even if their faculty members do not have an official arrangement with us.  You can check our list of needed articles, or you can suggest your own topic.  We urge students who hope to publish on Beyond Intractability or the Governance Commons to check with us before they start working on a paper, however, so you know, at least, whether it is a topic we need before you start.
   
• Call for Papers -- To help students come up with ideas of things to write on that are needed for Beyond Intractability, we maintain a "call for papers" page that lists a number of things we are particularly looking for.  It is still useful to consult us to get help honing your topic if you want to maximize chances of success in getting it published here.  (All papers still do go through a review process, so early consultation is not a promise of publication.  But it increases the likelihood that your topic will meet our needs.) 

• Suggest Individuals and Organizations to be invited to join the Beyond Intractability CL3 Network.
  • Please let us know about those who might be interested in participating by providing their names, interests, and contact information using the comment form.