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Revision as of 01:12, 17 February 2004 by Lord Emsworth (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)What is advocacy?
Advocacy is that process in which an individual, not personally interested in the outcome of a dispute, presents the facts and the reasons related to a dispute from the point of view of a particular disputant or group of disputants in order to rationally convince others of the merits of that particular disputant's or group of disputants' perspective or perspectives on the dispute.
What is an advocate?
Disputants, individually or in the group scenario mentioned above, may decide that their point of view is best represented by an "advocate". The advocate can work with the member to help them to better present themselves in mediation or arbitration. The advocate may speak for the disputant to help to present the disputants point of view in a clear, concise manner to help facilitate the discussion process in mediation or arbitration. All decisions remain with the disputant(s) in such a case; if there is a compromise to be made the disputant must approve it. The advocate's job is only to help the disputant(s), not to make decisions for them.
The advocate is a facilitator, and in that way is similar to the mediator. Unlike the mediator the advocate does not have to encourage dispute resolution (though they may). Rather, the advocate will help with the articulation of the dispute so it can be better understood by the mediator or arbitrator and the other party or parties.
Advocates are volunteers who are willing to serve in this capacity. They can be contacted here on Misplaced Pages through the voluntary association known as Association of Members' Advocates. Advocates may be anonymous when they privately help a member. If they appear in the mediation or arbitration process as publicly acknowledged representatives of the disputant(s), the advocate will formally become a "representant" of the disputant(s), and their usernames will then be publicly announced.
Basic principles behind advocacy
Advocates must be faithful to their disputants, but they should try to present the disputant(s)'s point of view in a detached, rational and succinct manner. If disputants are having difficulty in formulating the problem, they may wish to ask advocates to present their positions effectively. By having an advocate represent them, the disputant(s) may help others better appreciate the merits of their position, facilitating a better articulated dispute resolution process.
Advocates are most useful to the dispute resolution process when they are able to provide authority to back up their disputant(s) perspective(s), and thus they should be knowledgeable in the following areas:
- Copyrights
- Warranty Disclaimers
- Policies
- Dispute resolution, mediation and arbitration rules and policies
- Customs, usages and conduct standards of Wikipedians
- Style conventions
and all such similar information that is available in the Misplaced Pages namespace.
Advocates can also help a member to navigate through the dispute resolution process that has become rather complex.
...to be continued...