Architectural Decisions in Designing a Cloud-Based Smart Fourth Party in an Online Dispute Resolution System

Online Dispute Resolution systems provide internet based platforms allowing parties to resolve their disputes at a distance. The first two people in the original dispute are known as the first and second party. The arbitrator or mediator is known as the third party. In the case of an online dispute resolution system, the technology platform becomes the Fourth Party in the dispute. The term Fourth Party was coined by Katsch and Rifkin. They also itemised a number of characteristics which should be present in the Fourth Party. This paper looks at various architectural decisions which need to be made in order to build a smart Fourth Party.