Introduction
Having studied philosophy and done
practical work in the ICT field for
more than thirty years, my interests are on both sides.
As a theoretician I am
devoted to questions related to the foundations of
information science as well
as to ethical theories in the ICT&S field.
As a practitioner I am interested
in the impact of the internet particularly in the “Third
World” as well as in intercultural questions of
ICT&S. Information
ethics is a primary topic of my research and teaching.
I do this research
particularly within the framework of the International
Center for Information Ethics (ICIE) a network that I created in
1999 and
that includes now some 200 members world wide (http://icie.zkm.de).
The activities of this network have grown
in the last years. We edit an ICIE
series at Fink Verlag Munich as well as an online journal, the International Review of Information Ethics
(IRIE) (www.i-r-i-e.net).
In 2004 the
ICIE organized an international symposium sponsored by VolkswagenStiftung
(http://icie.zkm.de/congress2004).
My teaching at the Hochschule der Medien
(HdM) (http://www.hdm-stuttgart.de)
in Stuttgart
has mainly to do with information ethics as well as with intercultural
aspects
of the internet.
Selected
Topics of Research and Teaching
The following topics on ICT&S reflect
the focus of my
research and teaching. They are by no means exhaustive.
Information Science
Different concepts of information pervade
today many disciplines but
there is no clear idea of how they are related and how an
interdisciplinary
information science that connects the natural sciences with modern
information
technology and society can be conceived.
See: Rafael
Capurro, Birger Hjørland: The Concept of
Information.
In: Annual Review
of Information Science and Technology (ARIST)
Ed. Blaise Cronin, Vol. 37 (2003) Chapter 8,
343-411.
In my view the concept of information
is related but not identical to the concept of message. I have
suggested to
develop a ‘message theory.’
At the societal level this theory should
particularly devote itself to the analysis of postmodern societies
conceived as message societies in which the
process of message production, exchange, storage and retrieval has
become a key
social technology.
See: IRIE
1/2005 (Ethical Aspects of Search Engines)
This societal change on ICT basis makes a fundamental
difference with regard to the hierarchical one-to-many structure of
message
distribution and consumption as the dominating paradigm of mass media
societies
in the 20th century.
Information Ethics
The ongoing discussions on the societal
impact of ICT at the World Summit on the Information
Society
(WSIS) show clearly the importance of ethical reflection. Information
ethics
understood as an interdisciplinary field which includes questions of
computer
ethics, mass media, internet research and practice and ongoing
applications
such as ubiquitous computing and robotics deserves special attention of
the academic
community, and of ethic-political bodies such as national and international
ethic committees as well as of NGOs.
Particular emphasis should be devoted to
intercultural aspects of ICT&S within ethical theory and practice as well
as to the impact of ICT in the “Third World.”
See:
:: IRIE 2/2004 Proceedings of the ICIE Symposium "Localizing
the Internet. Ethical Issues in Intercultural Perspective" (October
2004)
::
Rafael Capurro, Johannes Frühbauer, Thomas Hausmanninger (Eds.):
Localizing the Internet. Ethical Issues in Intercultural Perspective. Schriftenreihe des ICIE Bd. 4, München: Fink Verlag
(2005) (in preparation)
ICT & S
I would like to suggest that the
ICT & S focuses its research and teaching activities having as
framework the following question:
What does it
mean for a society, a firm, a group... to exist within a digitally
networked world?
This is a transdisciplinary
question, i.e., it should be answered from different perspectives
allowing not only an interdisciplinary but also an intercultural
dialogue.
The transdisciplinary character
of the question may be addressed itself as a philosophical one which
implies ontological, epistemological, anthropological and ethical
dimensions.
Last
update: June 30, 2005