26 calls for papers (calls are open until 27 February 2015) and other programme items are by now online:
- 3 independent conference series joined the hitherto existing Foundations of Information Science conferences to form the Summit of the International Society for Information Studies (another organisation might follow in January);
- 20 tracks by different organisations and individuals cover topics in all thematic lines (fundamentals of information processes and problems of social information processes) and sub-lines (see programme);
- 3 other events (a panel discussion with 3 keynotes, a round table, and another panel) have already been fixed (they form the spearhead of others to follow).
Besides the 3 organisers that are in charge of the conference streams, 17 organisations are co-organisers. 7 sponsors and 3 partners provide the Summit with financial and non-material support.
22 Speakers are confirmed so far. A long list of International Programme Committee members gives evidence of the backing by the scientific community. 11 journals will be open for the review of full papers after the Summit.
– That’s an intermediate result just before festivities start at the end of the year 2014. Let’s hope that 2015 will bring progress in the direction of a peaceful and just future in harmony with nature. Our Summit will certainly help towards a shift in that very direction.
The programme will be updated on an ongoing basis.
Let’s take care of the future (that photo shows a section of a painting by Austrian artists Helmut Kurz-Goldenstein and Magdalena Steiner on global challenges, a work commissioned by Wolfgang Hofkirchner in 1989)!
If commonism is to be meaningful, it should somehow enable to people in Africa and the Middle East to have an alternative to risking their lives to swell the numbers of immigrants to Europe. What is the relevance for them of fine theories about information and the Internet? The (extraordinarily rich) programme of the Summit does not, at least not yet, include a structure for the summing-up that will presumably take place at the closing sessions on Sunday. But the tragedies of the last few days seem to call for a specific RESPONSE already. I therefore ask if any time has been set aside or might be made available in principle for an ‘inter-track’ discussion of this very question, namely, how to realistically channel information resources toward the socio-economic reconstruction of impoverished societies. Thank you.
That’s a good point. We need to say something on ICTs for Development, for Sustainable Development, and on development at large. When coming back home from abroad I watched a movie by an Austrian critical filmmaker on the division of Sudan into two countries: “We come as friends” (http://www.wecomeasfriends.com). I recommend. Together with a radio feature (in German) about the start of the slavery triangle of old colonialism it made me aware that we bear a big historical burden for the situation of today.
This has also to do with the recent crimes committed in Western countries and all the youngsters going to Syria for fight (though Austria counts as a rich country, related to our small population we have a big proportion of youth prone to so-called islam fundamentalist positions compared to other Western countries, which means that something is wrong in Austria).
We are just trying to establish some items on that in the programme. Suggestions are welcome!