<nettime-ann> "Localizing the Internet. Ethical aspects in intercultural perspective" (Modified by Geert Lovink)

[Rafael Capurro <rafael@capurro.de>]

.
Dear colleagues,

ICIE book series No 4 "Localizing the Internet. Ethical aspects in 
intercultural perspective" ed. Rafael Capurro, Johannes Frühbauer, 
Thomas Hausmanniger, München, Fink Verlag, 2007, ISBN 
978-3-7705-4200-0, 363 pages, price: 49,00 Euros is now available. 
Thanks to all authors and potential readers for their patience!

As you remember, we published all papers presented at the ICIE 
International Symposium held in October 2004 in IRIE except the papers 
that are now printed in this book. We also printed the resumé of the 
discussions during the meeting. I hope you enjoy them as well!

ABOUT THIS BOOK

The ongoing debate on the impact of the Internet at global and local 
levels is at the core of today's and tomorrow's political 
decision-making, particularly in a world that turns more and more 
unified - and divided. It is also at the core of academic research on 
what has been called Information Ethics. The leading ethical question 
is how embodied human life is possible within local cultural traditions 
and the horizon of a global digital environment. The book deals with 
this question from four perspectives:

1. The Quest for Intercultural Information Ethics: This part addresses 
problems of founding internet ethics in a global and culturally diverse 
space. How is it possible to generate or find a more or less common 
ethical basis? Can there be a universal normative framework or would 
that be an affront against the cultural diversity? What does it mean, 
to respect otherness and at the same time to be able to get together in 
the net and solve unavoidable conflicts?

2. Internet for Social and Political Development: How many people with 
different cultural backgrounds integrate the Internet in their lives? 
This concerns in the first place community building. How far does the 
Internet affect, for better or worse, local community building?  How 
far does it allow democratic consultation? How do people construct 
their lives within this medium? How does it affect their customs. 
languages, and everyday problems? The question about information 
justice is thus not just an issue of giving everybody access to the 
global network, but rather an issue on how the digital network helps 
people to better manage thwir lives while avoiding the dangers of 
exploitation and discrimination.

3. Internet for Cultural Development: "Culture" has received revived 
attention in the last decade by scholars around the world - our lives 
and identities are culturally grounded and the global interactions 
certainly have quit an impact on our cultural development. Since 
cultural imperialism cannot be an option, the question are, if and how 
the local can reshape the global, and if and how the global may inspire 
or further the local? What do technological innovations mean in 
cultural terms? How do we construct identity in the net? Should we 
further place-networking instead or accompanying world-networking?

4. Internet for Economic Development: Obviously there is a large 
economic impact of the Internet. But is it a medium that helps people 
to better opportunities for economic development? Or is it an 
instrument of oppression and colonialism? What is the impact of this 
technology on the environment? How does it affect what has been called 
cultural memory or cultural sustainability?

The book offers internationally grounded perspectives on these issues, 
focussing on Asia, Africa, Latin America, USA and Europe.


CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION: The Promising Field of Intercultural Information Ethics 
(Rafael Capurro) pp. 9-18

PART I
THE QUEST FOR INTERCULTURAL INFORMATION ETHICS

- Intercultural Information Ethics (Rafael Capurro) pp. 21-38
- Allowing for Difference. Some Preliminary Remarks concerning 
Intercultural Information Ethics (Thomas Hausmanninger) pp. 39-56
- Foucault, Deleuze, and the Ethics of Digital Networks (Bernd 
Frohmann) pp 57-68
- Globalization of Information Ethics (LÜ Yao-huai) pp. 69-73

PART II
INTERNET FOR SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
- Digital Governance Models: Towards Empowerment and Good Governance in 
Developing Countries (Vikas Nath) pp. 77-94
- Virtual Strangers - On the Social and Ethical Conditions of Virtual 
Communities (Lucas D. Introna) pp. 95-108
- Laissez-faire or Regulation? Social and Policy Implications of IT 
Telephony (Richard A. Spinello) pp. 109-120
- Gendered Views on the Ethics of Computer Professionals (Britta 
Schinzel) pp. 121-134
- The Internet and Community Building at the Local and Global Levels: 
Some Implications and Challenges (Frances S. Grodzinsky and Herman T. 
Tavani) pp. 135-149

PART III
INTERNET FOR CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
- Can the Local Reshape the Global? Ethical Imperatives for Humane 
Intercultural Communication Online (Charles Ess) pp. 153-170
- "New Technologies" and "Ancient Africa": The Impact of New 
Information and Communication Technologies in Sub-Saharian Africa 
(Willy Jackson and Issiaka Mandé) pp. 171-176
- The Internet within Seken as Old and Indigenous World of Meaning in 
Japan. The Interrelationship between Seken, Shakai, and the Internet in 
Japan (Makoto Nakada) pp. 177-204
- At the Boundaries of Ethics and Cultures: Virtual Communita as an 
Open Ended Process Carrying the Will for Social Change (Daniel 
Pimienta) pp. 205-228
- Collective Construction of Identity in Internet: Ethical Dimension 
and Intercultural Perspective (Hugo Alberto Figueroa Alcántara) pp. 
229-242
- Internet and Free Networks. From World-Networking to Place-Networking 
(Wolfgang Sützl) pp. 243-262

PART IV
INTERNET FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
- The Internet: The Missing Link Between the Information Poor and the 
Information Rich? (Johannes Britz) pp. 265-278
- On Sharing Ideas and Expressions in Global Communities (Wolfgang Coy) 
pp. 279-288
- The Internet, Information Machines, and the Technologies of the Self 
(Fernando Elichirigoity) pp.289-300
- A Toolkit to Empower Communities in Latin America (Susana 
Finquelievich) pp. 301-319

PART V
RESUME OF DISCUSSION
Fruit, Water, and Philosophy. Intercultural Perspectives on the 
Internet. A Report on Working Groups' Discussions at the International 
Symposium "Localizing the Internet. Ethical Issues in Intercultural 
Perspective" (Rafael Capurro and Rupert M. Scheule) pp. 323-334

APPENDIX
Authors and Editors
Bibliography


Many of the questions we asked two years ago are now in the 
international agenda under the labbel Web 2.0. And: Intercultural 
Information Ethics is becoming more and more a key academic and 
political issue.

I am particularly pleased to see the progress we have done with regard 
to the promotion of Information Ethics in Africa. Our conference in 
Pretoria has its roots in Karlsruhe!

kind regards

Rafael

--
Prof. Dr. Rafael Capurro
Hochschule der Medien (HdM) - Stuttgart Media University, Wolframstr. 
32, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany
Private: Redtenbacherstr. 9, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany
E-Mail: rafael@capurro.de; capurro@hdm-stuttgart.de
Voice Stuttgart: + 49 - 711 - 25706 - 182
Voice private: + 49 - 721 - 98 22 9 - 22 (Fax: -21)
Homepage: www.capurro.de
Homepage ICIE: http://icie.zkm.de
Homepage IRIE: http://www.i-r-i-e.net
Information Ethics Senior Fellow, 2007-2008, Center for Information 
Policy Research, School of Information Studies, UW-Milwaukee, USA




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