International Center for Information Ethics
ADMINISTRATION
We're not in an information age anymore. We're in the information management age.
- Chris Hardwick
ICIE Administration
The International Center for Information Ethics (ICIE) was founded in Germany by Uruguayan Philosopher Rafael Capurro in 1999. In partnership with the newly formed African Network for Information Ethics, ICIE quickly established its place as the center for community in the global-wide practice of Information Ethics, offering a platform for an intercultural exchange of ideas and information regarding worldwide teaching and research. The ICIE community has supported and encouraged collaboration between colleagues teaching in the field for nearly two decades. It has organized and co-organised symposia since 2001 and publishes a book series in cooperation with W. Fink Verlag, Munich-Paderborn (Germany). In 2004, ICIE published its first edition of the International Review of Information Ethics (IRIE) and has continued to publish quarterly editions since.
Rafael Capurro
Founder
Rafael Capurro is a Uruguayan philosopher and pioneer of the field of information ethics. He was Professor of information management and information ethics at Stuttgart Media University in Germany from 1986 to 2009 and Director of the Steinbeis-Hochschule Berlin Institute of Information Ethics from 2008 to 2013. Capurro is the founder of the International Center for Information Ethics and co-founder of the Africa Network for Information Ethics.
Jared Bielby
Executive Director
Jared Bielby is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Freelance Netizen and President of Netizen Consulting Ltd. He serves as Executive Director for the International Center for Information Ethics (ICIE) and is Editor-in-Chief of the International Review of Information Ethics. In addition to his work with ICIE, Jared is the Digital Ethics Advisor for the City of Edmonton where he advises on several projects for data governance. Jared completed a double MA/MLIS, specializing in Information Ethics, at the University of Alberta, Canada.
Marco Schneider
Chair
Marco Schneider is a tenured researcher at the Brazilian Institute of Information on Science and Technology (IBICT) and Professor at the Post Graduate Program in Information Science (PPGCI IBICT UFRJ), with scholarships from CNPq and FAPERJ. He teaches Social Communications at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF) and at the Post Graduate Program in Media and Everyday Life at the Institute for Art and Social Communication. Marco received a PhD in Communication Sciences from the University of São Paulo and his Postdoc in Cultural Studies at the Advanced Program for Contemporary Culture. Marco coordinates the research group Philosophical Perspectives in Information (Perfil-i) and is a member of the research group Critical Studies in Information, Technology and Social Organization (Escritos). He is the author of “Dialética do Gosto: informação, música e política” (2015), co-author of “iKritika: estudos críticos em informação” (2019) and co-organizer of “Competência crítica em Informação: teoria, consciência e práxis” (2022). Marco also represents the information ethics community of Latin America and Caribbean for the International Center for Information Ethics.
Arthur Bezerra
Co-Chair
Arthur Coelho Bezerra is a tenured researcher at the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (IBICT) and professor at the Post-Graduate Program in Information Science (PPGCI IBICT UFRJ), with scholarships from CNPq and FAPERJ. He was a visiting researcher at the Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès (Latin American Chair) in 2018. Both his PhD and Postdoc in Social Sciences were concluded at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Arthur coordinates the research group Critical Studies in Information, Technology and Social Organization (Escritos) and is a member of the research group Philosophical Perspectives in Information (Perfil-i). He is the author of "Cultura Ilegal: as fronteiras morais da pirataria" (2014), co-author of “iKritika: estudos críticos em informação” (2019) and co-organizer of “Competência crítica em Informação: teoria, consciência e práxis” (2022). Arthur also represents the information ethics community of Latin America and Caribbean for the International Center for Information Ethics.
ICIE Advisory Board
Dr. Hellen Amunga
Advisor
Dr. Hellen Amunga is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Library & Information Science, Faculty of Arts, University of Nairobi. She previously served as a Lecturer in the Department of Educational Communication and Technology; and as the E-Learning Coordinator for the School of Education, Kenyatta University. She has extensive training and experience in Teacher Education & Training; Information Communication Technology integration in education, Information Literacy and Information Ethics. She is a Commission for University Education-trained Curriculum Developer on Review & Mainstreaming of National Cohesion & Integration Studies; & a contributor to the School Library Policy Guidelines, an initiative of Knowledge Empowering Youth (KEY). She has partnered with the Goethe-Institut and the Kenya National Library Services to localize ANIE’s Digital Wellness Toolkit. She previously served as Honorary Secretary, Kenya Library Association (KLA) during which time she co-founded the Maktaba Awards (Library of the Year Awards). She sits on the Maktaba Awards Organizing Committee and Jury; and is a member of the Advisory Team of the Innovation Society.
Rachel Fischer
Advisor
Rachel Fischer is the Co-Founder, Researcher and Ethics Practitioner at 3Consulting. She is also a member of UNESCO IFAP’s Working Group on Information Accessibility. As an Information Ethicist her roles include being the Co-Chair of the International Centre for Information Ethics (ICIE), Deputy Editor for the International Review of Information Ethics (IRIE) and Coordinator for the Information Ethics Network for Africa (IEN4A).
Coetzee Bester
Advisor
Coetzee Bester studied at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, where he completed his Doctorate in Information Science (2018). Prior to that his studies included an undergraduate degree in anthropology, a postgraduate diploma in tertiary education, and a master’s degree (cum laude) in Information Science (1999). This master’s study resulted in an integrated model for management of information in community development projects in Africa. Prior to his academic focus he served as a Member of Parliament in South Africa (1994-1999) and was a member of the Constitution Writing Assembly that finalized the historic Constitution for South Africa. Coetzee Bester is the former director of the African Center of Excellence for Information Ethics (ACEIE) based in the Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria. He currently serves as the Chair for IFAP South Africa and is a member of the UNESCO IFAP Information Ethics Working Group.
Johannes Britz
Advisor
Johannes Britz holds two doctoral degrees from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He obtained his first doctoral degree (Doctor Divinitatis) in Christian Philosophy and Ethics and the second (Doctor Philosophia,) in Information Science. He is currently serving as Provost at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, USA and Professor Extraordinary at the School of Information Technology at the University of Pretoria. He is also visiting scholar at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) where he has lectured on Information Ethics since 1994. Dr. Britz is co-editor of the International Review of Information Ethics (IRIE) and serves on the editorial board of the Library and Information Science Research Journal of the University of Bucharest. He is a member of the advisory board of the South Africa Journal of Library and Information Science.
Bernhard Debatin
Advisor
Dr. Debatin recieved his PhD in Philosophy from the Technical University Berlin, Germany (1994) and his M.A. in Mass Communication from Free University Berlin, Germany (1988). His teaching and research interests include media ethics and the public sphere, environmental and science journalism, digital journalism, qualitative research, philosophy of technology, semiotics and metaphor theory. Since 2016, he has served as the director of Ohio University's Institute for Applied and Professional Ethics (IAPE). Dr. Debatin has authored or edited eight books, among them a workbook on Journalism Ethics for Professionals (2014) and a book on Metaphor Theory (1994), as well as edited volumes on The Mohamed Cartoon Debate (2007) and on Media Ethics (2003). He has published more than 80 scholarly articles in academic journals and books on media ethics, privacy, philosophy of technology, social media, language and semiotics, and the public sphere.
Dr Pak-Hang Wong
Advisor
Dr. Pak-Hang Wong earned his BA (1st Hons) and M.Phil at the University of Hong Kong, later transferring to the Netherlands where he completed his PhD at the Department of Philosophy, University of Twente. After completing his PhD, he joined the University of Oxford as a Research Fellow on Climate Geoengineering Governance, and then as a Lecturer in Hang Seng Management College. In 2017, Pak-Hang Wong joined the Research Group for Ethics in Information Technology at the Department of Informatics, Universität Hamburg as a PostDoc Research Associate (“Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter”).
Jessica Heesen
Advisor
Jessica Heesen is a researcher at the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW) in Tübingen. She holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Stuttgart, where her dissertation research focused on media ethics and internet communication. From 2002 – 2008 she served as assistant professor at the University of Stuttgart, Institute for Philosophy, and member of the research team of the DFG-Centre of Excellence 627 Nexus. From 2008 – 2010 she was assistant professor at the Centre for Basic Studies in Ethics and Philosophy, University of Freiburg, returning in 2010 to IZEW. She currently holds the Privatdozentin of the Institute for Philosophy at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT).
John Holgate
Advisor
John D. Holgate (M.A. (Lit) A.N.U., M.A. (Information) U.T.S., Dip Lib Info Sci UNSW) is director of library and information services at St. George Hospital, Sydney, Australia. He has been active for over 30 years in health information and electronic publishing in Australia and has presented papers on health informatics and digital libraries. Holgate co-edited (with Rafael Capurro) Messages and Messengers: Angeletics as an Approach to the Phenomenology of Communication (Fink, 2011).
Soraj Hongladarom
Advisor
Soraj Hongladarom is professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. He has published books and articles on such diverse issues as bioethics, computer ethics, and the roles that science and technology play in the culture of developing countries. His research looks at the integration of science and technology into the life-world of the people of Third World countries and the ethical considerations obtained from these relationships. Soraj organized the second and third Asia-Pacific Computing and Philosophy conferences at Chulalongkorn University in 2005 and 2007. His works have appeared in The Information Society, AI & Society, Philosophy in the Contemporary World and Social Epistemology, among others.
Dr. Toni Samek
Advisor
Dr. Toni Samek is a Professor and Chair at the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta, where she has taught since 1994. Toni’s books include Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility in American Librarianship 1967 to 1974 and Librarianship and Human Rights: A twenty-first century guide. Her scholarship has appeared in translation in such countries as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Japan, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of Canada’s new Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson University. Toni received the debut Library Journal Teaching Award in 2007, a Faculty of Education Graduate Teaching Award in 2009, and the 3M National Teaching Fellowship from the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in 2012.
Prof Theo Bothma
Advisor
Theo Bothma is professor emeritus / contract professor and the former Head of the Department of Information Science (1 October 1995 - 30 June 2016). He joined the University of Pretoria in 1991 and became Head of Department in October 1995. He was appointed as chairperson of the School of Information Technology on 1 September 2008 and served two terms, until his retirement on 30 June 2016. He holds a C1 rating from the National Research Foundation (2009 - 2014, 2015 - 2020). In 2009 he was recognised by the University of Pretoria as an exceptional academic achiever, a three-year award (2010 - 2012), and again in 2012 (2013 - 2015). His teaching and research focus on information organization and retrieval (including aspects of information literacy and technologies for e-dictionaries), web development and electronic publishing, as well as on curriculum development. He is the author and co-author of numerous publications and has presented many papers at local and international conferences.