Rafael Capurro 

German  Spanish  French  Japanese  Chinese Portuguese


e-mail: rafael(at)capurro.de

Born 1945 in Montevideo, Uruguay.


Academic Degrees / Professional Experience


Licentiate in Philosophy from Colegio Máximo, Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires, Argentina (1970).

Diploma in Documentation from Lehrinstitut für Dokumentation, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (1973).


Research worker at Zentralstelle für Atomkernenergie-Dokumentation (ZAED), Karlsruhe, Germany (1974-75).


Dr.phil. in Philosophy from Düsseldorf University (1978). Thesis: Information.

Information management at Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany (1980-85).

Postdoctoral teaching qualification (Habilitation) in Practical Philosophy (Ethics) from Stuttgart University (1989).Thesis: Hermeneutik der Fachinformation ("Hermeneutics of scientific information")

Lecturer / Privatdozent at the Institute of Philosophy, Stuttgart University (1987-2004).

Professor (em.) of information management and information ethics at Stuttgart Media University Germany (1986-2009).

Steinbeis-Transfer-Institute Information Ethics (STI-IE), Director (2008-2012)

CAPURRO FIEK FOUNDATION
Founder

ICIE
International Center for Information Ethics
Founder and Director





RELEI
Red Latinoamericana de ética de la información
Co-founder


ANIE
Africa Network for Information Ethics
Co-founder

Cybadream Project

CA-RoboCom (2011-2012) (FP 7)

ETICA (2009-2011) (FP 7)

ETHICBOTS (2005-2008) (FP 6)

BITrum

European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) (2000-2005; 2005-2010)


International Society for Ethics and Information Technology (INSEIT)


• Member Spotlight (2008)
  

The World Technology Network (WTN)


The Nanoethics Advisory Board

Research Fellow of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA (2003-2005).

Senior Fellow in Information Ethics, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA (2007-2008; 2009-2010).

Distinguished Researcher in Information Ethics, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA (2010-2012).

Co-Editor

ICIE-Series on Information Ethics (2002-) Munich: Fink Verlag.
Editors: Rafael Capurro, Thomas Hausmanninger

Schriftenreihe Medienethik (2002-). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag
Editors: Rafael Capurro, Petra Grimm

Member of the Editorial Board

Information Science and Knowledge Management (Springer) 
Ed. John Mackenzie Owen

Editor in Chief
International Review of Information Ethics (IRIE) (2004-)

Co-Editor

NanoEthics. Ethics for Technologies that converge at the nanoscale
Editor-in-Chief: John Weckert (2006-) (Co-editor).





Member of the Editorial Board

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society
Editors: Simon Rogerson, N. Ben Fairweather

Perspectivas em Ciência da Informação
Editor: Paulo da Terra Caldeira






Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology
Editors-in-Chief: Anthony Mark Cutter, Berd Gordijn

Cybernetics & Human Knowing
Editor-in-Chief: Soren Brier

triple C
Editors: Christian Fuchs, Wolfgang Hofkirchner

Information
Editor-in-Chief: Mark Burgin

Flusserstudies.net
Editors: Rainer Guldin, Anke Finger, Gutavo Bernardo Krause

Enl@ce. Revista venezolana de información, tecnología y conocimiento
Ed. Jesús Alberto Andrade



Revista ARIEL.
Ed. Red Filosófica del Uruguay.

Foundations of Information Science
Information Ethics
Bioethics
Information Management
Message Theory ("angeletics")
Philosophy of Media
Hermeneutics

Podcast of the lecture "Beyond Humanisms" at the Uehiro/Carnegie/Oxford Conference 2010, Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, St. Cross College, Oxford.





New Dilemmas, Same Principles: Changing Landscape Requires IT Ethics to Go Mainstream by George Lawton (Computing Now, News, July 2009).


On Internet Rights and Values. Podcast with Max Senges, Germany (2009).


Interview mit Michal Lorenz, Czech Republic (2009).


International Society for Ethics and Information Technology (INSEIT): Member Spotlight (2008).

Keynote address: "Interpreting the Digital Human" to the conference "Thinking Critically: Alternative Perspectives and Methods in Information Studies" organized by the Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Wisconsin, May 15-17, 2008. For a video of this lecture please klick here.


Open Forum Davos 2008 in cooperation with the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum and the Schweizerischer Evangelischer Kirchebund, Section: "Virtual Worlds: Fiction or Reality?", Participants: Philip Rosedale (CEO, Linden Labs/Second Life), Joseph Weizenbaum (MIT, USA), Reid Hoffman (President, LinkedIn Corp., USA), Florence Develey (Reinach/Basel), Rafael Capurro (HdM). Moderation: Loïc Le Meur (Seesmic, USA), Davos, 26. January 2008: World Economic Forum: Webcasts, Podcasts, Vodcasts. Open Forum Davos: Blog -> Webcast.

On Hermeneutics, Angeletics, and Information Technology: Questions and Tentative Answers Interview mit Tadashi Takenouchi, Japan (2003).


See also here.





Events & Publications



Events

2011

• Microsoft Executive Briefing Centre: Discussion Platform: Future Consumers - A Dialogue on Digital Values, Brussels, March 15, 2011.
  

• Workshop on ICT Ethics and Public Policy, Europe House (EU Commission and European Parliament's UK Office), London, March 23,  2011. Paper: Never enter your real data.

• Conference on ethics and governance of future emerging ICTs (co-hosted by STOA and ETICA), supported by EGAIS. European Parliament, Brussels, March 31, 2011. (Power Point)

• SYBHEL (Synthetic biology for human health, ethical and legal issues): European Policy Workshop, Brussels, April 14-15, 2011.

• ETICA: EU Training Event.on Ethics and Governance in ICT,  Brussels, April 26-27, 2011. 

• ETICA: Final GA Meeting,  London, Mai 11-12, 2011

• CEPE 2011 Ninth International Computer Ethics Conference "Crossing Boundaries: Ethics in interdisciplinary & intercultural relations". Paper:The Dao of the Information Society in China and the Task of Intercultural Information Ethics. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA, May 31 - June 4, 2011.
  

• High-Level Academic Workshop: Developing Information Ethics in Africa. Pretoria, South Africa, July 4-7, 2011.

• ETHICOMP 2011 "The Social Impact of Social Computing", Sheffield Hallam University (UK), September 14-16, 2011.

• Universität Karlsruhe (KIT), Institut für Philosophie, Conference on methodological, theoretical and ethical implications of biomorphic metaphors for autonomous systems, Karlsruhe, October 20-22, 2011.

• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Institut für Internet & Gesellschaft, Berlin, October 25-27, 2011.

• Universidad Estatal Paulista (UNESP)  (Marília), San Pablo, Brasil: VII Encontro Internacional de Informação, Conhecimento e Ação: “Información, Auto-Organización y Acción Ética. Keynote: Información y acción moral en el contexto de las tecnologías de la comunicación". Sao Paulo,  October 31 - November 3, 2011.

• Universidade Federal de Paraíba: II Simpósio Brasileiro de Ética da Informação, João Pessoa (Brazil), April 18-20, 2012 (in prep.)

• Information Ethics Workshop on Social Media in Africa, Nairobi (Kenya), June 2-3, 2012 (in prep.).
  

• 35. Internationaler Wittgenstein-Symposium: "Ethik - Gesellschaft - Politik". Invited Speaker, Vortrag: "Ethik in der Politik. Ein Erfahrungsbericht", Kirchberg am Wechsel  (Österreich), 5.-11. August 2012.

• Third Africa Conference on Information Ethics, Pretoria, September 2012 (in prep.).

• Workshop on Intercultural Information Ethics, Tsukuba University, Japan, October 2012 (in prep.).
  
  

• WSP 2013: 23d World Congress of Philosophy: Philosophy as Inquiry and Way of Life, Athens, Greece, August 4-10, 2013.

• Rafael Capurro - John Holgate (eds.). Messages and Messengers. Angeletics as an Approach to the Phenomenology of Communication, ICIE Series, Vol. 5, M: Fink 2011.
  

• A Dialogue on Intercultural Angeletics (R. Capurro, M. Nakada). In: Rafael Capurro and John Holgate (eds.): Messages and Mesengers
  

• Beyond Humanisms. In: Rafael Capurro and John Holgate (Eds.): Messages and Messengers.
  

• Toward a Comparative Theory of Agents. Contribution to the Panel Autonomic Computing, Human Identity and Legal Subjectivity organized by Mireille Hildebrandt and Antoinette Rouvroy. In: AI & Society (in print)

• The Dao of the Information Society in China and the Task of Intercultural Information Ethics. Beijing 2010. CEPE 2011.

• EU ETICA Project, Deliverable 3.2.2. Ethical Evaluation (M. Nagenborg, R. Capurro)
  
  

• International Symposium on "Information Ethics: The Future of Humanities" organized by The Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education , and  The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Keynote: Beyond Humanisms, Oxford, UK, December 8-9, 2010 (PowerPoint)

• Contributions to the Glossarium BITri (Glossary of concepts, metaphors, theories and problems concerning INFORMATION)
  

• The International Conference on China's Information Ethics, Renmin University of China (RUC), School of Philosophy (Prof. LI Maosen). Keynote: The Dao of the Information Society in China and the Task of Intercultural Information Ethics,  Beijing, 28.-29. October, 2010.

• On the Relevance of Angeletics and Hermeneutics for Information Technology. In International Journal of Applied Research on Information Technology and Computing (IJARITAC), Vol. 1, No 2, May - August 2010, 233-239.

• Ethics and Public Policy in Europe. In Stefano Rodotà and Paolo Zatti (Eds.): Trattato di Biodiritto. Vol.1 Stefano Rodotà and Mariachiara Talllacchini (Eds.): Ambito e fonti del biodiritto. Milano: Giuffrè Editore, 2010, 849-860.

• University of Luxemburg, Series Grandes Conférances: "Information Ethics. An Introduction", Luxemburg, May 4, 2010.

• WSIS FORUM 2010, Geneva, May 11, 2010: Information Ethics in Africa: Past, Present and Future Activities (2007-2010)

• IEEE Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS10) to be held at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, Keynote: Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the Human Body (PP), June 7-9, 2010.

• See BBC News (May 26. 2010): First human 'infected with computer virus'

• Workshop on Social Implications of IT, Keynote: "The Quest for Roboethics: A Survey" (PP), University of Wollongong,  June 10, 2010.

• In search of a code of global information ethics: The road travelled and new horizons (R. Capurro and Johannes Britz). In Ethical Space (2010) vol. 7, No. 2/3, 28-36.

• Second Africa Conference on Information Ethics, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana, Keynote: "Global Intercultural Information Ethics from an African Perspective", September 6-7, 2010.

• Conference Neuroscience and European and North American Case Law organized by the Interdepartmental Research Centre ECLSC, University of Pavia, in cooperation with the Court of Milan, Keynote: Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the Human Body (PP), Milano, 17. September 2010..
  

• Digital hermeneutics: an outline. In AI & Society (2010)

• Digital Ethics (PowerPoint), Seoul, Korea, December 3, 2009.
• Ethics & Robots: West & East (PowerPoint), Cybenics, University of Tsukuba, Japan, September 30, 2009.
• Ethics and Robotics: An Intercultural Perspective (PowerPoint), University of Tsukuba, Japan, October 3, 2009.
  
• Intercultural Information Ethics in Asia (PowerPoint), University of Tsukuba, Japan, October 5, 2009.
• Ethics and Robotics (R. Capurro & Michael Nagenborg, Eds.), IOS Press (2009).

• Information Ethics: Current and Future Research Areas, Masaryk University, Division of Information and Library Studies, Brno, Czech Republic, June 2, 2009. (PowerPoint)
• Intercultural Information Ethics in Asia (2009) (PowerPoint)
  
• Towards a Comparative Theory of Agents In:  Proceedings of the panel on  Autonomic Computing, Human Identity and Legal Subjectivity hosted by Mireille Hildebrandt and Antoinette Rouvroy (forthcoming).
  
• The Public / Private Debate. A Contribution to Intercultural Information Ethics (Makoto Nakada and Rafael Capurro). In: Rocci Luppicini and Rebecca Adell (Eds.): Handbook of Research in Technoethics, Hershey PA: IGI Global, 2009, 339-353.
• Past, present, and future of the concept of information. In: triple C (2009)
  

• Keynote address "Interpreting the Digital Human" to the conference "Thinking Critically: Alternative Perspectives and Methods in Information Studies" organized by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Center for Information Policy Research, Wisconsin, May 17, 2008. Published in the conference proceedings. For a video of this lecture please klick here.
  
• Lecture on "Intercultural Information Ethics" given at the conference  "Thinking Critically: Alternative Perspectives and Methods in Information Studies" organized by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Center for Information Policy Research, Wisconsin, May 16, 2008. For a video of this lecture please click here.
• Go Glocal. Intercultural Comparison of Leadership Ethics In: EGE Newsletter "Ethically Speaking" Issue No. 10, 2008, 9-11.
• On Floridi's Metaphysical Foundation of Information Ecology. In: Ethics and Information Technology (2008)
  
• Information Ethics for and from Africa. In: Journal of the ASIST, 59(7): 1-9, 2008 (See also IRIE, 2007).
• Open Forum Davos 2008 in cooperation with the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum co-organized by the Council of Swiss Protestant Churches, Section: "Virtual Worlds: Fiction or Realityt?", Paricipants: Philip Rosedale (CEO Linden Labs/Second Life), Joseph Weizenbaum (Professor em. of Computer Science, MIT, USA), Reid Hoffman (President LinkedIn Corp., USA), Florence Develey (Pastor, Reinach/Basel), Rafael Capurro (HdM). Moderation: Loïc Le Meur (Seesmic, USA), Davos, 26 of January 2008: World Economic Forum: Webcasts, Podcasts, Vodcasts. Open Forum Davos: Blog. -> Webcast
• Intercultural Information Ethics. In Einar Himma and Herman T. Tavani (Eds.): Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons (2008), 639-665.
• Intercultural Information Ethics: Foundations and Applications. In: Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society Vol. 6, Number 2, (2008), 116-126.
  


2007


• Book Review: Soraj Hongladarom & Charles Ess (eds.): Information Technology Ethics: Intercultural Perspectives (2007)
  
• Intercultural Information Ethics. A Dialogue (M. Nakada / R. Capurro) (2007)
  
• Ethics and Robotics (2007)
• The Thought of Information Ethics (2007) (PowerPoint)
• EGE Opinion 21: Ethical Aspects of Nanomedicine  (2007) (PowerPoint)
  
• Rafael Capurro, Johannes Frühbauer, Thomas Hausmanninger (Eds.): Localizing the Internet. Ethical Aspects in Intercultural Perspective (2007)

• EU-Project NanoBio-RAISE: 1st Advanced Course on Strategic Communication and Applied Ethics in Nanobiotechnology . Invited Speaker: "EGE Opinion No. 21: Ethical Aspects of Nanomedicine" (See: PowerPoint), St Edmund Hall, Oxford, UK (2007)
  
• Information Ethics for and from Africa (IRIE, 2007)
  
• Go Glocal. Intercultural Comparison of Leadership Ethics (2007)

• Go Glocal. Intercultural Comparison of Leadership Ethics (Keynote address to the 6th Leadership Forum "Growing successfully - Crossing borders" organized by the DB Akademie (Deutsche Bahn AG) under the patronage of Hartmut Mehdorn, Potsdam, Germany (2006)
• Methodological Issues in the Ethics of Human-Robot Interactions (2006).(PowerPoint)
• Ethics and Robotics (2007) (PowerPoint)
• Privacy. An Intercultural Perspective (PowerPoint) (-> short version: PowerPoint) (2006)
  
• Knowledge Map of Information Science (2006).
  
• Intercultural Information Ethics (2006).
• Reflections on Ethical Aspects of Nanomedicine (2006).
  

• Towards an Ontological Foundation of Information Ethics (2005)
• Privacy. An Intercultural Perspective. In: Ethics and Information Technology (2005)
• See: PowerPoint Presentation long and short version) (Univ. of Pittsburgh)
  
• Passions of the Internet In: Wolfgang Palaver, Petra Steinmair-Pösel (Eds.): Passions in Economy, Politics, and the Media. In Discussion with Christian Theology. Wien: Lit Verlag 2005, 331-343.
• Putting Information Ethics to Work (2005) (PowerPoint)
  
• Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the Human Body (2005) (PowerPoint)
• Does Digital Globalization Lead to a Global Information Ethic? In: Concilium  2005/1, 36-45.
  
• Special Theme Issue on Information Ethics. Computer Society of India (CSI) Communications, Vol. 28, June 2005, No. 12, Guest editors: Karsten Weber and Rafael Capurro.

• The German Debate on the Information Society In: Journal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society, volume 2, supplement 2004, p 17-18.
  
• Between Trust and Anxiety. On the Moods of Information Society. In: Proceedings of the Conference "The Age of Information: New Anxieties - New Opportunities" Institute of Communication Ethics Lincoln, UK, June 14, 2004.
• Ethics Between Law and Public Policy. In: Journal of International Biotechnology Law (JIBL) (2004) Vol. 1, Issue 2 / 2004, 62-66.
• Skeptical Knowledge Management  In: Hans-Christoph Hobohm (Ed.): Knowledge Management. Libraries and Librarians Taking Up the Challenge. IFLA Publication 108, Munich: Saur 2004, 47-57.

• Passions of the Internet and the Art of Living. Paper presented at a colloquium organized by The Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA), September 19-24, 2003.
• Angeletics - A Message Theory. In:  Hans H. Diebner, Lehan Ramsay (Eds.): Hierarchies of Communication, ZKM, Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe (2003), 58-71.
• Engineering Humans. In: World Technology Intelligence (2003), Issue VI, p.16.
• On Hermeneutics, Angeletics and Information Technology (2003).   
  
• The Concept of Information (Co-author: Birger Hjørland). In: Blaise Cronin (Ed.): Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST), Vol. 37 (2003) Chapter 8,  343-411.

• The European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE). In: Claude Debru, Charles Galperin, Philippe Meyer (Eds.): Für Europäische Grundwerte in der Bioethik. Pour une bioéthique européenne. Annales d'histoire et de philosophie du vivant. Paris: Le Seuil 2002, 123-128. 
• Philosophical Presuppositions of Producing and Patenting Organic Life. A Phenomenological Approach. Paper to be presented at the European Ethics Summit Conference: Sustaining Humanity Beyond Humanism, European Parliament, Brussels, 29-30 August 2002.
• Ethics and Public Policy within a Digital Environment. In: I. Alvarez, T. W. Bynum, J.A. de Assis Lopes, S. Rogerson (Eds.): Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference: The Transformation of Organisations in the Information Age: Social and Ethical Implications, ETHICOMP 2002, Lissabon 13-15 November 2002. Lisboa: Universidade Lusíada 2002, 319-327.
• Ethical Issues of Online Communication Research (R. Capurro, Christoph Pingel). In: Ethics and Information Technology (2002) Vol. 4, Issue 3, 189-194.

• Ethics and Information in the Digital Age (2001) Contribution to LIDA 2001 Annual Course and Conference: Libraries in the Digital Age, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 23-27 May, 2001. Course website: http://www.ffzg.hr/infoz/lida

• What is Angeletics? (2000)
• Ethical Challenges of the Information Society in the 21st Century. In: International Information & Library Review (2000), 32, 257-276. EEI21 - MEMPHIS. An Annual Scholarly Symposium 
  
• Hermeneutics and the Phenomenon of Information. In: Carl Mitcham (Ed.): Research in Philosophy and Technology, Amsterdam: JAI, Vol. 19, 2000, 79-85.

• Beyond the Digital  Paper presented at the International Festival for Film Video and Media Symposium (VIPER 99), "Cut & Copy," Lucerne (Switzerland), October 29-30, 1999. 
  
• Ethical Aspects of Digital Libraries. In: Tatjana Aparac, Tefko Saracevic, Peter Ingwersen, Pertti Vakkari (Eds.): Digital Libraries. Interdisciplinary Concepts, Challenges and Opportunities, Zagreb, Proceedings of the CoLIS 3 Conference, Lokve 1999, 39-53.
• Is a Unified Theory of Information Feasible? A Trialogue (Co-authors: Peter Fleissner, Wolfgang Hofkirchner). In: W. Hofkirchner (Ed.): The Quest for a Unified Theory of Information. World Futures General Evolution Studies,  Ervin Laszlo (Ed.), vol. 13, Overseas Publishers Assoc. 1999,  9-30.

• Stable Knowledge?  Paper presented at the Workshop: Knowledge for the Future - Wissen für die Zukunft, Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus, Zentrum für Technik und Gesellschaft,  March 19-21, 1997.
  
• Information Technology and Technologies of the Self. In: Journal of Information Ethics, Fall 1996, Vol. 5,  No. 2, 19-28.
• On the Genealogy of Information. In: Klaus Kornwachs, Konstantin Jacoby (Eds.): Information - New Questions to a Multidisciplinary Concept. Berlin: Akademie Verlag 1996,  259-271.
  
• On Artificiality. In: IMES (Ist. Metodologico, Economico, Statistico), Università di Urbino (Italy), IMES-LCA WP-15 November 1995.
  
• Informatics and Hermeneutics. In: Christiane Floyd, Heinz Züllighoven, Reinhard Budde, Reinhard Keil-Slawik (Eds.): Software Development and Reality Construction. Berlin: Springer, 1992, 363-375.
  
• What is Information Science for? A Philosophical Reflection. In: Pertti Vakkari, Blaise Cronin (Eds.): Conceptions of Library and Information Science. London: Taylor Graham 1992, 82-96.
  
• On Reliability and Unreliability. A Dialogue. In: Rainer Rilling et al. (Eds.): Challenges. Science and Peace in a Rapidly Changing Environment. Intern. Congress of Scientists and Engineers. Berlin 29.11.-1.12. 1991 (Schriftenreihe Wissenschaft und Frieden, Nr. 16, August 1992) Vol. II, 177-179.
• Towards an Information Ecology. In: Irene Wormell (Ed.): Information and Quality. London: Taylor Graham 1990, 122-139.
  
• Technics, Ethics, and the Question of Phenomenology. In: A-T. Tymieniecka (Ed.).: Morality within the Life- und Social World. Analecta Husserliana XXII (Dordrecht: Reidel 1987), 475-482.
  
• Tasks, Organisation and Activities of the Fachinformationszentrum Energie, Physik,  Mathematik. Report TRITA-LIB-1137 (Royal Institute of Technology Library, Stockholm,   Sweden) 1985.
  
• Epistemology and Information Science. Report TRITA-LIB-6023 (Royal Institute of Technology Library, Stockholm, Sweden) 1985.
  
• Moral issues in information science. In: Journal of information science 11 (1985), 113-123.