History
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 bi-annual editions since. In 2018, ICIE established a new website complete with community forum, where a community-led philosophy will redefine the goals and mission of ICIE for a new generation, reestablishing the definitions and parameters of the field of Information Ethics.
In partnership with the African Centre for Excellence in Information Ethics, ICIE advocates for research and learning in academic institutions, centres and organizations and works to transform this research into practice in the field.
The Latin America and Caribbean chapter, based in Rio de Janeiro, was founded through a partnership between ICIE and the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (IBICT). The partnership generated important contributions to information ethics research in Latin America, such as scientific publications, academic meetings and the translation of texts and documents into Portuguese and Spanish.
Since 2020, the chapter has promoted international meetings with the participation of prominent information ethics researchers in different countries, such as Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba, Mexico and Brazil, as well as institutional representatives from Canada, South Africa, Jamaica and Germany. The first two meetings took place remotely, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first in-person meeting took place in 2022, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In times when information has great economic and political value, it is necessary to seriously discuss its ethical use, especially when it becomes a matter of life and death, as in the context of disinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic. The 1st ICIE Remote Meeting – Brazil and Latin America took place under this conviction, on August 26th and 27th, 2020, with live broadcast on YouTube. The event proposed a broad debate on information ethics, and also consolidated the Latin American and Caribbean cooperation network in research on the subject.
This first initiative included the participation of ICIE representatives Rafael Capurro, Jared Bielby, Marco Schneider, Arthur Bezerra, Rachel Fischer and Cordel Green, as well as guest speakers Fidel A. Rodrígues Fernándes (Cuba), Miguel Ángel Pérez Álvarez (Mexico), Susana Finquelievich (Argentina), Maximiliano Rodriguez Fleitas (Uruguay), Henriette Ferreira Gomes, Felipe Chibás Ortiz (Cuban living in Brazil) and Maria Nélida González de Gómez (Brazil).
The second meeting, on November 17th and 18th, 2021, also broadcast on YouTube, took place under the challenges of the infodemic generated by the avalanche of information and misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the theme “Diagnosis and Actions to Combat Disinformation”, the event featured the participation of members of the Perfil-i and Escritos Research Groups and lectures by Ana Regina Rego (Brazil) and Fernando Buen Abad Dominguez (Argentina). Marco Schneider, Arthur Bezerra and Rachel Fischer represented ICIE.
The 3rd Meeting of the Latin America and Caribbean chapter aimed to debate Information Ethics for Social Justice, and took place on October 20th and 21st, 2022, at the Ibict facilities in Rio de Janeiro. Organized by the research groups Perfil-i and Escritos, coordinated, respectively, by Marco Schneider and Arthur Bezerra, the event had an opening table with Cecília Leite (Ibict), Gustavo Saldanha (PPGCI Ibict/UFRJ) and ICIE members from Canada, South Africa, Jamaica and Brazil. The lectures were given by Ariel Morán Reyes (Mexico), Maximiliano Rodríguez Fleitas (Uruguay), Esteban Andrés Zunino (Argentina), Karina Olarte (Bolivia), Ana Regina Barros Rêgo Leal and José Augusto Guimarães (Brazil). There was also a presentation of partners such as the National Network to Combat Disinformation (RNCD) and the Digital Humanities Network Laboratory (Larhud), in addition to the launch of books and the film In(com)formation.
The meeting marked the return to in-person activities of the research network in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the closing, the Letter of Rio was read, a declaration of ICIE’s principles and objectives, a manifesto related to ethical information and social justice, themes of the event.