Information Scientists of all Countries Unite! Suggestions for a New Community of Scholars The rudiments of a new community of scholars all over the world, ISIS, i.e., International Society of Information Science, or International Science of Information Society, and the draft of a formal document for the participants in FIS 2010 are discussed. 1. General thinking on the Global Movement towards a new science of information There are one historical mission and two concrete aims in FIS 2010. The historical mission is the proclamation of the new science of information, as a continuation and culmination of the series of FIS Conferences on Foundations of Information Science, starting in Madrid 1994, when the first milestone in the approach was made. As for the two aims, one is to promote the exchange of academic achievements, and the other is to create a new community of scholars for the regular networking of information science practitioners and related events. The academic exchange is a common task for every scholarly meeting. Our special goal in FIS 2010 is to confirm the direction of a new science of information and the approach to it, i.e., the foundations of information science. This idea is at the center of the FIS 2010 program. 2. Let's try to gather the different groups working on information science into one boat It is becoming clear, gradually, that information science is parallel to material science, e.g., physics, chemistry, biology, etc., because the new disciplines emerge one by one after related material subjects informatization. Without an open, multi-disciplinary community whose members come from all over the world, it is very difficult for us to control and promote the whole information science project and realize the whole mission ahead. We should undertake an effort to combine the forces of those who are already longing for transdisciplinary thinking. What we can do is to create an international framework in which we can facilitate research that goes beyond the state of the art and undertakes in-depth reflection; a kind of unity-through-diversity construct open for everybody who shares the aim of digging a little bit deeper. It is good to have many experts from different information related subjects in an international advisory board, because by that they are forced to show commitment and they are really interested in the stuff. Furthermore, by means of this conference we will succeed in gathering a bandwidth of different groups which so far did not sit together in one boat! One of current tasks for us is to network them to make them aware of each other and that there might be common goals shared. We believe that it will not be easy to create this new community. Let's try! Let's start with it! 3. Let's start building up a new community of scholars, out from FIS 2010 One of our main purposes of Beijing conference is to network researchers and research institutions as well as knowledge transfer institutions in the promotion of the new science of information. We know it is a hard job and needs much time to discuss all of them. However it's far easier to discuss face-to-face if we think it over beforehand. In our opinion, the missions of new community are: (1) to gather all those parties both outside and inside SoII and FIS, and from very different disciplines and new countries, into one or several clubs to give both new life, and develop their own views. (2) to push a grass-roots movement, and feed up the whole information science project. (3) to gather around one certain topic in some organised groups, discuss it, have a website to make public their work, and get funded projects. 4. What is a suitable form for ISIS? In order to provide the future global movement with some organizational backbone, there are several possibilities. First, it's a scientific society which has persons as members. These persons are either elected or appointed by a rigid ritual like in or they are broad member organizations in which everyone who works in the field is welcome. And there might be chapters or working groups along disciplinary or other lines as is usual in nearly all of these big international organizations. Second, it's kind of an umbrella organization, that is, a federation which has members that are organizations themselves only. Each organisation has delegates to the general assembly which votes for the board. A third possibility which is a mixture of the two: a society that has persons and organizations as members and the board is made up of representatives of the personal memberships as well as of representatives of the organisational memberships. Whatever the option, we have to take into consideration that the organization should remain open so as to enable further development and further inclusion of interested people and groups. And it should try to be representative as for the geography and disciplines (and do the best as for gender mainstreaming) and maybe meet other criteria. 5. Let's organize Regular FIS Conferences (each two years) for the global movement Any global movement consists of two factors: people and events. Any international academic conference attempting a developmental milestone should be organized and some permanent mechanisms out of the main organization must mature gradually as long as the discipline becomes fruitful and the movement gets the recognition and acceptance in the academic field and society. If we hold the FIS conferences regularly (i.g., each two years), our new community of scholars will be established gradually, i.e., its organizational structure and dynamic mechanisms will be advanced. We may imagine that the locus of the FIS conference may be: Madrid 1994, Vienna 1996, Paris 2005, Beijing 2010, Moscow 2012, Tokyo 2014, Washington 2016, London 2018, Vancouver 2020, Souel 2022, Madrid 2024, Amsterdam 2026, etc. When we celebrate the 30 years of the global movement of the new science of information in Madrid 2024, what the discipline will become? Geographically speaking, a global movement is composed of many national movements. (So we group the members of the International Advisory Board under 20 countries.) After or before an international conference in a country, a national symposium in the country may be held. For example, a China-FIS 2011, i.e., First National Conference on the Foundations of Information Science, which is sponsored by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, will be held in October 2011 in Wuhan. Furthermore, Chinese scholars design a series of national conference which will be held every two years to play a supporting role of international conference. We believe that the same situation will happen in Russia, Japan, etc. We believe that after 10 years, there will be some achievements gauged by certain measures, among them: (1) research projects; (2) publications (e.g. journals, book series); (3) conferences; (4) scientific societies; (5) others. The hunch is that information science could have a multi-centric development in this new Century, as mechanics historically was an exclusively European centered achievement. A Russian academician, Professor Kolin, put out a proposal for holding the FIS 2012 in Moscow, Russia. If so, they should raise their plan for FIS 2012 in the closing ceremony of FIS 2010. Maybe we can welcome some scholars advance that the FIS 2014 will be held in their country, e.g., in Japan. If two or more organizations want to sponsor the same FIS conference, we can ask them to state their favourable conditions or terms then choose a better one. 6. Design a new community of scholars around the event of the FIS conferences In general, due to their own tradition, type, and development, scholars in different countries explore the same problem with dissimilar views and from various angles, and their achievements may be complementary of each other. Therefore, an international conference on the foundations of information science and the whole information science at regular intervals is needed absolutely. At its early stage of development, ISISs main function is to organize and hold a regular conference. That means to arrange its works around the FIS conference event. For this purpose, the structure and mechanism of ISIS should consist on five levels: (1) Top level: Honorary Presidents. This is the leading core for the global movement. They are the outstanding experts of theory and practice in the field of the foundations of information science and in charge of the whole designs of FIS conferences and the global movement of new information science. Their positions are unchangable. (2) Second level: Exacutive Presidents. Their positions are changeable along with each conference. They are some presidents in one national conference (if any) and three continuous FIS international conferences, e.g., past president, current/duty president, and president elect. The most important one of them is the International President on duty. (3) Third level: Governing Board. The members of the board are on duty by turns, changeable along with each conference. It is a working team, e.g., Programme Committee, Oganization Committee, etc., and responsible for the exacutive presidents, especially for the current president. (4) Fourth level: International Advisory Board. The members of IAB come from different countries, organizations, disciplines, groups, etc., who represent the scholars all over the world. There are two kinds of members in the IAB. One is the outstanding scholars in each country, an oganization, a discipline, a research field, etc. The other is the representative of the scholars in a country, organization, discipline, field, etc. All of these members are the nodes of the ISIS network. The first IAB of ISIS consists of scholars from 20 countries. If more than one, the members in a country in IAB should elect one who represents them to keep contact with the Standing Secretariat of ISIS and designs the progress of the new science of information in his/her country. We need a slogan for our ISIS: Information Scientists of all Countries Unite! After an international conference, the experts who work at second and third levels will become the members of IAB automatically. If a scholar is qualified in an FIS conference then he or she has the requisite qualification for the membership of ISIS all along, unless he or she declares to ISISs Standing Secretariat that the membership is not needed any more. The scholars from a country may organize a branch of ISIS, e.g., the Chinese Branch of ISIS, etc. (5) Fifth level, two secretariats: a Standing Secretariat and a Conference Secretariat. The former is in charge of the continuity of the global movement, e.g., to establish and maintain a communication platform, edit and issue a newsletter of ISIS, keep the documents of each FIS confernce, etc., under the leadership of the top level of ISIS, whose members are collected by honory presidents. The later is in charge of a FIS conference in two-year period, which is composed of some scholars and administrative staff from a country, in which a FIS conference is being prepared and will be held, which works under the leadership of governing bord. 7. Let's think over and design the framework before Beijing conference for FIS 2010 For the FIS 2010, we may design its five-level structure: (1) Honorary Presidents: Pedro Marijuan (from FIS) Wolfgang Hofkirchner (from SoII) K.K. Kolin (from Russia) Yi-Xin Zhong (from China) Kang Ouyang (from China) (2) Exacutive Presidents of FIS 2010: Ai-Nai Ma (the President of National conference on Information Science, in 2005, in China) Lu Jiang (the President of National conference on Information Science, in 2005, in China) Michel Petitjean (the last President of FIS 2005, in France) Kang Ouyang (the current President of FIS 2010, in China) K. K. Kolin (the President elect of FIS 2012, in Russia) (3) Members of Governing Board of FIS 2010: Hua-Can He (Program Co-chair of FIS 2010, China) Zong-Rong Li (Program Co-chair of FIS 2010, China) Xue-Shan Yan (Program Co-chair of FIS 2010, China) Wei-Ning Wang (Organization Co-chair of FIS 2010, China) Wei Wang (Organization Co-chair of FIS 2010, China) Wen-Guang Chen (Organization Co-chair of FIS 2010, China) Jin-Shan Wang (Organization Co-chair of FIS 2010, China) Lin Zhang (Organization Co-chair of FIS 2010, China) (4) Members of International Advisory Board (sorted by country and name): i, Austria Peter Fleissner (retired University Professor, Institute of Design and Assessment of Technology, Vienna University of Technology, Austria; UTI Research Group) Gnther Witzany (telos, Philosophische Praxis, Brmoos, Austria) ii, Brazil Charbel Nio El-Hani (Professor of History, Philosophy, and Biology, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Baha, Salvador, Brazil; Executive Committee, ISBS) iii, Canada Allenna Leonard (President, International Society for the Systems Sciences, Canada) Robert K. Logan (Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Canada) iv, China Bing-Jiang Gao (Professor, Department of Philosophy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China) Jifa Gu (Professor, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) Qi-Quan Gui (Professor, Department of Philosophy, Wuhan University, China) Xiao-Han Huang (Professor, School of Marxism, Peking University, China) Xin-Zheng Jin (Professor, Center for Health Information Resources Research, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China) Chuan-Yin Li (Professor, Institute of History Study, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China) Gang Liu (Professor, Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China) Shi-Long Ma (Professor, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China) Dong-Sheng Miao (Professor, Renmin University of China, China) Wei Wang (Professor, Institute for Science, Technology and Society, Tsinghua University, China) Kun Wu (Professor, Xian Jiaotong University, China) Zheng-Kun Yin (Professor, Department of Philosophy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China) v, Denmark Sren Brier (Professor in the Semiotics of Information, Cognitive and Communication Science, Department of International Culture and Communication Studies, Centre for Language, Cognition, and Mentality, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark; Executive Committee, ISBS) Luis Emilio Bruni (Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark; Executive Committee, ISBS) Charles Ess (Visiting Professor, Department of Information and Media Studies, University of Aarhus, Denmark) vi, France Joseph Brenner (International Center for Transdisciplinary Research, Paris, France) Michel Petitjean (MTi, INSERM, Universit Paris Diderot, France) vii, Germany Rafael Capurro (Director, Steinbeis-Transfer-Institute Information Ethics (STI-IE), Germany; Founder, ICIE) Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski (retired Professor, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany) Klaus Kornwachs (Professor, Philosophy of Technology, BTU Cottubs, Germany) Rainer E. Zimmermann (Professor of Philosophy, University of Applied Sciences Munich, Germany; President, Institut fr Design Science, Munich) viii, Hungary Gyrgy Darvas (Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Research Organization, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary; Director, Symmetrion) ix, Japan Yukio-Pegio Gunji (Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University, Japan) Koichiro Matsuno (Professor em., Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan) Toru Nishigaki (Professor, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, University of Tokyo, Japan) x, Nigeria Omotayo Ikotun (Doctor, University of Ibadan, Nigeria) xi, Romania Basarab Nicolescu (Professor, Babe?-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; President, CIRET) xii, Russia N.I. Gendina （Professor, Director，R D Institute of Information Technology of Social Sphere, Kemerovo State University of Culture and Arts, Russia） I.M. Gurevich (Professor, Director, the Institute of Informatics Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia) V.G. Kinelev (Director, Academician, Laboratory of UNESCO Knowledge Society and new Information Technologies, Russia) K.V. Sudakov (Director, Academician, the Scientific research Institute of Normal physiology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Russia) A.D. Ursul (Director, Academician, The Centre of researches of global processes and sustainable development, the Russian state trade and economic university, Russia) xiii, Slovenia Matjaz Mulej (former President, International Federation for Systems Research; Institute for Development of Social Responsibility, Maribor, Slovenia) xiv, South Africa John Collier (Professor, Philosophy and Ethics, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa) xv, Spain Jos Mara Daz Nafra (Visiting Professor, University of Len, Spain; Coordinator, BITrum Research Group) xvi, Sweden Tom Ziemke (Professor of Cognitive Science and Cognitive Robotics, Cognition and Interaction Lab, University of Skvde, Sweden) xvii, Switzerland Shu-Kun Lin (Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland) xviii, Thailand Soraj Hongladarom (Director, Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand) xix, UK Luciano Floridi (Research Chair in Philosophy of Information, Department of Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire, UK; President, IACAP) xx, USA Elizabeth A. Buchanan (Director, Center for Information Policy Research, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA) Mark Burgin (Visiting Scholar, Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles, USA) Jerry Chandler (Research Professor, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Studies, George Mason University, USA; President, WESS) Mary Jo Deering (Board of Directors, Science of Information Institute, Washington, USA) Dail Doucette (Director, Science of Information Institute, Washington, USA) Ted Goranson (Sirius Beta, USA) Alicia Juarrero (Professor, Prince Georges Community College, USA) Kevin G. Kirby (Chair, Department of Computer Science, Northern Kentucky University, USA) Michael Leyton (Professor, DIMACS Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, Rutgers University, USA) Stuart A. Umpleby (Professor, Department of Management, George Washington University, Washington D.C., USA) (5) Secretariat: Members of Secretarist of the Standing Committee and of FIS 2010 Zong-Rong Li (from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China) Jian-Wei Zhang (from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China) Gen-Hui Liu (from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China) 8. Russian scholars should advance a new framework of ISIS for FIS 2012 at the Close Ceremony of Beijing conference For the FIS 2012, Russian scholars should redesign a new framework of ISIS, i.e., a plan of the rudimentary community of scholars in a five-level structure at the Close Ceremony of Beijing conference. In China, if some scholars want to organize a new community, they should apply for the organization to serial authorities, from university level, to province level, then to national level. Up to date, there is not any society of information science in China, eventhough scholars have applied again and again. So we do not hope that before FIS 2010, Chinese authority may approve our proposed community of scholars, ISIS. However, as an emergent community, we need a document to affirm it. In the procedure of its development, we should expand while consolidating.
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