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2010/09/29-Welcome to Lazlo Karvalics: towards a Social Theory of Information
 We are now very pleased to welcome Lazlo as BITrum member, who will be also involved in the domusBITae initiative as part of the consortium. His own skills and the excellence of the team he represents are a sure basis for a fruitful cooperation and the success of our common strives. Thank you, Lazlo for your support, and best wishes for a shared navigation.
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2010/09/28-Third ICT & Society Network Meeting in Castelldefels
 In this 3rd edition, a well equilibrated distribution of works in the mentioned 3 poles, including contributions of researchers in training (PhD Consortium), whose approaches –as Christian pointed out- sometimes overtook amateur ones, in expositive clarity and social interest. The keynotes were held by William Dutton from the Oxford Internet Institute (Oxford Internet Institute) about the impact of research in Internet, particularly the project “World Internet”, and by Juliet Webster (Work and Equality Research, London) about the interrelation of research and politics in ICTs. The rest of the sessions were convened around the following topics: 1) Theorising the Internet; 2) Critical Information Studies (a nascent transdiscipline); 3) A identity crisis: generalism vs specialism in the network society, 4) Social, economical and political Inequalities. In a last plenary session, the future of the ICTs & Society Network was discussed. Here, it was agreed that the direction of the Network will be further held by Wolfgang and Christian will, taking a relevant role the convenor of the following Meeting. For 2012 Singapore was proposed, but there is a vacancy for 2011, open to any proposal. BITrum contributed to the Meeting –beyond the obvious involvement of Wolfgang and Christian- by means of contributions as well as collaboration in organizing the Meeting. José María with Matthiass Schafranek chaired the session “Theorizing the Internet”, in which Rainer Zimmerman and Lazlo Karvalics took part, who -as previously announced- are BITrum members since then. In the session in which the controversy between generalim and specialism was posed, Carlos Aguilar and José María defended two viewpoints concerning the understanding of information. Whereas Carlos advocated for a multidisciplinar approach exemplified by domusBITae initiative, José María defended a interdisciplinary stance represented by the BITrum project. It is really to appreciate the opening of a space of reflexion like this, in which the safeguarding of the social interest is at stake. These endeavours provide a road to substantiate such interest in the technologies, which everyday occupy more space in our lives: liberating them to some extend, but also tying them. We should make balance to make a real benefit for all. Although this is not easy at all, the endeavour has to be taken. Our most cordial thanks to our colleagues of the UTI for persevering in the intent. |
2010/07/26-Welcome to Rainer Zimmermann: understanding complexity
 Thank you, Rainer, for your support and your enthusiasm about BITrum. |
2010/07/11-An annotation on the General Theory of Information (by Mark Burgin)
Mathematical models are developed in various domains and employ different mathematical theories. Such an information space can be a logical system (in this model, logicians can contribute) or a Hilbert space, which is used in physics for representing observables (in this model, physicists can contribute). Actually observables (even by their name) are information operators. There are models based on functional analysis, in which information is represented by operators acting on information spaces, which are state spaces of infological systems. Other models use logic (logical models), theory of algorithms (constructive models), theory of categories (categorical models), topology (topological models), and some other mathematical theories. The general theory of information provides a powerful base for obtaining a relevant solution to a variety of problems encountered by modern society because the vast majority of these problems are related to information (by the way, communication is also exchange of information). There are various journal publications on the general theory of information. The most developed exposition of this theory is given in the book Theory of Information: Fundamentality, Diversity and Unification, World Scientific Publishing, 2010. The general theory of information is the most advanced direction in information theory because it encompasses all (!!!) other directions in information theory. A lot of supporting evidence is given in the book Theory of Information. The majority of popular and not so popular information theories (including Shannon theory of communication, Carnap and Bar-Hillel’s semantic information theory, Kolmogorov, Solomonoff and Chaitin’s algorithmic information theory, Dretske, Barwise and Seligman’s theory of information flow, and many others) are presented in the book and it is explained why all of them are particular cases of the general theory of information. Information is everywhere. So, experts in various fields (philosophers, mathematicians, physicists, biologists, computer scientists, economists, anthropologists, sociologists, etc.) can work in the general theory of information developing it and can use this theory in their studies in physics, biology, economics, anthropology, sociology, system theory, informatics, computer science, etc. Now it is a good time to work in this area because the general theory of information is at the very beginning. Those who start earlier to work in a new ground-breaking theory have advantages and can easier obtain outstanding results, becoming authorities in information studies. For instance, brothers Bernoulli studied the calculus under Leibniz and became the top mathematicians in Europe developing and applying the calculus (a general mathematical theory for studying functions), which was at the very beginning at their time. German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz discovered electromagnetic waves (namely, radio waves) when he used and expanded Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory (a general physical theory). Mark Burgin |
2010/07/08-domusBITae is proposed for Spanish national support to the Ministry of Science and to the Ministry Industry
 Into the funding programme AVANZA, the initiative was presented as promotion of the Information Society, whereas in the e-Infrastructures programme, the proposal is focused on development of a International Scientific infrastructure. The proponent team is constituted by the Spanish Members of domusBITae: ULE, BITrum, INTECO, UB and UC3 (see further details in the web created for a collaborative development of domusBITae). In order to improve the eligibility of the proposal, the initiative is being included in the Spanish e-Science network. We also took part in the e-Infrastructures Reflection Group (e-IRG) workshop, held past 17th June in Madrid, where European delegates informed about the strategies, policy, structure, etc. of the European e-Infrastructure Programmes. From Brussels, we were recently informed about the suitability to our initiative in a FP7 Call which will be shortly convened (deadline: November 23th). |
2010/06/27-Welcome to Mark Burgin into BITrum’s Scientific Committee: the search for a General Theory of Information
 Professor Burgin as member of the Science of Information Institute knew about our activities. Interested in the Glossarium BITri, and other BITrum collective contributions, he suggested some months ago the constitution of a group within BITrum frame, devoted to the development of a general theory of information (GTI). Posed as a formal and mathematical frame, GTI aims at including any other accepted formal theory of information. Recently, he has published a book providing foundations to this approach (Theory of Information. Fundamentality, Diversity and Unification, World Scientific Publishing, 2010). An incipient group composed by BITrum members in the field of formal and mathematical issues has been gathered ready to further such a research programme. Anyone interested in joining the group should contact project coordinators. The proposals presented to the European Science Foundation in COST –networking research- and EUROCORES –collaborative research- programmes, include this investigation as one of their constitutive frameworks for conducting interdisciplinary research. We cordially welcome his arrival into our scientific committee, and express our cheerfulness concerning the new horizons he is inviting us to go through.
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2010/06/25-Welcome to new BITrum members and Science Advisory seats
 We are sure their expertise in the fields of sociology, philosophy, ICTs, information management and architecture, library science and knowledge organization will enrich significantly BITrum project.
 Octavio UÑA, octavio.una@urjc.es Paticipant | Field: Sociology (M.Sc. in Philosophy and literature, M.Sc. in Psycology, M.Sc. in Political and sociological sciences by Universidad Complutense de Madrid; M.Sc. in Pilosophy and human sciences, M.Sc. in Theology by the University of Comillas; PhD. in Political and sociological sciences) is professor of Sociology at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain, dept. of social sciences. His research lines are mainly focused on sociology of knowledge and communication, sociology of culture, literature and art and sociological theory. He has authored over 27 scientific works and numerous publications in journals of scientific impact. His last publishes work is “Nuevos ensayos de sociología y comunicación” (New essays of sociology and communication, Universitas, 2010). He has participated in more than 25 research projects, leading 15. Currently he is in charge of the Turismo de Madrid Chair (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos), and is President of the Institute of Science and Society, and the Association of Sociology of Castilla-La Mancha.  Paticipant | Field: Sociology
(PhD. Sociology, 2004) is associate professor at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain, department of social sciences (sociology). Her research mainly focuses on sociology of communication, information society, gender sociology. She has collaborated in numerous articles on information society, communication sociology, educative techniques and methodology (b-learning, e-learning), gender sociology and feminist theory. She has taken part in more than 15 multidisciplinary and competitive research projects.  Paticipant | Field: Sociology
(PhD in Sociology, studying in several German, Austrian and British Universities) is professor of sociology and environment at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and researcher at the Turismo de Madrid Chair. Recently he has published and approximation to Ernst Troeltsch (2009) and has collaborate in numerous articles on sociological theory, communication, natural environment and society, immigration and educative techniques, as well as in several European research projects on education and culture within the Socrates/Leonardo and Comenius Programmes. Víctor GUIJARRO MORA, victor.guijarro@urjc.es Paticipant | Field: History of science (PhD. in Philosophy) is professor of history of science since 1999 at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain. His scientific interests are focused on the study of culture of innovation, the relation between practical- and theoretical knowledge and history of computation. On this last topic he has recently published with Leonor González the work: “La quimera del autómata matemático. Del calculador medieval a la máquina analítica de Babbage” (The chimera of the mathematical automaton. From the medieval calculator to Babbage’s analytical machine edit. Cátedra).  Paticipant | Field: philosophy, logic
(PhD. in Philosophy by the Universidad de la Laguna; MA. University College London) was postdoctoral researcher granted by the Ministry of Science-Fulbright at Brown University (2006-2007) and currently she is Juan de la Cierva-Investigator at the Institute of Logic, Cognition, Language and Information (ILCLI, Basque Country University). Her scientific interests focuses on philosophy- of logic, of mathematics, and philosophy of language.  Paticipant | Field: ICTs
(Master in Industrial Engineering from the University of Valladolid and MBA from Instituto de Empresas, IE) is responsible of international projects at the Spanish National Institute for Communication Technologies (INTECO). Usually, studying market and user needs, and developing ICT projects from the conceptual phase until commercial success. Collaborating with academic, private organizations, and industry associations finding new opportunities for innovation. With international experience 10 + years in Telecommunication, Information Systems, and Media companies, and having launched several ICT start ups. Currently at his position in INTECO, he is applying his entrepreneurial experience to the public sector, developing the Information Society and ICT competitiveness. New appointments to the Scientific Board Field: Library and Information Science, knowledge
organization
Dr. Moreiro received his PhD. in History from the National University of Distance Education, Spain. He is currently Professor at the Department of Library and Information Science of Carlos III University of Madrid, where he is chair of the Information Engineering Group, which conducts research on knowledge organization systems. He teaches courses on Knowledge Organization Systems and Indexing Techniques. He is the author of 8 monographs and co-author of another 12. In addition, he has around 64 articles in international and national magazines. Jose Antonio has participated in two European projects and directed or collaborated in 8 national projects. He was a member of 12 publication committees. He has close connections with Latin American universities. Jose Antonio taught courses and organized seminaries in 28 European and Latin American universities, as well as in 20 professional institutions. He was a scientific advisor for 20 doctoral dissertations in the domain of Library and Information Science.  Field: Information- management and architecture
Doctor in Philosophy and Education Sciences by the University of Barcelona, where he has been researcher at the Departamento de Lógica, Historia y Filosofía de la Ciencia. He studied in the Istituto di Discipline della Comunicazione in the Università di Bologna and was Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI) at Stanford University. He has been docent and researcher in several universities: Complutense de Madrid, Autònoma de Barcelona, Oberta de Catalunya and he is currently at the Departamento de Ciencias de la Información at the University of Barcelona. One of his most known works is the book: The Phenomenon of Information (Scarecrow Press, 2007, published in Spanish by Trotta).  Field: Latin-American librarianship
(Montevideo, Uruguay, 1961; Master in Communication
and Information for Development; and Bachelor in Library Science by the Central
University of Venezuela) is Professor and Coordinator for Academic Internships
at the School of Librarianship and Archives, Central
University of Venezuela since 1997. She is also a consultant in academic
libraries and a member in several research groups. Her research interests are
on the areas of curriculum for information studies, library and information
science epistemology and information ethics in Latin
America. |
2010/06/18-BITrum has been constituted as legal non-profit association under Spanish law
 By means of this constitution we could for instance open a bank account for the association through which we can receive financial help from foundations or support agencies. |
2010/06/18-Interview to Elisabeth Buchanan published in BITagora: towards a new paradigm in information ethics research
 We invite BITrum community to make contributions (interviews or books reviews) in the issues of their interest. BITagora –fruit of the collaboration of the Science of Information Institute with BITrum- aims at bringing at stage fundamental questions and stances concerning groundings of the Science of Information as an effective trans-disciplinary field. As previously informed, contributions to BITagora will be afterwards published in a special section of TripleC. |
2010/05/22-Institutional supports to BITrum: publications and network domains
  BITrum sites work since this spring in a private domain provided by the University of León. There are several subdomains: bitrum.unileon.es (for Spanish homepage); en.bitrum.unileon.es (English homepage); glossarium.bitrum.unileon.es (for glossary main page); glossarium.bitrum.unileon.es/glossary (glossary main page in English). BITrum coordination is grateful for the supports (of financial character by Caja España, of technical and logistic character by Universidad de León) as in the current economic crisis allows to buoy our boat of endeavors. |
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