*CFP* "ETHICAL PLURALISM AND INTERCULTURAL INFORMATION ETHICS IN ASIAN CONTEXTS", SPECIAL ISSUE, JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY EASTERN ASIA

The early 1990s and the Internet’s rise as an engine of globalization forced a central task upon emerging Intercultural Information Ethics (IIE): how to conceptualize and implement a global information and computing ethics conjoining (quasi-) universal ethical norms and principles with a robust defense of local, culturally variable identities and practices? Discourses pitting a homogenous imposition of Western values and norms against resistance to such homogenization for defending local cultural identities, but at the cost of potential fragmentation and isolation, first forced these issues. Increasing recognition of “computer-mediated colonization” – as Western-centric cultural norms and communicative preferences, embedded in ICT design, were imposed upon “target” cultures – made these concerns still more urgent.

In response, ethical pluralisms (EPs), as conceptualizing connections (such as shared norms) preserving irreducible local differences, were developed and successfully implemented in both Western and non-Western contexts. But Western-based EPs remain open to critique. In Asia, EP is integral to conceptions of resonance and harmony in Daoist, Confucian, Buddhist, and Islamic traditions. Furthermore, Chinese and Indian technological innovation hubs have also emerged, grounding further exploration of Asian-rooted conceptions of EP, resonance, and harmony, which remain central to an IIE opposing colonizing adaptation of Western values and norms in Non-western cultures. These are especially critical vis-à-vis the ongoing encroachment of advanced ICTs, e.g. AI, Big Data, the IoT, “surveillance capitalism” and the Chinese Social Credit System, as increasingly defining our cultural lives.

Our primary questions: what sorts of EP and similar notions of resonance or harmony might help resolve these central problems in the contemporary developments of (East) Asia? And: do earlier IIE traditions and evaluation of “radical” technologies fruitfully respond to even “more radical” emerging ICT challenges evoked by contemporary, far more powerful ICTs?

We are particularly interested in but not limited to:

• Critical evaluations and possible expansions of contemporary EP, especially as oriented towards / grounded in (East) Asian contexts
• Concrete examples of EP in praxis – whether successful or not in sustaining shared norms and irreducible local differences in (East) Asian contexts
• Theoretical and practical explorations of (East) Asian relatives of Western-centric pluralisms from Confucian, Buddhist, and other local traditions that might offer advantages over EP on both theoretical and practical grounds.

Please submit your 500-word abstract (maximum) in English to c.m.ess@media.uio.no by September 1, 2020 (subject line should include “JCEA Special Issue”). There are no submission fees, publication fees or page charges for this journal.

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