nettime: !: "Disarmament of Informatics? - Peace Work and Armament Jobs"

[Pit Schultz <pit@contrib.de>]

PLEASE SPREAD WIDELY
--------------------

On November 8th to 10th, 1996, the annual meeting of the "Forum
InformatikerInnen fuer Frieden und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung - FIFF"
will take place in Tuebingen, Germany. FIFF is the German sister organisation
of the American CPSR - the name FIFF means "Computer professionals' forum for
peace and social responsibility").

In the course of this meeting a working group is scheduled on the initial
FIFF theme "Informatics and  War". Here is a short description of this
working group.

We invite you to present a paper, poster, demonstration, video... or simply
to take part in the working group.
*The conference language will be German*, but if you want you can also
present a paper in english.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

                           12th annual meeting of the
  "Forum InformatikerInnen fuer Frieden und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung"
                                    (FIFF)
                 8-10 November, 1996, in Tuebingen, Germany

                               Working group 16:
         "Disarmament of Informatics? - Peace Work and Armament Jobs"
     --------------------------------------------------------------------

(The German title of this working group is "Die Ent-Ruestung der Informatik? -
von Friedensarbeit und Ruestungsarbeitsplaetzen". "Ent-Ruestung" is an
untrans-latable pun on the words "indignation" and "disarmament".)

                      Call for Papers / Participation

Even if the topic "Informatics and War" is no longer discussed as intensively
10 or 15 years ago, the computerisation of war and preparation of war still
continues. At present, nuclear war is no longer tested in reality, but
computer simulated tests still go on to optimize these destructive weapons
and to have them ready for action.
Rand-Corporation is thinking about warfare in data networks and intelligent
mines were claimed to be the "ultima ratio" of minesweeping. In germany the
army currently not only organizes public vows and vehement PR-campaigns, but
also intensifies penetration of science and research (e.g. a  cooperation
between the army and the large research institute GMD).
In developing "olive-green" software for military use, people get into
conflicts
of conscience vs. the need to keep the job. At the same time, computer science
present itself as a "peace-bringer", e.g. the use of Powerscene at the Dayton
conference.
Does computer science need war to prove its peacefulness?

If you have comments or questions regarding this working group or if you
want to attend it (maybe with an own paper) please contact the following
address:

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    * Peter Ansorge / Ralf E. Streibl
    * University of Bremen, FB 3
    * PO-Box 330440
    * D-28334 Bremen
    * Germany
    * ansorge@informatik.uni-bremen.de
    * res@informatik.uni-bremen.de

Peaceful regards,
Peter + Ralf




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