Namur Conference

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Date: Mon 02 Feb 1998 - 12:00:59 CET

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  CALL FOR PAPERS
Symposium on Cybernetics and Semiotics
How can they supplement each other in the life-, information- and social
sciences?
as part of
The International Association for Cybernetics conference in Namur 24 to
28 August 1998

Assoc. Prof., Ph.D. S�ren Brier, Royal School of Librarianship, Aalborg
Branch, Langagervej 4, 9220 Aalborg �st, Denmark. Tel:+4598157922.
Fax:+4598151042. E-mail:sbr@db.dk. Homepage:
www.db.dk/dbaa/sbr/home_uk.htm.

Cybernetics - especially in the form of second order cybernetics and
autopoiesis theory - has become more and more important in the
understanding of the cognition of living and social systems focusing on
the importance of information and communication within and between these
systems. The theories of von Foerster, Maturana & Varela and Luhmann has
made an important impact here. Recently a socio-cybernetic group has
been formed under the International Sociological association organised
by Felix Geyer.

For some years now the FIS (foundations of information science) group
has been active discussing the proper foundation for a transdisciplinary
information science But both within the life sciences and especially
within the electronic applications of communication and information
sciences in AI and Cognitive Science there has been fundamental
problems in dealing with the semantic level when pure scientific
approaches are pursued. As the present computer programs are based on
logically and algorithmically functions the models become purely
functionalistic or even mechanistic in great part of IA , cognitive
science and even in biological based approaches. They thereby seems to
be unable to simulate very basic aspect of life and mind such as the -
maybe unique - human/animal capacity for producing and experiencing
signification.

In semiotics - especially the semiotics based on Peirce's triadic,
evolutionary and pragmatic philosophy - signification is a basic concept
in the understanding of cognition and communication. To overcome some
of the foundational problems in the mechanistic biology a Biosemiotic
special interest group has been formed and accepted within the Int.
Association for Semiotic Studies. In the book "Signs of Meaning in the
Universe" (Indiana University Press) Jesper Hoffmeyer lay down the
fundament for a scientific understanding of living system based on
signification as complementary to the mechanistic approach. But
important papers has also been published in "The Semiotic Web" by
Emmeche and Hoffmeyer and in "Cybernetics & Human Knowing" vol. 1, no.
2/3 (Brier) and vol. 3, no. 1 (Hoffmeyer and Brier) and a new thematic
issue is forthcoming vol. 5, no. 1. The journal Semiotica is in the
process of producing a special issue on biosemiotics.

In LIS (Library and Information Science) and MIS (Management Information
Systems) semiotics is gaining foothold within this decade as the
pragmatic meaning of concepts and documents is the central factor for
their successful retrieval from any system - including the Internet. All
users has a specific background (in hermeneutics Gadamar speaks of
'horizon') and interest (Wittgenstein used the concept 'language game'
in his philosophy). No search algorithm or system of automated indexing
has so far been able to treat this semantic factor as the meaning of
concepts is very much determined from pragmatic contexts of life and
culture. D.C. Blair has in 1990 written the groundbreaking book "
Language and Representation in Information Retrieval" (Elsevier Science
Publishers, New York) where he combine Peirce's semiotics and
Wittgensteins language game theory in document retrieval theory and
Liebenau, J. & Backhouse, J. has in 1990 published the small but
paradigmatic important book " Understanding Information : An
introduction" (MacMillan, London) introducing a semiotic pragmatic
approach in management information systems. Brier has published an
integrative approach: "Cybersemiotics: A new interdisciplinary
development applied to the problems of knowledge organisation and
document retrieval in information science" , Journal of Documentation,
Vol. 52, no. 3, September 1996, pp.296-344.

The symposium call for papers proposing ways of using the knowledge of
self-organisation in systems that cybernetics give us with the pragmatic
view of meaning in semiotics and language philosophy to come to a
better understanding of living and social system's handling of
information and communication. Some outcomes could be: Better
understanding of the special qualities of the living and its cognitive
abilities versus the computer, better understanding of the phenomenon of
consciousness, better understanding of the function of signification and
communication in social systems and a better understanding of
man-machine interactions and therefore better ways to integrate machine
capabilities to support human knowledge and action for instance in the
field of document retrieval.

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

SUBMISSION OF PAPERS

Prospective contributors are invited to submit a 1-page (about 2K)
abstract (preferably including references), along with the author's
name, postal and email address and affiliations. The submission should
be sent by email to the symposium chair S�ren Brier. sbr@db.dk.
The deadline for receiving submissions is March 10, 1998.

The proposals will be refereed by the journal's review board. You
will be notified about the acceptance (or rejection) of your proposal
as soon as possible, but not later than March 31, 1998. If accepted,
the full text of the paper, which must not exceed 6 typed,
single-spaced pages, is to be sent by postal mail to the congress
secretariat before May 31, 1998.

All papers that are personally presented by the author at the
congress will be published in the congress Proceedings. The authors of
the best papers will be invited to publish an extended version in the
journal Cybernetics & Human Knowing: A Journal of Second Order
Cybernetics and Cybersemiotics, homepage:
http://www.db.dk/dbaa/sbr/cyber.htm

If you wish you can submit a maximum of two papers in different
symposia of the congress. Submissions for other symposia should be
sent directly to the congress secretariat before January 31, 1998.

ABOUT THE CONGRESS

The 15th International Congress on Cybernetics will be held from
August 24 to 28, 1998, in Namur (Belgium) at the Institute for
Computer Sciences of the University of Namur. The International
Congresses on Cybernetics are organised triennially (since 1956) by
the International Association for Cybernetics (IAC). The
interdisciplinary domain of cybernetics, addresses subjects such
as information, communication, organisation, intelligence, complex
systems, and feedback loops.

Namur is a quiet little city on the confluence of the Meuse and
Sambre rivers, at the foot of a hill supporting impressive medieval
fortifications. Its charming old streets offer plenty of restaurants
and cafes. It is situated at an hour's drive by car or train from
Brussels, the capital of Belgium and of the European Union, at the
border of the beautiful forested region of the Ardennes.

The congress atmosphere is relaxed and informal, with several
symposia going on in parallel in adjacent rooms. Lunches can be taken
at the university restaurant, in the restored mediaeval Arsenal. The
congress normally includes a congress dinner, an excursion, and a
meeting room for coffee breaks. Participants are responsible for
making their own hotel reservations, but good quality and inexpensive
accomodation in students' rooms will be available. A list of hotels
will be forwarded on request.

The official languages of the Congress are English and French .

OTHER SYMPOSIA (PRELIMINARY PROGRAM)

Chairpersons/Topics

- ANDONIAN Greg (Canada)
        Architectural Computing and Networking : Perspectives on Hi-Tech
        and Globalisation

- ANDREEWSKY Evelyne (France)
        NICOLLE Anne (France)
        Dcision et Langage - la dialectique du savoir et du dire -
       Decision and Language; the Dialectic of Knowledge and Saying

- BARANDOVSKA-FRANK Vera (Germany)
        Contributions de l'interlinguistique la cyberntique de la
        communication humaine - Contributions of Interlinguistics to
Human
        Communication Cybernetics

- BETTA Jan (Poland)
        Gnie des systmes industriels : un champ nouveau d'applications
        de l'approche systmique - Engineering of Industrial Systems : a
new Field
       of Applied Systemic Approach

- BOUCHON-MEUNIER Bernadette (France)
        Fouille de donnes - Data Mining

- BOYD Gary (Canada)
        ZEMAN Vladimir (Canada)
        The Cybernetics of Rational and Liberative Education

           Mario Vaneechoutte
        Symposium on Memetics : Evolutionary Models of information
transmission

- CARON Armand (France)
        Les rseaux neuronaux, l'acquisition des connaissances et leurs
        traitements - Neural Networks, Knowledge acquisition and
processing

- DUBOIS Daniel (Belgium)
        General Methods for Systems Modeling and Control
        FOMICHOV Vladimir (Russia)
        Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science and Philosophy for
        Social Progress

- FRANK Helmar (Germany)
        Les media dits "modernes" en communication scientifique et
        didactique - So-called "Modern" Media in Scientific and Didactic
        Communication

- HAZA-VANDENPEEREBOOM (USA)
        The Development of Artificial Entities: An Interdisciplinary
          Approach toward the Understanding of Self Contained Systems

- JDANKO Alexis (Israel)
        Essence and History of Cybernetics

 - JEAN Roger (Canada)
        Biomathmatique et/ou biologie thorique - Biomathematics and/or
        Theoretical Biology

- LASKER George (Canada)
        Synergistic Effects of Local and Global Developments on our
        Lives and on our Future

- MURPHY Dennis (Canada)
        NARANJO Michel (France)
        L'image travers les rseaux et l'ducation la citoyennet - The
        Image through Networks and Education to Citizenship

- NUNEZ E.A. (France)
        Functional Analogies between Biological, Social and
        Technological Domains

      POLAKOVA Eva (Slovak Republik)
      Prospects and possibilities of objective international studies
      of border disciplines in respect to anthropocybernetics

- SCHWARZ Eric (Switzerland)
        Holistic Aspects of Systems Science

- STEG Doreen (USA)
        Communication, Control and Organization in Complex Systems

- WARBURTON Brian (U.K.)
        Information, Context, and Meaning

___________________________________________________________________

REGISTRATION FEES

The registration fee covers participation in the Congress, the
preparatory
documents, a reception, the coffee-breaks and the Proceedings for the
authors.

        Before April 30, 1998 / After April 30, 1998

          11 000 BEF 14 000 BEF

Special conditions for young researchers under 30 years (on presentation
of
a certificate issued by their university) (does not include the
Proceedings)
                4 000 BEF 5 000 BEF

(1$ = about 37 BEF - Belgian Franc)

Payment can be made as follows :
* to bank account nr 250-0077851-45 with the Generale de Banque
* to giro account nr 000-0045356-57
* by cheque or international money order
made out to : Association Internationale de Cybernetique, Palais des
Expositions, B-5000 Namur (Belgium).

___________________________________________________________________

For registration, or further information about the congress,
contact the congress secretariat, using the application form below:

International Association for Cybernetics
Palais des Expositions, avenue Sergent Vrithoff 2
B-5000 Namur, Belgium
Phone +32-81-71 71 71
Fax +32-81-71 71 00
Email Cyb@info.fundp.ac.be

____________________________________________________________________
Application Form

 15th Int. Congress on Cybernetics (Namur, 24-28 August, 1998)

Name : .......................................................
First name :..................................................
Profession and titles:........................................
Institution: .................................................
..............................................................
Address : ....................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
Phone : ....................................................
Fax:..........................................................
E-mail :......................................................

o I would like to receive more information about the Congress
o I would like to attend the Congress
o I intend to present a paper to the following symposium :
..............................................................
..............................................................
Title of Paper :.............................................
..............................................................

     Date : Signature:

___________________________________________________________________

Venlig hilsen/Best wishes

Assoc. Prof. Ph. D. S�ren Brier
Royal School of Library and Information Science, Aalborg Branch
Langagervej 4, DK-9220 Aalborg �st
Telephone: +45 98 157922 , Fax: +45 98 151042
Homepage: http://www.db.dk/dbaa/sbr/home_uk.htm
Ed. & Publisher of Cybernetics & Human Knowing
homepage: http://www.db.dk/dbaa/sbr/cyber.htm

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