Peacecampreunion 2009

my name is wolfgang hofkirchner. i was born in vienna. i’m 55 years old. in the 80ies i participated in the austrian (and worldwide) peace movement. every now and then i also wrote some pieces of text concerning international peace matters. recently i began to become interested in ways of thinking that facilitate or hinder conflict resolutions. this is because i am interested in system theory which says that there is a principle that has to be done justice to: unity through diversity.

currently i’m professor of internet and society at the paris-lodron-university of salzburg (paris lodron was an archbishop and the founder of the university). thus i’m also professionally interested in social networking tools. the big research question that puzzles me is whether or not the new web 2.0 tools that are said to foster democracy and human rights can help bring about conditions of peace too. this is what i want to explore with you.

i’m married with gertrude, a psychoanalyst (she is very helpful when i need consultation in psychological matters) and we share two daughters (at the age of 28 and 25).