[agents] [CFP] Semantics for the Rest of Us Workshop (SemRUs 09) at WWW09 in Madrid

[Lalana Kagal]

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                            CALL FOR PAPERS

                     Semantics for the Rest of Us:
Variants of Semantic Web Languages in the Real World

                  April 21, 2009 in Madrid, Spain

                        held in conjunction with
    18th Int. World Wide Web Conference (WWW2009)

             http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2009/SemRUs09/
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The Semantic Web is a broad vision of the future of personal
computing, emphasizing the use of sophisticated knowledge
representation as the basis for end-user applications' data modeling
and management needs. Key to the pervasive adoption of Semantic Web
technologies is a good set of fundamental "building blocks" - the most
important of these are representation languages themselves. W3C's
standard languages for the Semantic Web, RDF and OWL, have been around
for several years; instead of strict standards compliance, we see
"variants" of these languages emerge in applications, often tailored
to a particular application's needs. These variants are often either
subsets of OWL or supersets of RDF, typically with fragments OWL
added. Extensions based on rules, such as SWRL and N3 logic, have been
developed as well as enhancements to the SPARQL query language and
protocol (http://esw.w3.org/topic/SPARQL/Extensions).

In this workshop we will explore the landscape of RDF, OWL and SPARQL
variants, specifically from the standpoint of "real-world semantics".
Are there commonalities in these variants that might suggest new
standards or new versions of the existing standards?  We hope to
identify common requirements of applications consuming Semantic Web
data and understand the pros and cons of a strictly formal approach to
modeling data versus a "scruffier" approach where semantics are based
on application requirements and implementation restrictions.

The workshop will encourage active audience participation and
discussion and will include a keynote speaker as well as a panel
moderated by Jim Hendler.

TOPICS OF INTEREST include but are not limited to

     * Real world applications that use (variants of) RDF, OWL, and  
SPARQL
     * Use cases for different subsets/supersets of RDF, OWL, and SPARQL
     * Extensions of SWRL and N3Logic
     * RIF dialects
     * How well do the current Semantic Web standards meet system  
requirements ?
     * Real world ``semantic'' applications that use other structured  
representations (XML, JSON)
     * Alternatives to RDF, OWL or SPARQL
     * Are ad hoc subsets of SW languages leading to problems?
     * What level of expressive power does the Semantic Web need?
     * Does the Semantic Web require languages based on formal methods ?
     * How should standard Semantic Web languages be designed ?

SUBMISSIONS

   * We are looking for two kinds of submissions
      o Full papers up to ten pages long
      o Position papers up to five pages long
   * Format papers following the WWW2009 instructions at
     http://www2009.org/submission.html
   * Submit papers via https://www.easychair.org/login.cgi?conf=semrus09

IMPORTANT DATES

   Paper submission: February 15, 2009
   Notification: March 8, 2009
   Camera ready: March 13, 2009
   Workshop: April 21, 2009

ORGANIZERS

   Lalana Kagal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
   Ora Lassila, Nokia
   Tim Finin, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

FOR MORE INFO

   http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2009/SemRUs09/