Dear all,
This is a call for papers for a special issue of the Semantic Web Journal.
The topic is "The Semantic Web for all" , welcoming papers presenting ways
to increase the share of the world population having access to the data
description and sharing capabilities offered by the Semantic Web. This
includes, but is not limited to, approaches to de-centralise the
publication/consumption of Web data, read&write access, alternative
interfaces (voice, haptic, ...) to interact with the data,
hardware/software optimised to work under constrained conditions (limited
power, limited Internet connectivity, ...).
Please find the full call attached to this mail. It is also posted online:
http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/blog/special-issue-semantic-web-all
The submission deadline is January 25, 2013.
We're looking forward to your contributions and please don't hesitate to
contact us shall you have any question :-)
Best regards,
Christophe (on the behalf of all the guest editors, Stephane Boyera, Martin
Murillo and Mike Powell)
--
Dr. Christophe Guéret ([email protected])
http://www.few.vu.nl/~cgueret/
http://semweb4u.wordpress.com/
Postdoctoral researcher working on CEDAR (http://cedar-project.nl/)
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS)
"The Semantic Web for all"
About
-----
The aim of this special issue is to publish a collection of papers covering the
challenges and solutions for making Semantic Web technologies usable by
everyone, especially those living in challenged areas, generally present in
vast regions in developing nations. Semantic Web technologies are currently
being designed and deployed for scenarios where infrastructure scaling for high
amounts of intensively used data are a feasible solution. As a result, data
management platforms are centred around Cloud computing, assume availability of
reliable power, reliable fast Internet connectivity, and the presence of
centralised big server and infrastructure resources that serve massive amounts
of data, much of which might never be utilised. The majority of the world,
however, does not have access to such resources or suffer from having their
access limited by slow connectivity. This might introduce the danger to further
increase the digital divide which is linked to education, voice in policies,
empowerment, and quality of life. Most of these concerned individuals use and
share data and have the right to benefit from the data management provided by
the Semantic Web as much as others do. Data sharing platforms have the
potential to improve the livelihoods and empower people.
In addition, the need of departing from centralized cloud computing is not
limited to challenged regions, but also to critical situations in all nations
such as aftermath of natural disasters, power grid problems, cyber-terrorism
and others. These aforementioned situations call for a change of mindset and
for re-thinking the Semantic Web in terms of efficient decentralized devices
with limited computing power, among other options. We also need to think in
terms of offline data usage, dealing with non stable Internet connectivity,
satellite one-way feeds, interfaces for mobile phones, and solutions enabling
the access to Linked Data to incapacitated and illiterate individuals.
The topic of this issue is quite multidisciplinary with components that involve
users, hardware and software. Increasing the access to the Semantic Web might
involve the fitting of already existing technologies to certain situations, the
redesign of systems, or their innovative utilization following an "appropriate
technology" venue. We especially solicit papers that tackle some of specific
challenges of deploying Semantic Web technologies on limited resources
scenarios (computing power, network limitations, intermittent connectivity,
etc) through innovative solutions. Additionally, we encourage submissions
pointing to innovative hardware and software solutions from improving data
interaction. The area of appropriate technology focused on Semantic Web
technologies is very welcomed.
Topics of submissions
---------------------
We welcome submissions that are either focused on the technology, the users,
the hardware or the software in the context of leveraging Semantic Web
technologies. Along these lines, the topics of interests include, but are not
limited to:
* Challenges of deploying Semantic Web technologies with limited Web
connectivity
- Decentralized, robust, systems for dereferencing Web resources
- Data caching and replication in mesh networks
- Decentralized authentication, trust and provenance
- Read and Write Semantic Web
- Delay-tolerant networks
- Mesh and other self-healing networks
* Low and intermittent connectivity data management platforms applied to
- Data sharing for dealing with the aftermath of natural disasters and
other data intensive scenarios under constrained conditions
- Exchanging education resources between remote schools
- Publication/consumption of market prices
* Hardware and software for user and machine data interaction
- Low power server and client devices
- Innovative usage of data acquisition devices, sensors and actuators;
pre-processing of data for certain scenarios
- Alternative interfaces (vocal, haptic, and others), including
text-to-voice and text-to-video solutions
- Innovative manner to provide data visualization to the less empowered
taking into consideration local contexts (illiterateness, culture, language)
- Linked Data interfaces adapted for mobile phones, especially CPU
power-constrained devices
- Measurement, analysis or impact of the technology to specific groups
If you are unsure about the relevance of your manuscript, please don't hesitate
to contact the guest editors.
Types of submissions
--------------------
* Full papers
Original or revised version of research papers presenting systems and results
relevant to the specific context of the special issue. These submissions will
be reviewed along the usual dimensions for research contributions which
include: (1) the originality, significance and impact of the results; and (2)
the clarity and readability of the describing paper, which shall convey to the
reader the key ideas regarding the relation with Semantic Web technologies and
the challenges addressed.
* System papers
Short papers of 6 to 8 pages describing a specific and relevant software or
hardware solution. Submissions will be reviewed along the following dimensions:
(1) Quality, importance, and impact of the described system/hardware. (2)
Clarity and readability of the describing paper.
Important Dates
---------------
* Initial Submission: January 25, 2013
* Author Notification: April 5, 2013
* 2nd Round Submission: May 10, 2013
* Final Notification: June 14, 2013
Open Review Process
-------------------
All papers must demonstrate the validity of the approach taken, include an
objective review of the state of the art of the topic, and describe the
contribution made to its improvement.
All submissions are subject to an open review process, and will be made
publicly available on the journal's website. Further, in addition to solicited
reviews by members of the editorial board, public reviews and comments are
welcome by any researcher through uploading using the journal website.
Submission and reviewing guidelines may be found in full at:
http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/reviewers
See also, the author guidelines at http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/authors
Guest editorial board
---------------------
* Stefan Schlobach, VU University Amsterdam
* Anna Bon, CIS - VU University Amsterdam
* Louiqa Raschid, University of Maryland
* Tim Davies, University of Southampton
* Fabien Gandon, INRIA
* Michalis Vafopoulos, National Technical University of Athens
* Philippe Cudré-Mauroux, University of Fribourg
* Victor de Boer, VU University Amsterdam
* Michael Hausenblas, DERI Galway
* Jose Manuel Alonso, Web Foundation
* Maria-Esther Vidal, Universidad Simón Bolívar
Guest editors
-------------
* Christophe Guéret, Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS), KNAW,
[email protected]
The Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam maintains a close relationship with
developing countries having a limited access to the Web, if any. These
relationships are materialized through the centre for international
collaboration (CIS), the project for re-greening Africa (W4RA), the FP7 funded
project ``Voices'' and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) contributor project
``SemanticXO''. Christophe is leading that last activity which aims at
deploying Semantic Web solutions on a small laptop, the ``XO'', designed for
educational usage by young learners living in the poorest areas of the world.
SemanticXO aims at leveraging the power of Linked Data and reasoning to help
them share ideas and collaboratively drive their own education. Besides,
Christophe is now working at DANS on the exposition of historical statistical
data using the Linked Data principles and the consumption of this data by
historians.
* Stephane Boyera, Web Foundation, [email protected]
The Web foundation is pushing for a better accessibility of the Web in the
World, aiming at closing the digital divide between those who have access to
the Web and those who don't have it. Stéphane has played an important role in
the creation of the World Wide Web Foundation since 2008. In January 2009, he
became Program Manager, responsible for the design and implementation of a new
Foundation program targeted at leveraging the power of Web technologies to
empower people in parts of the world where they need it most. Stéphane is also
participating in different experts panel on the topic of Mobile and Social
Development, including the World Bank Expert Panel on Mobile for Rural
Development, the World Bank Expert Panel on mobile Health, and Vodafone
Socio-economic Impact of Mobile (SIM) panel. The work on voice based interface
in he contributes to in ``Voices'' has received the third prize of the
``outrageous ideas'' track of ISWC2011 and a very positive feedback from Mali
farmers during the first deployment in November 2011.
* Mike Powell, IKM Emergent, [email protected]
IKM Emergent (http://ikmemergent.net) is an action research programme looking
at the selection and management of knowledge and information by international
development agencies, research which includes consideration of how new
technology is used in the process. The programme has explored and supported
some of the early uses of semantic technologies in the development field. Its
work is located in what it sees as an historical context of development
information and related ICT management in which there has been a gross
inbalance between investment in and for the information needs of the poor and
those of larger 'professional' organisations and little awareness of the
inter-connectedness of development information fields. Mike was previously
co-ordinator of the Social Impact of Information Technology programme at the UN
Research Institute for Social Development (http://bit.ly/O0bLnv)
* Martin Murillo, Data Connectivity Initiative - IEEE, [email protected]
Through the Data Connectivity Initiative, the IEEE intends to have a direct
role in the data connectivity of extremely remote rural areas suffering from
bad indices of health and where any kind of communication would alleviate some
of the issues, including scenarios of natural disasters and alleviation of
climate change. Martin Murillo is volunteer co-leader and project manager in
the initiative. Their latest project in the Peruvian Amazon connected various
remote rural villages reachable by two-day boat trip from the location where
telephony or Internet was available. Their effort resulted in massive 60-meter
towers and high speeds connectivity. The same model is being carried out in
other parts of the world through partnerships with local development
organizations, the utilization of appropriate technology, and the creation of
innovative business models. The multidimensional efforts have identified
various areas of research, development and collaboration, one of them is the
provision of information in appropriate manners and the resiliency of
connectivity in various scenarios, among others. Professionally Martin has
worked in state-of-the art development of wireless devices, has carried out
research in energy efficient protocols for wireless connectivity, and is
currently carrying out research in appropriate visualizations for the provision
of open government data to different sectors of the population with the main
goals of empowerment and policy influence. Martin has published in the area of
control system theory, wireless sensor networks, the utilization of technology
in different scenarios, and the measurement of institutional transparency
through open government data.
