Events

FOMI 2006
14-15 December 2006
Trento, Italy
http://www.loa-cnr.it/fomi

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Rule ML 2006
9-10 November 2006
Athens, Georgia, U.S.A.
http://2006.ruleml.org/ 

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2nd International Workshop on Semantic Web Enabled
Software Engineering November 6th, 2006
Athens, GA, U.S.A.
to be held at the ISWC 2006

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ASWC 2006
3-7 September 2006
Beijing, China
http://www.aswc2006.org/

Tools and Technology

Look for the Knowledge Web public report on the Semantic Web Technology Conference 2006 (6-9 March, San José, USA)

http://www.semantic-conference.com/

A.Leger (FT R&D, France),
T.Vitvar (DERI, Galway)
 

Editorial

In Knowledge Web, we place great value on showing how the research in Semantic Web technologies can be applied to real world business problems.
We have already collected and analysed a number of such business scenarios which were provided by willing Industry Board members. A number of these scenarios are now being used as test cases for the application of Semantic Web to typical problems in enterprise processes. We work closely with our chosen business partner in introducing the latest Semantic Web research results to their IT system. Next year we will be able to publicize the results of these co-operations. Our business partners will benefit from knowledge of cutting edge semantic solutions to their business problems and we are able to demonstrate how the Semantic Web can practically benefit enterprises.

A number of these business cases have been chosen for a co-operation between leading Semantic Web researchers and the Industry Board member, with the aim to practically demonstrate the value of appropriate Semantic Web approaches to solving real world business problems. In these co-operations we hope to validate the industry-maturity of Semantic Web technologies and demonstrate their use in a real world setting.

Details of the active co-operations can be found on the industry portal in the Application Needs section (you will need a log-in).

A.Leger (FT R&D, France), L.Nixon (FU Berlin)

View Point

Recently the Gartner Group published its hype cycle for 2006. The annual hype cycle is an illustration of how emerging technologies enjoy inflated expectations, leading inevitably to disillusionment and then finally enjoying widespread acceptance. The Corporate Semantic Web made its debut last year at the beginning of the hype cycle, and this year it has already made it to the ‘peak of inflated expectations’. It is worthwhile to compare this to the outlook for Web 2.0. This set of technologies – wikis, blogs, content tagging and sharing – have become the newest trend and enterprises are also finding value in using such social, collaborative tools in their business processes. However, it is tipped to slide into the ‘trough of disillusionment’ within two years.

For Semantic Web researchers, this difference in fortunes is easy to understand. While Web 2.0 enjoys today a lot of hype and is changing working methods, its underlying data is still the non-machine readable content of the present Web. So while a lot of the application layer looks and functions differently, the data layer is no different – the problems in the business scenarios we have collected are not solved by a wiki system being built on top. So while the Web 2.0 can be a stepping stone, it does not negate the need for a Semantic Web with ontologies and formal metadata. In Knowledge Web and beyond we will continue to work towards the realisation of the Corporate Semantic Web.

L. Nixon (FU Berlin)

NoE Knowledge Web site         http://knowledgeweb.semanticweb.org/

Industry Area                   http://knowledgeweb.semantcweb.org/O2I/

e-mail Webmaster Industry Area                     Stephanie.hasle@ago.fr