<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br></div> Semantics for the Rest of Us: Variants of<br> Semantic Web Languages in the Real World<br><br> <a href="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2009/SemRUs-ISWC09/">http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2009/SemRUs-ISWC09/</a><br><br> Workshop held in conjunction with the<br> Eighth International Semantic Web Conference<br> 26 October 2009, Washington, DC<br><div><br>The Semantic Web is a broad vision of the future of personal computing,<br>emphasizing the use of sophisticated knowledge representation as the basis for<br>end-user applications' data modeling and management needs. Key to the<br>pervasive adoption of Semantic Web technologies is a good set of fundamental<br>"building blocks" - the most important of these are representation languages<br>themselves. W3C's standard languages for the Semantic Web, RDF and OWL, have<br>been around for several years. Instead of strict standards compliance, we see<br>"variants" of these languages emerge in applications, often tailored to a<br>particular application's needs. These variants are often either subsets of OWL<br>or supersets of RDF, typically with fragments OWL added. Extensions based on<br>rules, such as SWRL and N3 logic, have been developed as well as enhancements<br>to the SPARQL query language and protocol.<br><br>This workshop will explore the landscape of RDF, OWL and SPARQL variants,<br>specifically from the standpoint of "real-world semantics". Are there<br>commonalities in these variants that might suggest new standards or new<br>versions of the existing standards? We hope to identify common requirements<br>of applications consuming Semantic Web data and understand the pros and cons<br>of a strictly formal approach to modeling data versus a "scruffier" approach<br>where semantics are based on application requirements and implementation<br>restrictions.<br><br>The workshop will encourage active audience participation and<br>discussion and will include a keynote by Sandro Hawke (<a href="http://www.w3.org/People/Sandro/">http://www.w3.org/People/Sandro/</a>).</div><div><br></div><div>Topics of interest include but are not limited to<br><br>- Real world applications that use (variants of) RDF, OWL, and SPARQL<br>- Use cases for different subsets/supersets of RDF, OWL, and SPARQL<br>- Extensions of SWRL and N3Logic<br>- RIF dialects<br>- How well do current Semantic Web standards meet system requirements?<br>- Real world `semantic' applications using other representations (XML, JSON)<br>- Alternatives to RDF, OWL or SPARQL<br>- Are ad hoc subsets of SW languages leading to problems?<br>- What level of expressive power does the Semantic Web need?<br>- Does the Semantic Web require languages based on formal methods?<br>- How should standard Semantic Web languages be designed?<br><br>SUBMISSION<br><br>We seek two kinds of submissions: full papers up to ten pages long and<br>position papers up to five pages long. Format papers according the ISWC 2009<br>instructions. Accepted papers will be presented at the workshop and be part of<br>the workshop proceedings. Submit via <a href="http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=semrusiswc09">http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=semrusiswc09</a><br><br>IMPORTANT DATES<br><br>Submission: 10 August 2009<br>Notification: 19 August 2009<br>Camera ready: 2 September 2009<br>Workshop: 26 October 2009<br><br></div><div>KEYNOTE</div><div><div><br></div><div>Sandro Hawke is a Software Developer and Systems Architect at W3C and</div><div>a Research Scientist at MIT. He does software research and development</div><div>for the Semantic Web Activity and is the staff contact for OWL, and</div><div>RIF working groups.</div><div><br></div></div><div>ORGANIZERS<br><br>Lalana Kagal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology</div><div>Tim Finin, University of Maryland, Baltimore County<br>Ora Lassila, Nokia<br></div><div><br></div><div>PROGRAM COMMITTEE</div><div><br></div><div>Ben Addida, CHIP, Harvard Medical School</div><div>Melliyal Annamalai, Oracle</div><div>Jie Bao, RPI</div><div>Kendall Clark, Clark & Parsia</div><div>Richard Cyganiak, DERI</div><div>Li Ding, RPI</div><div>Tim Finin, UMBC</div><div>Benjamin Grosof, Vulcan</div><div>Harry Halpin, University of Edinburgh</div><div>Anupam Joshi, UMBC</div><div>Lalana Kagal, MIT</div><div>Ora Lassila, Nokia</div><div>Thomas Lukasiewicz, Oxford University</div><div>Natasha Noy, Stanford</div><div>Bijan Parsia, University of Manchester</div><div>Axel Polleres, DERI National University of Ireland</div><div>Marwan Sabbouh, Mitre & Northeastern</div><div>Lynn Andrea Stein, Olin College of Engineering</div><div>Susie Stephens, Johnson & Johnson </div><div><br></div></body></html>