[DL] CFP: The ISWC workshop on Semantic Web Enabled Software Engineering (SWESE2008)

[Jeff Z. Pan]

Apologies for cross-posting!

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*
* CALL FOR PAPERS
* submission deadline: 25 July 2008 *
* 4th Workshop on Semantic Web Enabled Software Engineering - SWESE2008
*
* http://www.csd.abdn.ac.uk/~sttaylor/swese2008/
*
* ==INVITED SPEAKER (Prof. Steffen Staab)==
* ==STUDENT GRANTS AVAILABLE (see below for details)==
*
* located at the 7th International Semantic Web Conference ISWC2008
* 26-30th October 2008
* Karlsruhe, Germany
*
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Workshop Description

Modern software architectures reflect advances in shared services
delivery through service oriented architecture (SOA), master data
management and data governance policies, and increasingly
sophisticated, multi-media delivery and end-user interactions that
leverage World Wide Web based technologies.  Semantic Web
technologies are beginning to play a significant role in each of
these arenas, marking a turning point in the evolution of the Web
and software engineering in general.  There is increasing
convergence in terms of methodology, language, and tool support to
address the needs of software architects and other practitioners
who require bridging technologies - between traditional software
engineering, as embodied in Model Driven Architecture (MDA) and
modelling languages such as the Unified Modelling Language (UML)
and the Semantic Web, through the Resource Description Framework
(RDF) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL), for example.  The
Semantic Web Best Practice and Deployment Working Group (SWBPD) in
W3C included a Software Engineering Task Force (SETF) to
investigate potential benefits. The Object Management Group
(OMG)'s Ontology Definition Metamodel (ODM), spearheaded by the
Ontology Platform Special Interest Group (PSIG), has become an
international standard (formally adopted by the OMG in October
2006), and is on its way to becoming an ISO standard.

Advantages of applying Semantic Web technologies to software
engineering include reusability and extensibility of data models,
improvements in data quality, enhanced discovery, and automated
execution of workflows.  According to SETF's note "A Semantic Web
Primer for Object-Oriented Software Developers"
(http://www.w3.org/TR/sw-oosd-primer/), the Semantic Web can serve
as a platform on which domain models can be created, shared and
reused.  What other potential benefits might be gained by applying
Semantic Web technologies to software engineering?  Could the
Web-based, semantically rich formality of OWL be combined with
emerging model driven development tools such as the Eclipse
Modelling Framework to provide some badly needed improvements in
both the process and products of software development activities?
How should practitioners go about transitioning legacy software
applications to ontology-based approaches and what software is
needed to support development teams with intelligent
semantic-based assistive tools?  What is it about the amalgamation
of OWL, UML and the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) that could
make a difference?  There appear to be a number of strong
arguments in favour of bringing these technologies and methods
together, but consensus on the best way forward has yet to emerge.
This workshop seeks to build on prior events that have begun to
address this important area.

Intended Audience

While the intended audience for this workshop includes those with
experience or interest in Semantic Web languages and tools, it is
also crucial to have participation by those with expertise in
other areas such as software engineering, automatic software
engineering (ASE), knowledge based software engineering (KBSE),
UML/MDA, and software/legacy modernization.

Topics

Topics of interest to the workshop include (but are not restricted to):
-   Perspectives on the future of Semantic Web driven software engineering
or modernization
-   Tools supporting software engineering using Semantic Web languages
-   Case studies describing applications that leverage traditional
software engineering methodologies, object-oriented programming, and/or
model-driven architecture (MDA) and Semantic Web tools or languages
-   Lessons learned in Automatic Software Engineering or KBSE applicable
to Semantic Web based software engineering
-   Applications, case studies, and/or recommendations regarding the
Ontology Definition Metamodel (ODM)
-   Case studies describing application of formal methods and Semantic Web
languages
-   Software specification, feature modelling, component discovery, and
Semantic Web languages, ontologies, and/or reasoning
-   Ontologies for requirements, software engineering, and/or software
evolution
-   Ontology-based reasoning for software engineering
-   Semantic annotations in software engineering
-   Transitioning legacy applications to semantically-enhanced or
ontology-based applications
-   Semantic-based intelligent assistance tools for software developers

Workshop Format and Attendance

This will be an all day workshop, including a poster session and
technical talks discussing competing and complementary visions for
Semantic Web enabled software engineering (final format will be
dependent on submissions; keynotes and panel are pending; an
invited talk from Prof. Steffen Staab has been confirmed).

This workshop is open to all members of the ISWC community, as
well as other communities identified in Intended Audience, above.

Submission of a paper is not required for attendance at the
workshop. However, in the event that the workshop cannot
accommodate all who would like to participate, those who have
submitted a paper will be given priority for registration.

We encourage those who plan to attend this workshop, to register
early in order to help conference organizers with their planning
as well as insure that the workshop is not cancelled do to
projected poor attendance.

Organizing Committee

Elisa F. Kendall, Sandpiper Software, Inc., USA
Jeff Z. Pan, University of Aberdeen, UK (contact)
Marwan Sabbouh, The MITRE Corporation, USA
Ljiljana Stojanovic, FZI, Germany
Kalina Bontcheva, University of Sheffield, UK

Program Committee

Colin Atkinson (DE), University of Mannheim
Ken Baclawski (US), Northeastern University
Cory Casanave (US), Model Driven Solutions
Roberta Cuel (IT), University of Trento
Jin Song Dong (SG), National University of Singapore
Dragan Gasevic, (CA) Simon Fraser University Surrey
Michael Goedicke (DE), University of Essen
Jakob Henriksson (DE), Technical University of Dresden
Mitch Kokar (US), Northeastern University
David Martin (US), SRI International
Jishnu Mukerji (US), Hewlett-Packard Company
Daniel Oberle (DE), SAP Research
Steffen Staab (DE), University of Koblenz
Michael K. Smith (US), Electronic Data System
Hai Wang (UK), University of Southampton
Andrea Zisman, (UK) City University, London

Submissions

Authors are invited to submit original contributions of practical
relevance and technical rigor, experience reports, and show case /
use case demonstrations of effective, practical technologies or
applications combining software engineering with semantic
technologies.

Papers must be in English and may be submitted at
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=swese2008 as:

-   Full Papers (15 pages in the proceedings)
-   Short Papers (5-8 pages in the proceedings)
-   Position Statements (2 pages in the proceedings)
-   Posters (to be presented during the workshop, with 2 page descriptions
submitted via the conference site for review)

Please upload all submissions as PDF files in LNCS format
(http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html). Submissions will
be peer-reviewed by at least 3 PC members based on originality,
significance, technical soundness, and clarity of exposition.
Authors are requested to upload their complete papers by July 25,
2008.

Publication details will be posted to the workshop web site,
http://www.csd.abdn.ac.uk/~sttaylor/swese2008/index.php, as they
become available.

Important Dates

Submission deadline:  25 July 2008
Notification of acceptance: 25 September 2008
Final submissions due: 26 September 2008
Workshop proceedings available:  26 October 2008

Sponsorship

The workshop is being held in cooperation with a prominent network
of excellence and is meant to act as a focal point for joint
interests and future collaborations.  Interested sponsors are
welcome to contact the program committee.  Current sponsors
include:

- The EU TAO Project, http://www.tao-project.eu/

Scholarships

We have a limited number of student grants available, funded our
workshop sponsors. We invite students to apply for this grant by
Sept 30, 2008.  Applications should include a statement of
interest (i.e. what you bring to and expect to get from SWESE), a
brief CV, a scan of a student ID or other evidence of professional
status, and a letter of support from their supervisor. Any
interested student can apply.  Please send your application to
Kalina Bontcheva and Elisa Kendall.

The University of Aberdeen is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013683.