W3C Workshop on the Future of Social Networking (Call for Participation)

Note that it appears there is a possibly very fruitful work to be done
in the intersection of the Semantic and Social Web, and there may be
even W3C standardization work in this area at some point...

attached mail follows:

Dear Advisory Committee Representative,

I am pleased to announce the:

  W3C Workshop on the Future of Social Networking
  15-16 January 2009, in Barcelona, Spain
  Hosted by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and
  ReadyPeople

  Call for Participation: 
  http://www.w3.org/2008/09/msnws/cfp
  Deadline for submitting position papers: November 20, 2008

The goal of this workshop is to bring together industry actors to foster
discussion, to analyse risks and opportunities of the social networking
industry, and to define plans for the future of the industry, including
opportunities of creation of a W3C group to continue the discussion.

The Workshop is being chaired by Christine Perey (PEREY Research &
Consulting) and Dominique Hazael-Massieux (W3C Mobile Web Initiative
Activity Lead). If you are interested in serving on the Program
Committee, please contact Dominique Hazaël-Massieux <dom@w3.org>.

We are looking forward to your participation and contributions
to this Workshop. Important dates and Workshop scope are summarized
below.

This announcement follows section 9 of the W3C Process Document
  http://www.w3.org/2005/10/Process-20051014/events#GAEvents

For Dominique Hazael-Massieux, Mobile Web Initiative Activity Lead
Ian Jacobs, Head of W3C Communications

===========
Sponsorship
===========
This workshop also offers a sponsorship program as a marketing
opportunity that enables sponsors to showcase their organization and to
communicate to the community of participants, and to the industry at
large, that their organization is a driving force within the social
networking industry. Sponsors reach those who are making decisions about
the future of social networks, as well as those in the public who have
come to rely on the Web and mobile as critical infrastructures for
communicating with others and sharing social media. 

Sponsors will be associated directly with the event which will gather
experts in all aspects of social networking.

There are three levels of sponsorship: Platinum, Gold and Silver,
offering a range of benefits. All the details of each level are
available from the Sponsorship Program page:
  http://www.w3.org/2008/09/msnws/sponsorship.html

For further information and expression of interest, please contact
Dominique Hazael-Massieux (dom@w3.org) and Marie-Claire Forgue
(mcf@w3.org). The deadline for requesting to take part in this
opportunity is 20 December 2008.

===============
Important Dates
=============== 
        
        14 October 2008  Call for Participation issued 
        20 November      Deadline for position papers 
        1 December       Acceptance notification sent 
        10 December      Program released 
        20 December      End of sponsorship opportunity 
        5 January 2009   Deadline for Registration 
        15-16 January    Workshop 
        
Registration details and information about expected audience are
in the Call for Participation. Please note that:

 - Attendance is open to everyone, including non-W3C Members, but
   each organization or individual wishing to participate must submit
   a position paper.
 - To ensure maximum diversity among participants, a limit may be
   imposed on the maximum number of participants per organization.
 - There is no registration fee.

=====================
Scope of the Workshop
=====================

Technical areas:

      * Interoperability of Social applications and User Generated
        Content
      * Approaches for inter-social network communication and
        referrals/invitations
      * Social Networks and the User Experience, in particular user
        interface similarities and differences between desktop and
        mobile social applications, and solutions for making social
        network sites accessible to people with disabilities
      * Identity federation, privacy, and security - scalable and
        interoperable technology to communicate metadata securely and in
        socially responsible fashion between and in communities
      * Sharing social network features between PC and mobile, such as
        using social networks as addressbook, Location-awareness,
        Call-from-community
      * Mechanisms for securely sharing location, while preserving
        privacy
      * Secure transaction/financial and recommendation tracking
        specifications for commerce within social networks - how to make
        social networks resources for trusted relations and privacy
        decisions 

Business areas:

      * Landscape of existing social networking initiatives, and their
        relevance to the mobile world
      * The role of operators within mobile social networks
      * Metrics to quantify social network size and growth (user
        types/profiles, community size, growth, traffic/activity) 
      * Monetization practices (advertizing, subscriptions, etc)
      * Security (profile management policies, penalties), Ethics
        (disclosure, privacy), Moderation practices and Accessibility

-- 
Ian Jacobs (ij@w3.org)   http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs/
Tel:                     +1 718 260-9447