cfp: semantics4ws07 - extended deadline: May 31, 2007

Call for Papers

(DEADLINE EXTENSION: MAY 31, 2007)

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Advances in Semantics for Web services Workshop
(semantics4ws'07)
http://events.deri.at/semantics4ws2007/

at the Fifth International Conference on Business Process Management
(BPM 2007)
http://bpm07.fit.qut.edu.au/

Brisbane, Australia, 25-27 September 2007
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(NEW SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MAY 31, 2007)

GENERAL OVERVIEW

Web services have added a new level of functionality to the current
Web by taking a first step towards seamless integration of distributed
software components using Web standards. Nevertheless, current
Web service technologies around SOAP, WSDL and UDDI operate
at a syntactic level and, therefore, although they support interoperability
(i.e. interoperability between the many diverse application development
platforms that exist today) through common standards, they still require
human interaction to a large extent. For example, the human programmer
has to manually search for appropriate Web services in order to combine
them in a useful manner, which limits scalability and greatly curtails the
added economic value of envisioned with the advent of Web services.

Recent research (to which we refer to as Semantic Web Services - SWS),
which draws on a variety of fields such as Semantic Web, knowledge
representation, formal methods, software engineering, process modeling,
workflow, and software agents, is gaining momentum, in particular in the
context of Web services usage. Research in the mentioned fields can be
exploited to automate Web services-related tasks, like discovery, selection,

composition, mediation, monitoring, and invocation, thus enabling seamless
interoperation between them while keeping human intervention to a minimum.
Although several initiatives, like OWL-S, WSMO, WSDL-S, or IRS, have
emerged in this area aiming at addressing the problem of semantics in Web
services, many major challenges still need to be addressed and solved in
this
field.

In this context, this workshop aims to provide a forum in which to focus on
selected core technical challenges for deployment of Semantic Web Services,
and reach a better understanding of the relationships between commercial Web

service standards, current SWS research efforts, and the ultimate
requirements
for full-scale deployment of these technologies. More specifically, this
workshop
aims to tackle the research problems (as well as recent practical
experiences)
around methods, concepts, models, languages and technology that enable
semantics in the context of Web services, as well as discussing recent
advances
in semantics for Web services. Of particular interest are the architectural,
technical,
and developmental foundations of SWS, and showing how they combine
synergistically to enable service automation on the scale required by
today's
Internet-connected enterprises.

This proposed workshop aims to bring together researchers and industry
practitioners (e.g. leading modelers, architects, system vendors,
open-source
projects, developers, and end-users) addressing many of these issues
(including
recent developments in tools and techniques, and real-world implementations
of
SWS applications), and promote and foster a greater understanding of how
semantics
can assist automation in Web services, thus helping people develop and
manage
services more efficiently and effectively.


TOPICS

The following indicates the general focus of the workshop. However, related
contributions are welcome as well.

    * case studies for (semantic) Web services
    * OWL-S, WSMO, WSDL-S, IRS, SWSF-based systems and applications
    * static and dynamic logics for Web services and related aspects
    * ontologies for modeling (semantic) Web services
    * formal languages for describing (semantic) Web services
    * ontologies and languages for process modeling for (semantic) Web
services
    * ontological representation of quality of services (QoS), services
level agreements (SLAs),
      and non-functional properties (NFPs) of Web services
    * formal languages  for QoS, SLAs, and NFPs
    * reasoning tasks and their complexity in SWS
    * formal methods and their applications in Web services
    * validation and verification for Web services
    * advertising, discovery, matchmaking, selection, and brokering of
(semantic) Web services
    * data/process/protocol mediation in (semantic) Web services
    * composition, planning, and re-planning with (semantic) Web services
    * execution and lifecycle management of (semantic) Web services
    * monitoring, adaptability, and recovery strategies for (semantic) Web
services
    * policies for (semantic) Web services
    * semantics in Web services contracts
    * security and privacy for (semantic) Web services
    * semantics for Grid services and e-Services
    * architectures for (semantic) Web services deployment
    * tools, middleware, and infrastructure for (semantic) Web services


WORKSHOP FORMAT AND ATTENDANCE

The program will occupy a full day, and will include presentations of
papers selected from the full papers category (see 'submissions' below).

Please note that at least one author of each accepted submission must
attend the workshop. The BPM 2007 conference formalities are applied
for fees and respective organizational aspects. 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 (in any category) will be given
priority for registration.


SUBMISSIONS

The workshop invites different types of contributions:

    * Papers
    * Demos
    * Posters / Position papers

Papers: The papers should not exceed 12 pages and should
have the Springer Lecture Notes of Computer Science (LNCS)
layout.

Demos: Detailed description plus sufficient number of screenshots
or a video of the demo are required. For paper-based submissions,
please follow the Springer LNCS layout. Please note that at the
workshop itself no technical support is provided except possibly
Internet connection and power (to be confirmed).

Posters/Position papers: The posters/position papers should not
exceed 5 pages and should have the Springer LNCS layout.

All contributions will be peer reviewed by a program committee
that will incorporate well recognized experts in the area of semantic
technologies and Web services.

All submissions should be formatted in Springer's LNCS style,
should be submitted in electronic format using the link:
http://www.easychair.org/Semantics4WS/.

All accepted full papers and all position papers of attendees will
be published in the proceedings of the workshop. Workshop
proceedings will be published with Springer LNCS and will be
available at the workshop.

IMPORTANT DATES

Submissions: May 31, 2007
Acceptance: June 21, 2007
Final copy: July 1, 2007
Workshops day: September 24, 2007

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Steven Battle (Hewlett-Packard Labs, UK),
John Domingue (The Open University, UK),
David Martin (SRI International, USA)
Dumitru Roman (DERI Innsbruck, Austria)
Amit Sheth (Wright State University, USA)


PROGRAM COMMITTEE (confirmed; to be extended)

- Rama Akkiraju, IBM, USA
- Carine Bournez, W3C, France
- Jorge Cardoso, University Mediera, Portugal
- Sanjay Chaudhary, DA-IICT, India
- Emilia Cimpian, DERI Innsbruck, Austria
- Marin Dimitrov, Ontotext, Bulgaria
- Dieter Fensel, DERI, Austria
- Karthik Gomadam, University of Georgia, USA
- Michael Gruninger, University of Toronto, Canada
- Sung-Kook Han, Won Kwang University, South Korea
- Rick Hull, Lucent, USA
- Jacek Kopecky, DERI Innsbruck, Austria
- Deepali Khushraj, Nokia, Finland
- Michael Kifer, State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA
- Michael Maximilien, IBM, USA
- Brahim Medjahed, University of Michigan, USA
- Adrian Mocan, DERI Innsbruck, Austria
- Massimo Paolucci, DoCoMo Euro-Labs, Germany
- Brahmananda Sapkota, DERI Galway, Ireland
- Tony Shan, Bank of America, USA
- Monika Solanki, De Montfort University, UK
- Ioan Toma, DERI Innsbruck, Austria
- Stuart Williams, HP Bristol, UK