Reminder: RuleML 2006 early registration September 30th

*** Reminder: RuleML 2006 early registration deadline is September 30.
Registration link: 
http://www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/conferences/2006/Nov/10/rule.phtml


The conference program is at http://2006.ruleml.org/group3.html#3
and the information about tutorials (whose prices is included
in the registration fee) is at
http://2006.ruleml.org/group3.html#tutorials

Here is also the information about the keynotes.

THE LIMITS AND POSSIBILITIES FOR COMBINING DESCRIPTION LOGICS AND
DATALOG
Riccardo Rosati, Universita di Roma

ABSTRACT:

Description Logics are currently the most used formalisms for building
ontologies, and have been proposed as standard languages for the
specification of ontologies in the Semantic Web.
The problem of adding rules to Description Logics is currently a hot
research topic, due to the interest of Semantic Web applications towards
the integration of rule-based systems with ontologies.
Most of the approaches in this field concern the study of description
logic knowledge bases augmented with rules expressed in
Datalog and its nonmonotonic extensions.
In this talk we present a set of computational results which
identify, from the viewpoint of the expressive abilities of the two
formalisms, minimal combinations of Description Logics and
(nonmonotonic) Datalog in which reasoning is undecidable. Then, based
on the above results, we briefly survey some recent proposals for  
overcoming such expressive limitations.


RULE-BASED INTELLIGENCE IN THE SEMANTIC WEB -or- "I'LL SETTLE FOR A WEB
THAT'S JUST NOT SO DUMB!"
Dean Allemang, Top Quadrant 

ABSTRACT

My keynote will give both a retrospective and prospective view of rules
and the semantic web.

The role of rules in the semantic web has been controversial; in the few
short years since the first publication of the Semantic Web stack, Rules
have sometimes been given a central role, at other times a peripheral
role, and sometimes left out completely. Why such variation for an
technology with thirty years of background?

The reason for these differences of opinion stem from different goals
for the inclusion of rules in the Semantic Web stack.  At one extreme
are the Description Logicians who see no need for a general-purpose
programming language in the semantic web stack. At the other extreme are
those who want to build a web infrastructure with the capacity for
emergent intelligence.

Our experience with deploying semantic web solutions using OWL alongside
rules suggests a moderate middle path; we don't need or even want our
web infrastructure to exhibit intelligence; that's what our applications
are for.  We just need a consistent and coherent web of information to
work from.  Simply put, we just want our web infrastructure not to be so
dumb. Armed with this understanding, I see the rules in the Semantic Web
in a different light, and see a clear role of rules in the semantic web
stack.

This keynote will illustrate these themes with experiences in the field.