CFP: SWJ Special Issue on the Semantics of Microposts (Deadline Extension: 29th November 2011)

(apologies for duplicate postings)

===============================================================

Call for Papers
Semantic Web Journal
Special Issue on The Semantics of Microposts

Extended Deadline: 29th November 2011

http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/blog/special-issue-semantics-microposts

===============================================================



SPECIAL ISSUE ON THE SEMANTICS OF MICROPOSTS

With the appearance and expansion of Twitter, Facebook Like, 
Foursquare, and similar low-effort publishing services, the effort 
required to participate on the Web is getting lower and lower. Enormous 
quantities of small user input are being piped into the data streams of 
the Web, leading to a rate of growth which has never been witnessed 
before. We refer to such small user inputs as Microposts, these can 
range from 'checkin' at a location on a geo-social networking site - 
allowing users to inform their friends of their current location - 
through to a status update on a social networking platform.

The aim of this special issue is to publish a collection of papers
covering the range of topics relevant to the analysis, use and reuse of
Micropost data. This should cover a wide scope of work that represents
current efforts in the fields collaborating with the Semantic Web
community to address the challenges identified for the extraction of
semantics in Microposts, and the development of intuitive, effective
tools that make use of the rich, collective knowledge. We especially
solicit new research in the field that explores the particular
challenges due to, and the influence of the mainstream user, as compared
to publication and management by technical experts.

Additionally, we encourage revised versions of research papers and
practical demonstrations presented at relevant workshops, symposia and
conferences, extended to increase depth and review the authors' own and
other relevant work, and take into account also feedback from
discussions and panels at such events.

Of particular interest are papers that:
1. illustrate the benefits in an interdisciplinary approach to tackling
the challenges identified;
2. identify solutions that cater to mainstream end users, in addition
to technical and domain experts.

TOPICS OF INTEREST INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:
* Microposts and Semantic Web technologies
- Knowledge Discovery and Information Extraction
- Factual Inference
- Ontology/vocabulary modelling and learning from Microposts
- Integrating Microposts into the Web of Linked Data
* Social/Web Science studies
- Analysis of Micropost data patterns
- Motivations for creating and consuming Microposts
- Relevance of Microposts and factors that influence them
- Community/network analysis of Micropost dynamics
- Ethics/privacy implications of publishing and consuming Microposts
* Context
- Utilising context (time, location, feeling)
- Contextual inference mechanisms
- Social awareness streams and Online Presence
- Event Detection
* Applying Microposts
- User profiling/recommendation/personalisation approaches using
Microposts
- Public opinion mining
- Trend prediction
- Expertise finding
- Business analysis/market scanning
- Emergency systems
- Urban sensing and location-based applications



TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS

FULL PAPERS:

containing original research results. Results previously published at
conferences or workshops may be submitted as extended versions. These
submissions will be reviewed along the usual dimensions for research
contributions which include originality, significance of the results,
and quality of writing.

APPLICATION REPORTS:

short papers describing deployed applications of Semantic Web
technologies. The reports should be brief and pointed, indicating
clearly, in what sense and to what extent semantic technologies have
been used in the application. These submissions will be reviewed along
the following dimensions: (1) Quality, importance, and impact of the
described application (convincing evidence must be provided). (2)
Clarity and readability of the describing paper, which shall convey to
the reader the key ideas regarding the application of Semantic Web
technologies in the application.

REPORTS ON TOOLS AND SYSTEMS:

short papers describing mature Semantic Web related tools and systems.
These reports should be brief and pointed, indicating clearly the
capabilities of the described tool or system. It is strongly encouraged,
that the described tools or systems are free, open, and accessible on
the Web. If this is not possible, then they have to be made available to
the reviewers. For commercial tools and systems, exceptions can be
arranged through the editors. These submissions will be reviewed along
the following dimensions: (1) Quality, importance, and impact of the
described tool or system (convincing evidence must be provided). (2)
Clarity, illustration, and readability of the describing paper, which
shall convey to the reader both the capabilities and the limitations of
the tool.


IMPORTANT DATES

Initial Submission (Extended): 29th Nov 2011
Author Notification: 15 Jan 2012
2nd Round Submission: 15 Mar 2012 (subject to change)
Final Notification: 31 May 2012 (subject to change)


OPEN REVIEW PROCESS

All papers must demonstrate the validity of the approach taken and
include an objective review of the state of the art and the contribution
made to improve on this.

All submissions are subject to an open review process, and will be made
publicly available on the journal's website. Further, in addition to
solicited reviews by members of the editorial board, public reviews and
comments are welcome by any researcher and can be uploaded using the
journal website. Submission and reviewing guidelines may be found in
full at: http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/reviewers
See also, the author guidelines at
http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/authors


THE GUEST EDITORS

The guest editors were also the co-organisers of the ESWC 2011 workshop
'Making Sense of Microposts'.

Dr. MATTHEW ROWE is a postdoctoral researcher working at the Knowledge
Media Institute at the Open University. His current work explores
automated techniques to predict discussion levels on Social Web
platforms as part of the EU funded projects ROBUST and WeGov. On ROBUST
he is the leader of a work package responsible for modelling user
behaviour and community evolution. His PhD thesis explored automated
techniques for the disambiguation of identity web references, where such
techniques were supported with data leveraged from the Social Web. He
has an extensive publication record including papers in the Journal of
Web Semantics and the European Semantic Web Conference. He has reviewed
papers for many conferences and journals including the Journal of Web
Semantics and the World Wide Web journal. Matthew was involved in the
organisation of the 'Essential HCI for the Semantic Web' Tutorial at
ESWC 2010, and he is the coordinator of the Semantic Technologies
activity at ESWC 2011.
Web page: http://people.kmi.open.ac.uk/rowe
e-mail: m.c.rowe@open.ac.uk

Mr. MILAN STANKOVIC has been conducting Social Semantic Web research
since the early days of the field. His pioneering work on Semantic
Online Presence set the ground for many research initiatives working to
make online presence systems (including Twitter) a part of the Semantic
Web, and make the most use of them and their underlying semantics. As a
result of his continuing dedication to making sense of Twitter, Milan
has published a number of papers on the topic at high impact workshops
such as SDoW 2008, SDoW 2010, LDoW 2010, as well as in Springer
Journals. He is currently a researcher at hypios - a Social Semantic
facilitator of Open Innovation.
Web page: http://milstan.net
e-mail: milstan@hypios.com

Dr. ABA-SAH DADZIE is a research associate with the Organisations,
Information & Knowledge Group at The University of Sheffield. Her
research focuses on user-centred knowledge management that exploits
Semantic Web technology and visual analytics. In previous projects,
X-Media, IPAS and XSPAN, she explored methods for identifying links
across and integrating distributed data, to enable effective, intuitive
knowledge discovery, retrieval, enrichment and use. She also contributed
to the EU project WeKnowIt. She currently works on the EU project
SmartProducts, where she is looking at ontology-guided, proactive
knowledge discovery and integration from domain, online and other
community-driven resources to enhance interaction within smart environments.
Aba-Sah was a co-organiser and assistant tutor for the 'Essential HCI
for the Semantic Web' Tutorial at ESWC 2010, and a co-organiser of the
'Knowledge Acquisition from Social Networking Sites' Tutorial at EKAW
2010. She has published work at major conferences including ESWC, ISWC
and IEEE VAST, in addition to high impact journals. She also acts as a
peer reviewer for a number of major conferences. Aba-Sah previously
worked as a lecturer and in management in industry.
Web page: http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/~aba-sah
e-mail: a.dadzie@dcs.shef.ac.uk

Dr. MARIANN HARDEY is newly appointed to the Marketing Group at Durham
Business School, Durham University. She is a social media professional
with a strong background in sociology and the social consequences of
digital communications technology, in particular Social Network Sites.
Mariann is an academic in the main, but also works on commercial
consulting projects and is the BBC North East commentator for social
media and digital networks. Before Facebook, she read literature at the
University of Sussex and later undertook a research MA followed by a PhD
at the University of York. In her work Mariann seeks to identify and
understand how real social relationships are mediated through digital
social networks and Web 2.0 applications. Mariann is, therefore, a
member of a new generation of academics and researchers who have not
only grown up with digital technology, but are pushing new research
boundaries and thinking futures through them.
Web page: http://www.properfacebooketiquette.com
e-mail: mariann.hardey@durham.ac.uk


--
Dr Matthew Rowe
Research Associate
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
http://people.kmi.open.ac.uk/rowe/ 


-- 
The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302).