CfP: PhiloWeb 2012 (Workshop @WWW 2012)

Think this would be of interest to people on this mailing list, as the
Semantic Web often goes straight into philosophical issues! - harry



 Web and Philosophy: why and what for? (PhiloWeb 2012) Workshop at the 21st
World Wide Web Conference
(WWW 2012),
April 17 2012/Full day event

[image: WWW 2012 logo] <http://www2012.wwwconference.org/>
 *Sponsors*:

[image: Institut de Recherche et d'Innovation du Centre
pompidou]<http://www.iri.centrepompidou.fr/>[image:
FP7 Marie Curie PHILOWEB
project]<http://www.iri.centrepompidou.fr/projets/philoweb-projet-fp7-marie-curie-philosophie-du-web-des-representations-hypertextuelles-a-lintelligence-collective/>
 *Keynote Speakers:*

   - *Stevan Harnad* (University of Southampton)
   - *Scott Lash* (Goldsmiths)
   - *Christopher Menzel* (Texas A&M University)
   - *François Rastier* (INALCO)

*Call for Papers:*

The advent of the Web is one of the defining technological events of the
twentieth-first century, yet its impact on the fundamental questions of
philosophy has not yet been widely explored, much less systematized. The
Web, as today implemented on the foundations of the Internet, is broadly
construed as an information space, the space of all items of interest
(“resources”) identified by URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers, such as “
http://www.example.org”). Originally conceived as an hypertext system of
linked documents, today the Web is rapidly evolving as a universal platform
for data and computation, as URIs are used to identify everything from data
on the Semantic Web and mobile code in Web applications. Even more swiftly
is the Web-driven transformation of many previously unquestioned
philosophical concepts of privacy, authority, meaning, identity, belief,
intelligence, cognition, and even embodiment in surprising ways. In
response, we hope to provoke the properly philosophical question of whether
there is a consistent new branch or practice of philosophy that can weave
these changes to technology and society into a coherent whole and have a
real social impact?

We welcome all submissions of a philosophical nature involving the Web.
*Some questions that may be addressed include:*

   - Is the existence of the philosophy of the Web justified?
   - What is the precise relationship between a more general philosophy and
   the Web?
   - What are the historical and philosophical roots of the philosophy of
   the Web?
   - Is “philosophical engineering” a genuine philosophical practice?
   - Are philosophers trading places with engineers or craftsmen?
   - Do philosophers of the Web have a special responsibility?
   - Are there unifying principles underlying the architecture of the Web?
   - How are URIs related to the naming and reference in the philosophy of
   language?
   - Is the Web understood as a means to signify tied to freedom of speech?
   - What is the impact on models built from massive amounts of Web data on
   philosophy?
   - What is the impact of search engines like Google on questions of
   knowledge and belief?
   - Does the increasing mediation of our social interactions by the Web
   challenge our existing conceptions of privacy and individuality?
   - Can human cognition genuinely be extended by the Web?
   - How does the philosophy of the Web interact with other
   empirically-informed philosophical questions around neuroscience and
   cognitive science?
   - Does the communication and ubiquity accessibility of the Web alter our
   notion of embodiment?

*Submission Instructions*

Submissions should be 8-14 pages long for full papers, and 4-5 pages long
for short papers. Papers must be in English submitted as PDF files and
formatted in double-column ACM SIG proceedings format (
http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates). Papers should
be submitted electronically through EasyChair:
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=philoweb2012<http://web-and-philosophy.org/philoweb-2012-www-2012-workshop/>
 *Important Dates*

   - Submission Deadline: *February 5*, 2012
   - Acceptance notification: March 8, 2012
   - Camera-ready submission: March 15, 2012
   - Workshop date: April 17, 2012

*Organizing Committee:*

   - *Alexandre Monnin*, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne/Institut de
   Recherche et d’Innovation/INRIA/CNAM.
   - *Harry Halpin*, Institut de Recherche et d’Innovation (Marie Curie
   Fellow)/W3C.
   - *Leslie Carr*, University of Southampton

*Program Committee:*

   - Alexandra Arapinis (Paris 1/IHPST)
   - Bruno Bachimont (Université de Technologie de Compiègne/INA)
   - Anthony Beavers (University of Evansville)
   - Aurélien Bénel (Université de Technologie de Troyes)
   - David Booth
   - Leslie Carr (University of Southampton)
   - Nicolas Delaforge (INRIA)
   - Fabien Gandon (INRIA)
   - Aldo Gangemi (CNR)
   - Harry Halpin (IRI/W3C)
   - Yuk Hui (IRI-ONRG)
   - Larry Masinter (Adobe)
   - Christopher Menzel (Texas A&M University)
   - Alexandre Monnin (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne/IRI/CNAM/INRIA)
   - Valentina Presutti (CNR)
   - François Rastier (INALCO)
   - Jonathan Rees (Creative Commons)
   - Eddie Soulier (Université de Technologie de Troyes)
   - Henry Thompson (University of Edimburgh)
   - Michalis Vafopoulos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
   - Evelyne Viegas (Microsoft)
   - Yorick Wiks (Oxford Internet Institute)
   - Xiaoshu Wang (RENCI)
   - Heather West (Google)