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First International Workshop on Downscaling the Semantic Web - DownScale2012
http://worldwidesemanticweb.wordpress.com/downscale2012/
May 27-28, 2012

co-located with the 9th Extended Semantic Web conference
May 27-31, 2012, Heraklion, Greece
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= Objectives of the workshop =

Our current mind set as Semantic Web engineers is to focus on centralized and
very powerful solutions centred (and depending on ...) around Web hosted
servers and (mobile) clients accessing it. As a direct consequence of that, the
usage of Linked Data depends on the availability of a Web infrastructure
compassing data-centers, high speed reliable Internet connection and modern
client devices. If any of this is missing, our community is not able, yet, to
provide any Linked Data enabled data management solution. Still, the digital
divide that is currently widely recognized separates the world into those who
have access to Web-based platforms and those who don’t.
When designing Linked Data platforms we tend to forget those 4 Billion persons
who don’t have access to Internet but would benefit from being able to use
Linked Data.We should keep everyone in mind when we design Linked Data platforms
and aim at helping to reduce this digital divide.

This workshop, organised around a morning of presentations and an hacking
afternoon, as for objective to discuss the steps to take to lower the
requirements for deploying Semantic Web technologies. For instance, making
Semantic Web platforms usable under limited computing power and limited access
to Internet. During the hacking session, a specific focus will be put on the
usage of Semantic Web technology for educational software.

= Topics =

Topics of the workshop include, but are not limited to:
* Off-line linked data synchronisation
* Low resource demanding triple stores
* Application of Semantic Web to disaster data management
* Innovative linked data interfaces for illiterate and/or young users
* De-centralised data management platforms
* Collaborative, de-centralised, educational software

= Program =

* Morning: discussions
  Presentations and discussions around the need for Down scaling the Semantic
  Web and the challenges implied.
* Afternoon: hacking session
  Implementation of Semantic Web enabled software using the toolkits of Sugar
  and SemanticXO. Deployment of these applications on devices such as the XO
  laptop and other small hardware such as Sheevaplug.

= Submissions =

We welcome short papers that present down-scaled revisions of previously
published systems as well as position and systems paper presenting novel ideas.
Papers are expected not to exceed 8 pages and should be formatted according to
the Springer’s Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) formatting guide.
Submissions are managed via EasyChair:
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=downscale2012

= Important dates =

* Submission deadline: March 4, 2012
* Notifications: April 1, 2012
* Camera ready version: April 15, 2012
* Workshop date: May 27 or 28, 2012

= Organization committee =

Christophe Guéret, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Nederlands
Stefan Schlobach, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Nederlands
Florent Pigout, Association OLPC France

= Program Committee =

Victor de Boer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Nederlands
Anna Bon, CIS Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Nederlands
Stephane Boyera, Web Foundation
Mathieu D’Aquin, KMi Open University, UK
Louiqa Raschid, University of Maryland, USA
Elena Simperl, KIT Karlshrue, Germany
Andreas Thor, University of Leipzig
Sameer Verma, San Francisco State University, USA
Maria Esther Vidal, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Venezuela
Jérôme David, INRIA Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes, France