Special Issue on The Semantics of Microposts

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

About

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:
+ illustrate the benefits in an interdisciplinary approach to tackling the challenges identified;
+ 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: 29 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 are 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