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Hello folks,<br>
<br>
We want to bring to your attention a recently approved TDWG
proposal for a set of 3 symposia on the "Semantics for
Biodiversity", planned for the upcoming TDWG meeting in Florence,
Oct. 28-Nov. 1. Due to the short time frame involved, we want to
bring to your immediate attention these special aspects: <br>
<br>
*Details and instructions about symposia:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://semantics4biodiversity.nceas.ucsb.edu">http://semantics4biodiversity.nceas.ucsb.edu</a> (linked from the TDWG
site under the symposium announcement)<br>
<br>
*Submission site: <a
href="https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=s4bdtdwg2013"
style="line-height:normal;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-transform:none;font-style:normal;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;font-weight:normal;word-spacing:0px"
target="_blank">https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=s4bdtdwg2013</a>
(i.e., not the TDWG site)<br>
<br>
*Accelerated submission deadline" of SEP 4<br>
*Accelerated review process, with acceptance notifications: SEP 11
(as courtesy to those needing approved submissions to attend)<br>
<br>
We are hoping this "mega-symposium" will bring together at TDWG 2013
many of the exciting and important efforts currently underway in
advancing biodiversity semantics. <br>
<br>
There is also an upcoming opportunity worth noting, viz. a planned
special issue of the <i>Semantic Web Journal</i> on "Semantics for
Biodiversity":<br>
<br>
*<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/blog/call-papers-special-issue-semantics-biodiversity">http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/blog/call-papers-special-issue-semantics-biodiversity</a><br>
<br>
We anticipate that many of the TDWG contributions could be suitable
for elaborating into a full paper submission for this special issue,
on which several of the co-organizers of this TDWG effort are also
involved as guest editors. These papers are, thankfully, not due
until January 31, 2014.<br>
<br>
Please spread the word! Many thanks for your submissions, and
hoping to see you at TDWG 2013!<br>
(Sorry for the cross-posting, but we wanted to get the word out
broadly...)<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
Mark Schildhauer, John Deck, Ben Adams, Nico Franz, Rob Guralnick,
Ramona Walls <br>
<br>
(on behalf of additional co-organizers: Stan Blum, Steve Baskauf,
Bob Morris, Norman Morrison, Evangelos Pafilis, Joel Sachs, Pelin
Yilmaz)<br>
<br>
====================================<br>
<div
style="line-height:normal;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-transform:none;font-style:normal;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;font-weight:normal;word-spacing:0px"><b>Semantics
for Biodiversity Symposium -- Call for Abstracts<br>
</b><a href="http://semantics4biodiversity.nceas.ucsb.edu/"
target="_blank">http://semantics4biodiversity.nceas.ucsb.edu</a><br>
<br>
at TDWG Conference 2013<br>
October 28 - November 1, 2013 - Florence, Italy.<br>
<br>
<b>Symposium Description and Scope<br>
</b><br>
This Symposium includes a series of three, 90 minute sessions at
TDWG that together constitute a "Semantics for Biodiversity"
track, focused on --<br>
<br>
</div>
<blockquote
style="letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;padding:0px;line-height:normal;text-transform:none;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;margin:0px
0px 0px 40px;border:none;word-spacing:0px">
<div>Ontologies and formal models</div>
<div>Technologies, Reasoning and Annotation methods</div>
<div>Interoperability with genomic and ecological semantics</div>
</blockquote>
<div
style="line-height:normal;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-transform:none;font-style:normal;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;font-weight:normal;word-spacing:0px"><br>
These sessions are not parallel tracked and they are placed on
separate days to avoid saturation on the topic. Additionally,
there will be an initial "primer/tutorial" session of 60 minutes,
to provide basic background for TDWG participants about semantic
technologies, and how these can help inform biodiversity research.<br>
<br>
The conveners of this Symposium will be soliciting participation
from diverse communities, including those from the biodiversity
informatics and standards-development community per se, but also
researchers interested in knowledge modeling and semantic
application development in the biodiversity sciences, including
relevant linkages to investigations in the ecological, genomic and
phylogenetic sciences. These thematic areas recommend a
stronger-than-usual outreach to the computer science community, as
researchers in that community will be particularly attracted by
the prospects of reporting their work in a planned (and approved)
special issue of the Semantic Web Journal on "Semantics for
Biodiversity". Multiple groups of informaticians and technologists
are currently developing semantic technologies to enhance
discovery, interpretation, and interoperability of biodiversity
data, so the upcoming meeting will provide a signal opportunity to
present and discuss these activities in a coordinated fashion
before perhaps the most relevant community who can inform,
critique, and contribute to these efforts. Further, it's
anticipated that these sessions will significantly raise awareness
among computer scientists and engineers relative to the
informatics challenges confronting the biodiversity community,
particularly among those developing generalized knowledge
representation and reasoning technologies, and machine-learning
approaches.<br>
<br>
<b>Important Dates<br>
</b><br>
Submission due: September 4, 2013<br>
Acceptance Notification: September 11, 2013<br>
Symposium dates: October 29 - November 1, 2013</div>
<div
style="line-height:normal;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-transform:none;font-style:normal;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;font-weight:normal;word-spacing:0px"><br>
</div>
<div><b>Symposium Format and Submissions</b><br>
<br>
We invite abstract submissions (500 words maximum) for the three
sessions, which will be dedicated to short presentations on the
topics described in abstracts. We anticipate presentations will be
for 20 minutes, with the possibility that these times will change
depending on the number of quality submissions.<br>
<br>
Please visit <a
href="http://semantics4biodiversity.nceas.ucsb.edu/"
style="line-height:normal;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-transform:none;font-style:normal;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;font-weight:normal;word-spacing:0px"
target="_blank">http://semantics4biodiversity.nceas.ucsb.edu</a> for
additional information on each of the sessions. Questions for the
organizers can be directed to <a
href="mailto:semantics4biodiversity@nceas.ucsb.edu"
style="line-height:normal;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-transform:none;font-style:normal;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;font-weight:normal;word-spacing:0px"
target="_blank">semantics4biodiversity@nceas.ucsb.edu</a><br>
<br>
Submission site: <a
href="https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=s4bdtdwg2013"
style="line-height:normal;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-transform:none;font-style:normal;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Helvetica;font-weight:normal;word-spacing:0px"
target="_blank">https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=s4bdtdwg2013</a></div>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Mark Schildhauer, Ph.D. 735 State St., Suite 300
Director of Computing, NCEAS Santa Barbara CA USA 93101
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:schild@nceas.ucsb.edu">schild@nceas.ucsb.edu</a> Skype: mark.schildhauer
Phone: 805-892-2509 FAX: 805-892-2510
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu">http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu</a>
</pre>
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