[FOM] 2nd Call for Papers:International Conference on Formal Ontology in Information Systems

Mon Apr 3 00:07:17 EDT 2006

2nd Call for Papers
FOIS-2006
International Conference on Formal Ontology in Information Systems
http://www.formalontology.org/
Electronic abstracts: May 1, 2006
Final submissions: May 5, 2006
Papers should be submitted electronically at: 
http://www.softconf.com/start/FOIS06/.

Conference Description
Since ancient times, ontology, the analysis and categorisation of what 
exists, has been fundamental to philosophical enquiry. But, until recently, 
ontology has been seen as an abstract, purely theoretical discipline, far 
removed from the practical applications of science. However, with the 
increasing use of sophisticated computerised information systems, solving 
problems of an ontological nature is now key to the effective use of 
technologies supporting a wide range of human activities. The ship of 
Theseus and the tail of Tibbles the cat are no longer merely amusing 
puzzles. We employ databases and software applications to deal with 
everything from ships and ship building to anatomy and amputations. When we 
design a computer to take stock of a ship yard or check that all goes well 
at the veterinary hospital, we need to ensure that our system operates in a 
consistent and reliable way even when manipulating information that 
involves subtle issues of semantics and identity. So, whereas ontologists 
may once have shied away from practical problems, now the practicalities of 
achieving cohesion in an information-based society demand that attention 
must be paid to ontology.
Researchers in such areas as artificial intelligence, formal and 
computational linguistics, biomedical informatics, conceptual modeling, 
knowledge engineering and information retrieval have come to realise that a 
solid foundation for their research calls for serious work in ontology, 
understood as a general theory of the types of entities and relations that 
make up their respective domains of inquiry. In all these areas, attention 
is now being focused on the content of information rather than on just the 
formats and languages used to represent information. The clearest example 
of this development is provided by the many initiatives growing up around 
the project of the Semantic Web. And, as the need for integrating research 
in these different fields arises, so does the realisation that strong 
principles for building well-founded ontologies might provide significant 
advantages over ad hoc, case-based solutions. The tools of formal ontology 
address precisely these needs, but a real effort is required in order to 
apply such philosophical tools to the domain of information systems. 
Reciprocally, research in the information sciences raises specific 
ontological questions which call for further philosophical investigations.
The purpose of FOIS is to provide a forum for genuine interdisciplinary 
exchange in the spirit of a unified effort towards solving the problems of 
ontology, with an eye to both theoretical issues and concrete applications.
Program Chairs
Brandon Bennett (University of Leeds, UK) brandon at comp.leeds.ac.uk
Christiane Fellbaum (Princeton University, USA and Berlin Brandenburg 
Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Germany) fellbaum at clarity.princeton.edu
Conference Chair
Nicola Guarino (ISTC-CNR, Trento, Italy) guarino at loa-cnr.it
Local Chair
Bill Andersen (Ontology Works, USA) andersen at ontologyworks.com
Publicity Chair
Leo Obrst (The MITRE Corporation, USA) lobrst at mitre.org

Topics
We seek high-quality papers on a wide range of topics. While authors may 
focus on fairly narrow and specific issues, all papers should emphasize the 
relevance of the work described to formal ontology and to information 
systems. Papers that completely ignore one or the other of these aspects 
will be considered as lying outside the scope of the meeting. Topic areas 
of particular interest to the conference are:
Foundational Issues
·       Kinds of entity: particulars vs. universals, continuants vs. 
occurrents, abstracta vs. concreta, dependent vs. independent, natural vs. 
artificial
·       Formal relations: parthood, identity, connection, dependence, 
constitution, subsumption, instantiation
·       Vagueness and granularity
·       Identity and change
·       Formal comparison among ontologies
·       Ontology of physical reality (matter, space, time, motion, ...)
·       Ontology of biological reality (genes, proteins, cells, organisms, 
...)
·       Ontology of mental reality (mental attitudes, emotions, ...)
·       Ontology of social reality (institutions, organizations, norms, 
social relationships, artistic expressions, ...)
·       Ontology of the information society (information, communication, 
meaning negotiation, ...)
·       Ontology and natural language semantics, ontology and cognition, 
ontology and epistemology, semiotics
Methodologies and Applications
·       Top-level vs. application ontologies
·       Role of reference ontologies; Ontology integration and alignment
·       Ontology-driven information systems design
·       Requirements engineering
·       Knowledge engineering
·       Knowledge management and organization
·       Knowledge representation; Qualitative modeling
·       Computational lexica; Terminology
·       Information retrieval; Question-answering
·       Semantic web; Web services; Grid computing
·       Domain-specific ontologies, especially for: Linguistics, Geography, 
Law, Library science, Biomedical science, E-business, Enterprise 
integration, ...

Deadlines and Further Information
Electronic abstracts: May 1, 2006
Final submissions: May 5, 2006
Acceptance Notification: June 26, 2006
Submission of camera-ready paper: July 28, 2006

Submitted papers must not exceed 5000 words (including bibliography). 
Abstracts should be less than 300 words. Papers should be submitted 
electronically at: http://www.softconf.com/start/FOIS06/. Additional 
information will be provided on the conference web page: 
http://www.formalontology.org/ .
Proceedings will be published and available at the conference.

Programme Committee
·       Bill Andersen (Ontology Works, USA)
·       Nicholas Asher (Department of Philosophy, University of Texas at 
Austin, USA)
·       Nathalie Aussenac-Gilles (Research Institute for Computer Science, 
CNRS, Toulouse, France)
·       John Bateman (Department of Applied English Linguistics, University 
of Bremen, Germany)
·       Brandon Bennett (School of Computing, University of Leeds, UK)
·       Stefano Borgo (Laboratory for Applied Ontology, ISTC-CNR, Italy)
·       Joost Breuker (Leibniz Center for Law, University of Amsterdam, The 
Netherlands)
·       Roberto Casati (Jean Nicod Institute, CNRS, Paris, France)
·       Werner Ceusters (European Centre for Ontological Research, 
Saarbrücken)
·       Tony Cohn (School of Computing, University of Leeds, UK)
·       Matteo Cristani (University of Verona, Italy)
·       Ernest Davis (Department of Computer Science, New York University, 
USA)
·       Martin Dörr (Institute of Computer Science, FORTH, Heraklion, Greece)
·       Carola Eschenbach (Department for Informatics, University of 
Hamburg, Germany)
·       Christiane Fellbaum (Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton 
University, USA and Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 
Berlin, Germany)
·       Antony Galton (School of Engineering and Computer Science, 
University of Exeter, UK)
·       Aldo Gangemi (Laboratory for Applied Ontology, ISTC-CNR, Roma, Italy)
·       Pierdaniele Giaretta (Department of Philosophy, University of 
Verona, Italy)
·       Michael Gruninger (University of Toronto, Canada)
·       Nicola Guarino (Laboratory for Applied Ontology, ISTC-CNR, Trento, 
Italy)
·       Udo Hahn (Jena University, Germany)
·       Jerry Hobbs (University of Southern California, USA)
·       Eduard Hovy (University of Southern California, USA)
·       Ingvar Johansson (Institute for Formal Ontology and Medical 
Information Science, University of Saarbrücken, Germany)
·       Werner Kuhn (IFGI, Muenster)
·       Fritz Lehmann (USA)
·       Alessandro Lenci (University of Pisa, Italy)
·       Leonardo Lesmo (Department of Computer Science, University of 
Torino, Italy)
·       David Mark (Department of Geography, State University of New York, 
Buffalo, USA)
·       Claudio Masolo (Laboratory for Applied Ontology, ISTC-CNR, Trento, 
Italy)
·       Chris Menzel (Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University, USA)
·       Simon Milton (Department of Information Systems, University of 
Melbourne, Australia)
·       Philippe Muller (Research Institute for Computer Science, 
University of Toulouse III, France)
·       John Mylopoulos (Department of Computer Science, University of 
Toronto, Canada)
·       Leo Obrst (The MITRE Corporation, USA)
·       Barbara Partee (University of Massachusetts, USA)
·       Massimo Poesio (Department of Computer Science, University of 
Essex, UK)
·       Ian Pratt-Hartmann (Department of Computer Science, University of 
Manchester, UK)
·       James Pustejovsky (Department of Computer Science, Brandeis 
University, USA)
·       David Randell (Imperial College London, UK)
·       Robert Rynasiewicz (Johns Hopkins University, USA)
·       Barry Smith (National Center for Ontological Research and 
Department of Philosophy, University at Buffalo, USA; Institute for Formal 
Ontology and Medical Information Science, Saarbrücken, Germany)
·       John Sowa (Vivomind Intelligence Inc., USA)
·       Veda Storey (Department of Computer Information Systems, Georgia 
State University, USA)
·       Richmond Thomason (University of Michigan, USA)
·       Mike Uschold (The Boeing Company, USA)
·       Achille Varzi (Department of Philosophy, Columbia University, USA)
·       Laure Vieu (Research Institute for Computer Science, CNRS, 
Toulouse, France)
·       Chris Welty (IBM Watson Research Center, USA)
_____________________________________________
Dr. Leo Obrst The MITRE Corporation, Information Semantics
lobrst at mitre.org Center for Innovative Computing & Informatics
Voice: 703-983-6770 7515 Colshire Drive, M/S H305
Fax: 703-983-1379 McLean, VA 22102-7508, USA

                           Martin Davis
                    Visiting Scholar UC Berkeley
                      Professor Emeritus, NYU
                          martin at eipye.com
                          (Add 1 and get 0)
                        http://www.eipye.com