Call for In-Use Track Papers

Semantic technologies are reaching maturity on and off the web, through ontology based data integration, the increase in their use to publish, structure, store and make sense of web data, whether they are in the form of linked data, through schema.org, or even with semantics included in other data formats than RDF (CSV, JSON, etc). The In-Use track at ISWC 2017 provides a forum for the community to explore the benefits and challenges of applying semantic technologies in concrete, practical applications, in contexts ranging from industry to government and science. We are especially interested in applications that use the emerging knowledge graphs or semantic annotations on the web together with data mining, machine learning, or natural language processing techniques to the benefit of concrete, real-life scenarios. We are also looking for descriptions of applied and validated industry solutions as software tools, systems or architecture that benefit from the adoption of semantic technologies.

Importantly, papers presenting applications in use of semantic technologies should provide evidence that there is use of the proposed application or tool by the target user group, preferably outside the group that conducted the development. A main focus of the submission should be on the way semantics and semantic technologies are impacting this development, through benefiting the intended use case, as well as, if relevant, through the added challenges they introduce.

We strongly encourage authors to clearly expose

  1. limitations of existing (if any) “non-semantics” approaches that address similar challenges,
  2. benefits of semantic technologies (e.g., measurable impacts such as accuracy, scalability, usability or functionality) in real-world settings, and
  3. lessons learned from experimentation and / or large scale deployment.

We therefore expect submissions to the In Use track to contain at least the following elements

  • A clear description of the problem being addressed, and of its importance in the corresponding domain
  • A description of the system, application or tool developed that clearly shows the role Semantic Technologies and Principles are playing in its architecture, or the contribution helping the adoption of Semantic Technologies and Principles
  • A clear statement about the current user base of this system, application or tool (including size and composition, e.g. domain experts, developers, etc.), as well as plans for deployment/adoption
  • A discussion on the benefits and challenges associated with the use of Semantic Technologies and Principles in the considered scenario, both from a technical (what the technology enables) and a non-technical (e.g. development effort required, effect on user interaction/satisfaction, policy-related issues) point of view
  • A clear description of the impact in the respective industry and motivation for the need of semantic web technologies.
  • A clear evaluation of the performance of the tool/system according to relevant measures (speed, usability, efficiency, etc.)

Topics of Interest

We invite the submission of original papers organized around some of the following aspects:

  • Description and analysis of concrete problems and user requirements for applying semantic technologies in a specific domain
  • Descriptions of how Semantic Web resources (ontologies, datasets, software, standards, etc) are being used in practice
  • Analysis and evaluation of usability and uptake of Semantic Web tools and technologies
  • Scalability analysis and large scale deployment in real world scenarios
  • Assessment of the pros and cons of using semantic technologies to solve a particular and practical problem
  • Pragmatics of using or deploying semantic technologies in real-world scenarios
  • Comparison of semantic technologies with alternative approaches that use conventional or competing technologies
  • Learned lessons and best practices from deploying and using an application or service based on Semantic Web technologies
  • Assessment of costs and benefits of implementing, deploying, using, and managing Semantic Web technologies
  • Analysis of risks and opportunities of using Semantic Web technologies in organizations with respect to their businesses and customers
  • Descriptions of alternative semantic technologies being deployed in practice
  • Mobile apps based on semantic technologies that have substantial user base

The Semantic Web In-Use papers will be evaluated on their relevance to the track, rigor in the methodology and analysis used to reach conclusions, originality, readability, and usefulness to developers, researchers, and practitioners.

Review Criteria

  • Significance of the problem addressed
  • Value of the use case in demonstrating benefits/challenges of semantic technologies
  • Adoption by domain practitioners and general members of the public
  • Impact of the solution, especially in supporting the adoption of semantic technologies
  • Applicability of the lessons learnt to other use cases
  • Clarity and quality of the description

Delineation from other Tracks

Submissions may employ various methods (e.g. from software engineering, scientific methods – qualitative and/or quantitative, analytics) to understand in greater detail the deployment of semantic technologies and data (online or offline) or present novel practical approaches that are relevant to the deployment of semantics, but may not otherwise gain an outlet in the ISWC series. Submissions to the In-Use track should rely on a concrete implementation of either the application or the tool being presented, which should be evaluated according to measures/indicators that are relevant to the evaluation of the adoption of an application or the performance of a tool.

Papers presenting a research prototype where the main objective is to support the validation of a research hypothesis or answering a research question are more appropriate to the research track.

Emerging applications that are not yet deployed, as well as vision papers describing future applications should be submitted to the Poster & Demo track.

Authors who want to present an interesting industry application but who do not want to submit a full paper should submit to the industry track.

Students will be able to apply for travel support to attend the conference. Preference will be given to students that are first authors on papers accepted to the main conference or the doctoral consortium, followed by those who are first authors on papers accepted to ISWC workshops and the Poster & Demo session.

Prior Publication and Multiple Submissions

ISWC 2017 will not accept In-Use papers that, at the time of submission, are under review for or have already been published in or accepted for publication in a journal, another conference, or an other ISWC track. The conference organizers may share information on submissions with other venues to ensure that this rule is not violated.

Submission Details

  • Pre-submission of abstracts is a strict requirement. All papers and abstracts have to be submitted electronically via the EasyChair conference submission system.
  • ISWC 2017 submissions are not anonymous.
  • All submissions must be in English, and no longer than 16 pages (including references). Papers that exceed this limit will be rejected without review.
  • Submissions must be either in PDF or in HTML, formatted in the style of the Springer Publications format for Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS). For details on the LNCS style, see Springer’s Author Instructions. For details on the HTML format, please refer to the following page: http://PLACEHOLDER.wpsho/calls/html-submission-guide/ .
  • We encourage embedding metadata in the PDF to provide a machine readable link from the paper to the resource.
  • Authors of accepted papers will be required to provide semantic annotations for the abstract of their submission, which will be made available on the conference web site. Details will be provided at the time of acceptance.
  • We encourage authors to publish the resources related to their paper (research data, datasets, ontologies, software code and supporting documentation). Further instructions are given in the context of the resource track.
  • Accepted papers will be distributed to conference attendees and also published by Springer in the printed conference proceedings, as part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series.
  • At least one author of each accepted paper must register for the conference and present the paper there.
  • Publicly accessible content related to datasets/services/software/application is strongly encouraged (although not a requirement)
  • Authors will have the opportunity to submit a rebuttal to the reviews to clarify questions posed by program committee members.
  • Students will be able to apply for travel support to attend the conference. Preference will be given to students that are first authors on papers accepted to the main conference or the doctoral consortium.

Author Rebuttals:June 23-27, 2017

Important Dates
Abstracts: May 8th, 2017
Full paper submission: May 15th, 2017
Notifications: July 14, 2017
Resource (data, software, …) snapshot submission due: July 23, 2017
Camera-Ready Versions: July 28, 2017
Metadata: August 1, 2017

All deadlines are midnight Hawaii time.

Program Chairs