Since Oct 27, 2009, OWL2 is a W3C recommendation.
 
In an article published on Le Monde last Friday, Nov. 13, about Norvegian aquaculture, I read that Norvegian is a very big producer of aquacultured salmons, mostly in the fiords.

Now, this means big money, and big problems. Yes, because salmons have to be fed, so wild fish is caught to feed them, with the proportion of 4 kilos of wild fish to produce 1 kilo of salmon. Onzin.

Next, these aquacultured animals end up eating and shitting in the very same space, so the water gets just crap and the bottom ... well just imagine having a huge loo for all the inhabitants of your building, right undernith you... A desert of shit!

Salmon sandwich? well, may I have some bread and... cheese perhaps?
 
Madrid 2009, the big shots reunite come up with this rough agenda for future research in linked data:

http://esw.w3.org/topic/SweoIG/TaskForces/CommunityProjects/LinkingOpenData/MadridBOF/

and here the Top10 items:
http://esw.w3.org/topic/SweoIG/TaskForces/CommunityProjects/LinkingOpenData/MadridBOF/TOP10
 
Denmark is hosting COP15 later this year, in December. Instead of buying the usual conference gifts for delegates and participants, they used the saving to offer scholarships to study climate change-related subjects in Denmark. Grants cover tuition fees and living. Bravi. Now, next question is: how much do these conference gift cost usually!?

http://scholarship-positions.com/masters-scholarship-in-climate-change-2009-denmark/2009/02/06/
 
Yes, OK, I know. One person only (out of... how many billions?) doesn't solve anything... I take it as an experiment.

So, this is day 1.

As a day one, it was preatty successful: I didn't trow away any piece of plastic at all. Usual life: drinking tap water, carrying around my fabric bag, no visit to the supermarket. Mmmh, hold on, actually I used some yist (to make bread), it was wrapped in a piece of paper,which, as usual, was packed within plastic. Ok something went to the trash, still not bad at all.
 
It was about two years ago, when I've heard for the first time about this big "island" in the Pacific Ocean, formed by plastic trash... got scared, upset and astonished than this is not THE big thing to talk about and do something about. Last week, a friend of mine asked me if I'd had ever heard of it, and if I thougth if it truth or just a hoax. mmh a hoax? I wish! But unfortunately everything shows that it's not... here's one of the very many videos I've found about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnUjTHB1lvM&feature=fvw

What to do then? Well, apparently collecting all that garbage is not an option anymore -- just too much. So, the only "solution" is to at least stop producing trash. So, I decided to make an experiment: would it be possible to stop using plastic here and now -- Rome, September 2009? What necessarily requires plastic use in one's everyday life? Where are the difficulties in living without plastic?

Let's see....
 
 


 

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CALL FOR PAPERS
International Conference for Digital Libraries and the Semantic Web (ICSD2009)
September 8-11, 2009 - University of Trento, Trento (ITALY)
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Digital libraries, in the central view of the term, focus on storing and organizing digital objects and providing access to these objects through professional or user-generated metadata or content-based search (full text, image content, full musical score). In an expanded view, DLs also support annotation, generation or editing of digital objects and provide tools for processing digital objects. The semantic Web focuses on the formal representation of data for more precise retrieval and, more importantly, for reasoning so that many often disparate items of data can be combined to directly answer a user's question or to devise a plan of action. ICDLSW addresses two main questions:

(1) How can digital libraries support Semantic Web functionality?
(2) How can Semantic Web technology improve digital libraries?

Ultimately the goal is an environment in which all functionality is available to the user without the perception of different systems or system boundaries. Contributions are sought that address one or both of the main questions or steps towards the ultimate system. Some example topics are listed below, but the purpose of this list is just to stimulate thinking.

SPECIFIC TOPICS that address one or both of the main questions:

* Digital objects that provide formal representation of data ready for reasoning, possibly in addition to text, images, or sound.
* Knowledge acquisition: Editing tools that assist subject experts in the creation of formal representations of data.
* Digital objects that interact with the user or software agents.
* Standards and specifications for digital objects.
* Organization and retrieval of software agents and Semantic Web services.
* Semantic search. Use of ontologies and knowledge bases (such as topic maps) to improve search for digital objects.
* Question answering from text, from data/knowledge bases, or a combination.
* Next generation OPACs.
* The structure and creation of ontologies to support these functions.
* Using the intellectual capital available in traditional KOS such as Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), UDC, or MeSH in the construction of ontologies that support truly semantic search and reasoning.
* Vocabulary and taxonomy development.
* Multilingual issues in Digital Libraries.
* Semantics of bibliographical databases.
* Metadata standards, Interoperability and Crosswalks.
* Digital Library and Semantic Web Projects and Case Studies.

We invite original papers in English on all relevant topics as mentioned above. Papers will be reviewed based on originality of work, quality and relevance to the main theme of the conference. Peer reviewed and accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings. The papers should follow the SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS provided on the conference website.

The conference will explore the area of digital libraries and the semantic web through tutorials, workshops, demonstrations, invited talks and presentations. The conference will also serve as a working platform for communities to discuss and agree on joint work. We also encourage the submission of workshop proposals for this purpose.

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE:

*Paolo Bouquet, University of Trento (Italy)
*Johannes Keizer, FAO of the United Nations (Italy)
*Wolfgan Nejdl, University of Hannover (Germany)
*ARD Prasad, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore (India)
*Heiko Stoermer, University of Trento (Italy)

IMPORTANT DATES:

April 16, 2009: Submission (Papers, Posters & Workshops)
June 24, 2009: Camera-ready copy
September 8-11, 2009: Conference at the University of Trento

FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.icsd-conference.org/


 

Per l'arte essere apartitica significa semplicemente essere del partito  dominante. [B.Brecht]