Reasoning Web 2005

Objectives

The Semantic Web is one of the major current endeavors of applied Computer Science. The Semantic Web aims at enriching the existing Web with meta-data and processing methods so as to provide web-based systems with advanced (so-called intelligent) capabilities, in particular with context-awareness and decision support.

The advanced capabilities required in most Semantic Web application scenarii primarily call for reasoning. Reasoning capabilities are offered by Semantic Web languages that are currently being developed. Most of these languages, however, are developed mainly from functionality-centered perspectives (e.g. ontology reasoning or access validation) or application-centered perspectives (e.g. Web service retrieval and composition). A perspective centered on the reasoning techniques (e.g. forward or backward chaining, tableau-like methods, constraint reasoning, etc.) complementing the above-mentioned activities appears desirable for Semantic Web systems and applications. The Summer School will be devoted to this perspective.

Just as the current Web is inherently heterogeneous in data formats and data semantics, the Semantic Web will be inherently heterogeneous in its reasoning forms. Indeed, any single form of reasoning turns out irrealistic in the Semantic Web. For instance, ontology reasoning in general relies on monotonic negation, while databases, Web databases, and Web-based information systems call for non-monotonic reasoning; constraint reasoning is needed in dealing with time (for time intervals are to be dealt with), while (forward and/or backward) chaining is the reasoning of choice in coping with database-like views (for views, i.e. virtual data, can be derived from actual data by operations such as join and projections).

The objective of the Summer School Reasoning Web 2005 is to provide a coherent introduction into Semantic Web methods and issues with a particular focus on reasoning.