Workshop on Open Data in a Semantic Web Perspective (WODSWP 2012), Toronto, Canada

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Workshop on Open Data in a Semantic Web Perspective

May 27th, 2012
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
http://wodswp2012.wikimeta.org/
Twitter @wodswp

Open Data is the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. Open Data recently, gaining popularity with the rise of the W3C Semantic Web prospective vision.

The LinkedData network, promoted by the W3C, is the most visible part of what an open Web of data, as a complement of a Web of document could be. Vast repositories of normalized data like those from DBPedia, PubMed, GeneID, DrugBank, OECD or UNESCO are now stimulating an intensive new field of research related to the possible uses of those data in IA and knowledge management applications. Major companies involved in data exploration and information retrieval invest in this new field and study new interfaces and algorithms to bring the gap between data and users like Google and the Public Data Explorer.

Governments are increasingly recognizing the benefits of making their data open and reusable. The launch of open-data government initiatives such as Data.gov in USA or various initiatives in Europe like the Open Data Challenge, or data.gov.uk is a strong encouragement to the development of the open data movement.

The wide availability of Public Sector Information can be a key driver to develop content markets in North America, which can generate new businesses and jobs and provide more information to consumers and citizens. In Canada, the Open Data Pilot is part of the Government commitment to open government, which is being pursued along three streams: open data, open information and open dialogue, and aims to drive innovation and economic opportunities for all Canadians.

We would like to invite researchers and actors of the open data movement to present their work to the workshop. This workshop would like to bring together data providers, initiative groups, technology providers, and researchers to facilitate the dissemination of ideas, methods and promote new research perspectives related to the Open Data and the Semantic Web applications.