The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is holding a series of one day events across Europe from June 10 to 24, 2003. The goal of this W3C Semantic Tour is to promote W3C technologies bringing to the Web the idea of having data defined and linked in a way that it can be used for more effective discovery, automation, integration, and reuse across various applications.
The Tour will visit Rome, London, Munich, Athens and Brussels. All events are open to the public and free of charge. The schedule is as follows:
Please note that the talks' slides will be available either on a local agenda or on the Upcoming Talks page.
The mission of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is to "lead the Web to its full potential" by evolving the Web as a universal, interoperable, robust, scaleable, and accessible infrastructure. W3C is the organization where core Web technologies are developed, and W3C's main deliverables are its Recommendations (specifications).
Semantic comes from the Greek words for sign, signify, and significant, and today means of or relating to meaning, often in language. Call the Semantic Web the world’s largest, bottom-up, never-ending systems integration project, with the goal of making everything interoperate intelligently.
Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web back in 1989, had this vision, now shared by many, of a Web of data which machines can process.
"The Semantic Web is an extension of the current web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation." -- Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler, Ora Lassila, The Semantic Web, Scientific American, May 2001
The mix of content on the Web has been shifting from exclusively human-oriented content to more and more data content. For the Web to reach its full potential, it must evolve into a Semantic Web, providing a universally accessible platform that allows data to be shared and processed by automated tools as well as by people.
The Semantic Web is an initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and the W3C Semantic Web Activity has been established to serve a leadership role, in both the design of specifications and the open, collaborative development of technology.
Invited Speakers:
* Daniel Dardailler - W3C Associate Chairman for Europe
* Massimo Marchiori - W3C/MIT
* Michele Missikoff - CNR-IASI
* Nicola Guarino - CNR-ISTC
* Jeremy J. Carroll - HP Labs
* Guido Vetere - IBM Software Group Rome Lab
Rome Registration page
Where: Pontificia Universitą Gregoriana, Piazza della Pilotta, 4, 00187, Roma
Tel. 06-67011
Local Organizer: Oreste Signore - W3C Italy Office
Invited Speakers:
* Ora Lassila - Nokia
* Ivan Herman - W3C Head of Offices
* Brian Matthews - CCLRC Rutherford Appleton laboratory
* Andy Seaborne - Hewlett Packard Research Lab.
* Michael Moss - Rolls-Royce
Exhibitors - W3C Members in UK and Ireland
London Registration Page
Where: Regents Park, Huxley Conference Theatre, London, NW1 4RY
Tel: 020-7449 6260 ; Fax: 020-7722 2852
Local Organizer: Michael Wilson - W3C UK and Ireland Office
Invited Speakers:
* Philipp Hoschka - W3C Deputy Director for Europe
* Ivan Herman - W3C Head of Offices
* Mario Jeckle - Daimler-Chrysler
* Jürgen Angele - Ontoprise
Where: Astron Hotel Muenchen Deutscher Kaiser, Arnulfstr. 2, Munich
Local Organizer: Klaus Birkenbihl - W3C Germany and Austria Office
Invited Speakers:
* Daniel Dardailler - W3C Associate Chairman for Europe
* Stelios Orphanoudakis - ERCIM and ICS-FORTH Director
* Pantelis Tzortzakis - FORTHnet S.A.
* Dominique Hazaėl-Massieux - W3C Team Member
* Grigoris Antoniou - ICS-FORTH
Where: Hotel Divani Caravel, 2 Vassileos Alexandrou Avenue, Athens (Access Map)
Tel: +30 210 7207000.
Local Organizers: Anna Doxastaki and Evangelos Markatos - W3C Greece Office
Invited Speakers:
* Ivan Herman - W3C Head of Offices
* Daniel Dardailler - W3C Associate Chairman for Europe
* Frank van Harmelen - Free University Amsterdam
* Franco Mastroddi - Information Society DG unit E2
* Peter Brown - European Parliament
Where: Diamant Building Congress Centre, 80 Bd A. Reyers, Bruxelles
Local Organizer: Frank Roos - W3C Benelux Office
Marie-Claire Forgue - mcf@w3.org - +33 4 92 38 75 94
The W3C was created to lead the Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. It is an international industry consortium jointly run by the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (MIT LCS) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan. Services provided by the Consortium include: a repository of information about the World Wide Web for developers and users, and various prototype and sample applications to demonstrate use of new technology. To date, 410+ organizations are Members of the Consortium. For more information see http://www.w3.org/