The Open Knowledge Foundation Working Group on EU Open Data (where AKSW is an active member) is organising a session on linked government data at the ICT2010 event in Brussels later this year.

• Where? T 003, Brussels Expo
• When? 11:00-12:30 CET, 28th September 2010

This networking session will discuss how public access to government data – crucial for an open and transparent society – can be improved.

This session has been proposed by IT professionals, scientists and government representatives organised – under the auspices of the Open Knowledge Foundation – as the Working Group on EU Open Data. It aims to establish a forum for networking and exchanging ideas with regard to publishing and linking governmental data, identifying technological developments and showcasing successful cases of linked governmental data. Developments in linked data could help further integrate information published by regional, national and European public administrations. The session is thematically relevant to a number of pillars within the Framework Programme as well as the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme.

Extended Semantic Web Conference started yesterday in Hersonissos, Crete. AKSW is involved in this years ESWC in various ways: We co-organized the 6th Workshop on Scripting and Development (SFSW10) probably for the last time this year at ESWC, since the original aim of promoting more light-weight, pragmatic semantic web applications of the SFSW workshop series became now rather mainstream. Sören was one of the panelists of the panel on “Linked Data: Now what?”. With the two papers “LESS - Template-Based Syndication and Presentation of Linked Data” and “Improving the Performance of Semantic Web Applications with SPARQL Query Result Caching” AKSW is also well represented in the main scientific conference programme.

Am letzten Donnerstag fand mit großem Erfolg der 2. LSWT auf dem Mediencampus in Leipzig statt. Die Veranstaltung zog über 200 Teilnehmer aus Wissenschaft, Unternehmen und öffentlichen Verwaltungen an. In vielen interessanten und anwendungsorientierten Vorträgen konnten die Besucher Einblicke in semantische Technologien erhalten sowie deren vielfältigen Umsetzungen in Unternehmen und Verwaltungen kennen lernen.

Aussteller boten ferner die Möglichkeit zum direkten Erfahrungsaustausch. Hier konnte der Besucher semantische Technologien an praktischen Beispielen selbst testen und diskutieren.

Ein besonderer Höhepunkt der Veranstaltung stellte die Gründung des deutschen Zweiges der Open Knowledge Foundation dar. Die gemeinnützige Organisation setzt sich vor allem für den offenen Zugang zu Daten ein.

Lebendige Eindrücke vom 2. LSWT fängt unser Video ein..

Die Präsentationen zu den einzelnen Vorträgen stehen auf der LSWT 2010 Webseite zur Verfügung.

At this year’s book fair in Leipzig (18/03 - 21/03) two books resulting from current project work of the AKSW research group [1,2] are displayed within the scope of scientific publications from the University of Leipzig. One of the editors, Thomas Riechert, will be present on 19th March from 10 to 12 o’clock at booth G201/H200 (hall 3).

[1] Agiles Requirements Engineering für Softwareprojekte mit einer großen Anzahl verteilter Stakeholder. Sören Auer, Kim Lauenroth, Steffen Lohmann and Thomas Riechert (Eds.),
2009, Leipziger Informatik Verbund (LIV), http://softwiki.de/buch

[2] Catalogus Professorum Lipsiensis - Konzeption, technische Umsetzung und Anwendungen für Professorenkataloge im Semantic Web.
Ulf Morgenstern and Thomas Riechert (Eds.), 2010, Leipziger Informatik Verbund (LIV), http://catalogus-professorum.org/buch

After the great success of the first Leipziger Semantic Web Tag (LSWT) in 2009 AKSW is organizing another installment of this event on 6th May. In addition to demonstrating the benefits of semantic technologies to enterprises, this year’s LSWT focuses on Open Data in science and E-government. A particular highlight will be the festive announcement of the German chapter of the Open Knowledge Foundation. More information on the LSWT can be found (in German) at: http://aksw.org/Events/2010/LeipzigerSemanticWebDay.