Data Semantics (closed)

We felt that producing a new journal on this theme was most appropriate at this time, considering the evolution of computer science and practice. Computerized information handling has recently changed its focus from centralized data management systems to decentralized data exchange facilities. Modern distribution channels, such as high-speed Internet networks and wireless communication infrastructures, provide reliable technical support for data distribution and data access, realizing the new popular idea that data may be available to anybody, anywhere, anytime. However, providing huge amounts of data on request often turns out to be a counterproductive service, making the data useless because of poor relevance or an inappropriate level of detail. Semantic knowledge is the essential missing piece that allows the delivery of information that matches user requirements. Semantic agreement, in particular, is essential to meaningful data exchange.
Semantic issues have long been open topics in data and knowledge management. However, the boom in semantically poor technologies, such as the Web and XML, has excited renewed interest in semantics. For instance, conferences on the Semantic Web attract crowds of participants, while ontologies on their own has become a hot topic in the database and artificial intelligence communities.

Topics

The journal's topics are to be understood as specifically related to semantic issues. Contributions dealing with the semantics of data may be considered even if they are not covered by the topics in the list below:

• Semantic interoperability, semantic mediators
• Ontologies
• Ontology, schema and data integration, reconciliation and alignment
• Multiple representations, alternative representations
• Knowledge representation and reasoning
• Conceptualization and representation
• Multimodel and multiparadigm approaches
• Mappings, transformations, reverse engineering
• Metadata
• Conceptual data modeling
• Integrity description and handling
• Evolution and change
• Web semantics and semistructured data
• Semantic caching
• Data warehousing and semantic data mining
• Spatial, temporal, multimedia and multimodal semantics
• Semantics in data visualization
• Semantic services for mobile users
• Supporting tools
• Applications of semantic-driven approaches

Editor-in-Chief

• Stefano Spaccapietra
  EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

Co-Editor-in-Chief

• Lois Delcambre 
  Oregon Health and Science University, USA

Editorial Board

• Carlo Batini, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Italy
• Alex Borgida, Rutgers University, USA
• Shawn Bowers, University of California, Davis Genome Center, USA
• Tiziana Catarci, Università di Roma, La Sapienza, Italy
• David W. Embley, Brigham Young University, USA
• Jérôme Euzenat, INRIA Rhône-Alpes, France
• Dieter Fensel, University of Innsbruck, Austria, and National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
• Nicola Guarino, Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Italy
• Jean-Luc Hainaut, FUNDP, Namur, Belgium
• Ian Horrocks, University of Manchester, UK
• Arantza Illarramendi, Universidad del País Vasco, Spain
• Larry Kerschberg, George Washington University, USA
• Michael Kifer, State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA
• Maurizio Lenzerini, Università di Roma, La Sapienza, Italy
• Tok Wang Ling, National University of Singapore, Singapore
• Salvatore T. March, Vanderbilt University, USA
• Robert Meersman, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium
• John Mylopoulos, University of Toronto, Canada
• Shamkant B. Navathe, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
• Antoni Olivé, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain
• José Palazzo M. de Oliveira, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
• Christine Parent, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland
• John Roddick, Flinders University, Australia
• Klaus-Dieter Schewe, Massey University, New Zealand
• Heiner Stuckenschmidt, University of Mannheim, Germany
• Katsumi Tanaka, University of Kyoto, Japan
• Yair Wand, University of British Columbia, Canada
• Eric Yu, University of Toronto, Canada
• Esteban Zimányi, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium
• [The late Yahiko Kambayashi (Kyoto University, Japan) was a member of the Editorial Board.]