This workshop is a place to discuss and understand
(a) how data and knowledge can be used to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
as well as
(b) examples and best practices at the interplay of the Semantic Web and Social Good.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the plan for transforming our world. This agenda focuses on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) . These goals try to realize the human rights of all, to achieve gender equality and quality education, and to combat climate change, among other issues. In order to successfully implement and monitor such an Agenda, it is crucial to have available, accessible, high-quality and reliable data generated by governments, organizations and citizens.
Nowadays, datasets coming from different agents are emerging. This data, needed to fully understand how the SDGs are being achieved and could be reached in the future, are inherently complex, often inconsistent, and dynamic. In this context, ontologies and semantic technologies are a good way to ‘understand’ the meaning of data and information holdings. Thus, knowledge acquisition and modelling, ontologies, vocabularies, reasoning, and linking, among other topics related to the Semantic Web are key for supporting the implementation and monitoring of the 2030 Agenda.
We invite submissions in which Ontologies and Semantic Web Technologies are being used or proposed to achieve any of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development:
Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
Submission deadline: Friday, June 21, 2019
Notification to authors: Friday, July 19, 2019
Camera-ready version: Friday, August 9, 2019
Workshop: October 26 or 27, 2019 (to be decided)
All deadlines are midnight Hawaii time.
Full papers (up to 12 pages) or short paper (2 to 5 pages).
Posters and demos. These submissions should be a paper up to 2 pages.
See Submission Options for more details.
Submissions should follow the Submission Guidelines.
Since we are looking to promote discussion about an emerging area and to know more about how the Social Good can be reach by means of using Semantic Technologies, we encourage authors to keep the following options in mind when preparing submissions. Regardless of submission type, some focus should be given to (a) how data and knowledge can be used to achieve the SDGs (this can imply ontologies, vocabularies, reasoning, and linking, among other topics related to the Semantic Web) and (b) sucessful scenarios in which Semantic Web topics have an impact in Social Good issues.
Works-In-Progress: To facilitate sharing of thought-provoking ideas and high-potential though preliminary research, authors are welcome to make submissions describing early-stage, in-progress, and/or exploratory work.
Demonstrations and Posters
White Papers
Traditional Papers
Submissions must be not anonymized and in PDF, formatted in the style of the Springer Publications format for Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS). For details on the LNCS style, see Springer’s Author Instructions.
At least one author of each accepted paper must register for the workshop, in order to present the submission there, and to the conference. For further instructions please refer to the ISWC 2019 page.
Submissions will be evaluated according to their significance, originality, technical content, style, clarity, and relevance to the workshop. Submissions in all the categories mentioned above will be peer-reviewed by acknowledged researchers familiar with the theme of the workshop.
Mohamed Aly Etman, Yale Center for Ecosystems in Architecture (CEA)
John Breslin, NUI Galway
Pier Luigi Buttigieg, HGF MPG Joint Research Group for Deep-Sea Ecology and Technology
Jesse David Dinneen, School of Information Management at Victoria University of Wellington
Tudor Groza, Pryzm Health
Lalana Kagal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Naomi Keena, Yale University’s Center for Ecosystems in Architecture (CEA)
Mayank Kejriwal, University of Southern California
Pedro Szekely, University of Southern California
Edna Ruckhaus, Ontology Engineering Group
Valentina Tamma, University of Liverpol
Amar Viswanathan, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Lecturer at Departamento de Inteligencia Artificial (DIA) at UPM (Spain)
Senior Researcher at Ontology Engineering Group (OEG)
Tetherless World Senior Constellation Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
The first Semantic Web for Social Good Workshop was held at ISWC 2018. It brought together committee members, speakers, and attendees from across all 17 of the SDGs. Such an edition was intended to present multiple topics, to better identify intersections, overlaps, opportunities for accelerated advancement, and opportunities for shared abstractions. During the first edition of SW4SG, several researchers presented and reviewed multiple Social Good projects and topics. Topics ranged broadly, from tools that could summarize environmental research materials to tools that could identify fake media reports, from ontologies for core education to those for privacy and transparency, and much more. Very fruitful discussions took place among researchers from different disciplines. The panel and Q&A, generated discussion about cross-over and future collaboration potential.
