Many organizations are now exploring the use of Semantic Web technologies in the hope of easing the effort of data integration. The benefits promised by the Semantic Web include aggregation of heterogeneous data using explicit semantics, simplified annotation and sharing of findings, the expression of rich and well-defined models for data aggregation and search, easier reuse of data in unanticipated ways, and the application of logic to infer additional insights.

W3C has established the Semantic Web for Health Care and Life Sciences (HCLSIG) Interest Group to help organizations in their adoption of the Semantic Web. The HCLSIG is chartered to develop and support the use of Semantic Web technologies to improve collaboration, research and development, and innovation adoption in the domains of Health Care and Life Sciences. As a part of realizing this vision, we are organizing a workshop on the Semantic Web for Health Care and Life Sciences in conjunction with WWW2008.

Audience:
The workshop encourages participation from industry and academia with an emphasis on the practical aspects of applying Semantic Web technologies to the challenges of Health Care and the Life Sciences. Participation from Pharmaceutical and Biotech Companies, Health Care Organizations, Universities and Research Institutes, IT Vendors, and Government Agencies are encouraged.

Topics of Interest:
Authors are invited to submit papers in any of the areas listed below:

• Semantic integration
• Knowledge representation and reasoning
• Semantic Web applications
• Semantic Web Services
• Querying RDF/OWL
• Query mediation and translation
• Semantic mashups

Papers should follow the general format of refereed papers for WWW2008 as described at: http://www2008.org/submissions/index.html

The possibility of having select papers published in a special edition of BMC Bioinformatics is also being explored.

Important Dates:
Paper submission - January 25, 2008
Notification of acceptance - February 22, 2008
Final version of accepted papers - March 21, 2008
Date of workshop - TBD

Organizing Committee:
Huajun Chen, Zhejiang University, China
Kei Cheung, Yale University, USA
Michel Dumontier, Carleton University, Canada
Eric Prud'hommeaux, W3C, USA
Alan Ruttenberg, Science Commons, USA
Susie Stephens, Eli Lilly, USA
Yimin Wang, University of Karlsruhe, Germany

For further information, please visit:
http://ccnt.zju.edu.cn/hcls2008/