A collaborative initiative by the three University of California campuses in Southern California (Los Angeles, San Diego, and Irvine) has been announced. UCLA, UCSD, and UCI are coming together for the first time to form a semantic Computing Consortium. The intent of the consortium will be to ally Semantics from both the Industry/Commercial and Academic Perspectives, not only to promote the technology, but also to create an infrastructure usable to all participants, in addition to stimulating the interest of this still nascent, but extremely powerful technology.

The existence of the Semantic Computing Center will undoubtedly have a powerful and positive impact on the Southern California community in general, as well as facilitate significant advancement and progress in the Arena of Semantic Computing, from both an academic and commercial prospective. Having such a powerful consortium here in Southern California is an extremely exciting prospect and will facilitate in defining/creating Southern California as a high tech strip with respect to Semantic Computing.

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[Editor's Note: SemanticWeb.com has secured a discount with OMG for the event outlined in the release below. SemanticWeb.com readers can receive a 15% discount when registering for the Semantic Information Day by entering the discount code: SEVA1 .]

The Object Management Group (OMG®) will be holding a Workshop and Information Day on Semantics at its quarterly technical meeting in Reston, VA. The event will take place on Tuesday, March 19^th and Wednesday, March 20^th at the Hyatt Regency hotel.

The event will give attendees the option to focus on the uses of semantics in three key industries: healthcare, finance and government.

“Semantic technologies are remaking financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and even defense systems,” said Dr. Richard Soley, Chairman and CEO of OMG. “The purpose of the Semantic Information Day is to explore how semantics can be used in these industries while laying the groundwork for future semantic-based standards.”

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Time is running out, but due to an overwhelming number of requests for “more time,” the organizers of the 2013 Semantic Technology & Business Conference – San Francisco, have decided to extend the Call For Presentations deadline for submissions until the end of Monday, January 21.

Important Links:

• Submission guidelines and complete instructions
• Submission form
• Information on sponsorship opportunities

You can also take advantage of our super early bird rates by registering before February 7.

Today, we are pleased to announce that the SemanticWeb.com newsletter is shifting from weekly to daily delivery (at 4:00pm ET), matching the frequency of newsletters from other MediaBistro properties. If you have previously signed up for the weekly newsletter, you do not need to do anything; beginning today, you will receive the newsletter daily.

If you are not currently a subscriber, but would like to be, please sign up using the mechanism on the right side of this page.

Of course, you may always unsubscribe or modify your subscription, our privacy policy is available here, and our RSS feed is available here.

As always, please share your thoughts in the comments, and if you have a story lead for us, let us know! There is an “anonymous tip” form field right below the newsletter subscription button. We are always on the lookout for interesting and original content about Semantic Technologies.

Thanks for reading!

Eric

Eric Franzon
VP Community
SemanticWeb.com

There’s still time to make a speaking proposal for the Semantic Technology & Business Conference, June 2-5 in San Francisco.

Once again, we plan to make it the biggest and most comprehensive educational conference on the business of semantic technologies. Contribute to this event by sharing the practical experience you have gained in your own semantic projects. Speaking offers numerous benefits including an unparalleled platform to gain exposure for your institution; increased credibility for your business, project or team; and the opportunity to convey your goals and vision with an audience of attendees from around the world.

We are looking for case studies big and small – whether you’re building a semantic start-up, a large enterprise implementation, or you’ve done semantic annotation on a local business web site. They are all relevant, because the curiosity of the audience is so rich and diverse. We are looking for 3-hour tutorials, 45-minute breakout sessions and panels, and 5 minute lightning talks.

The Call for Presentations ends this Friday, January 18, so get your abstract together now. All the information you need and the links to submit your presentation proposal, are HERE.

Proposals will be reviewed by our outstanding Program Advisory Committee.

Conference registration is also open. Register by February 7 and save with substantial early bird discounts.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at Eric[ at ]SemanticWeb.com

Thanks,

Eric Franzon & Stewart Quealy
Conference Co-Chairs

A new resource has been announced on Best Buy’s BBYOpen blog: Metis Alpha. Like Best Buy’s earlier forays into Semantic Web use, this one started with a business problem. As the announcement states: “These days, consumers have a rich variety of products available at their fingertips. A massive product landscape has evolved, but sadly products in this enormous and rich landscape often get flattened to just a price tag. Over time, it seems the product value proposition, variety, descriptions, specifics, and details that make up products have all but disappeared. This presents consumers with a ‘paradox of choice’ where misinformed decisions can lead to poor product selections, and ultimately product returns and customer remorse.”

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First Draft of HTML 5.1 Offers Glimpse at Next Round of Standardization

(Press Release) 17 December 2012 — The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) published today the complete definition of the HTML5 and Canvas 2D specifications. Though not yet W3C standards, these specifications are now feature complete, meaning businesses and developers have a stable target for implementation and planning. HTML5 is the cornerstone of the Open Web Platform, a full programming environment for cross-platform applications with access to device capabilities; video and animations; graphics; style, typography, and other tools for digital publishing; extensive network capabilities; and more.

“The broader the reach of Web technology, the more our stakeholders demand a stable standard,” said W3C CEO Jeff Jaffe. “As of today, businesses know what they can rely on for HTML5 in the coming years, and what their customers will demand. Likewise, developers will know what skills to cultivate to reach smart phones, cars, televisions, ebooks, digital signs, and devices not yet known.”

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This week, Manning Publications is launching the book “Linked Data,” by David Wood, Marsha Zaidman, Luke Ruth, and Michael Hausenblas.

As part of that launch, Manning is offering a one-day 50% discount for readers of SemanticWeb.com. The discount applies to all versions of “Linked Data”: eBook, print books, and Manning’s “MEAP” books (more on MEAP below). To claim the discount, use coupon code “12linksw” when ordering.

This offer expires at 11:59 pm (US EST) on December 6, so if you’re interested, act fast!

About the Book (description by David Wood):

The flexible, unstructured nature of the Web is being extended to act as a global database of structured data. Linked Data is a standards-driven model for representing structured data on the Web that gives developers, publishers, and information architects a consistent, predictable way to publish, merge and consume data. The Linked Data model offers the potential to standardize Web data in the same way that SQL standardized large-scale commercial databases. Linked Data has been adopted by many well-known institutions, including Google, Facebook, IBM, Oracle and government agencies, as well as popular Open Source projects such as Drupal.

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[Sponsored Post] As in previous Decembers, Manning Publications is offering a “Countdown to 2013″ deal of the day. In partnership with Manning, SemanticWeb.com will be offering an exclusive deal on one such title on Wednesday, December 5th just for our readership. We have been sworn to secrecy and cannot reveal the title yet, but we do believe that it will be of interest to many of you, so be sure to check back on Wednesday! In addition, Manning has given us a sneak peak at the other offers they are promoting this month, and we thought there were enough relevant ones to our readership that we agreed to promote the Countdown here.

You may sign up for the Countdown at the Manning website.