cfp : workshop " intelligent information integration " during ecai ' 98 please forward this message to colleagues who might be interested . we apologise if you receive multiple copies . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - call for papers international and interdisciplinary workshop " intelligent information integration " http : / / www . tzi . org / grp / i3 / ws-ecai 98 25 august 1998 during the european conference on artificial intelligence ( ecai ' 98 ) , brighton centre , brighton , uk submission deadline : 27 march 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - technical description - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - due to intranets and internets , more and more information sources become technically available . these include knowledge bases , data bases , and semi-structured data ( e . g . html pages ) . an increasing number of users now either wishes to integrate these different information sources or to have a uniform view of these . as a consequence , the integration of heterogeneous information sources has become a field of investigation of growing importance . the schematic and semantic heterogeneity is one of the difficulties in the integration of heterogeneous knowledge and data bases . normally , the information in every information source is stored with regards to their users ' requirements ( e . g . an application ) , disregarding access from other sites or their integration . semantically similar information thus may be stored with different structures ( e . g . a name may be stored either as one string or as two strings split into first name and last name ) and different information representations ( e . g . ranking values can be represented either as numbers or as symbols ) . there are several distinct research and development areas explicitly or implicitly addressing semantic heterogeneity . most approaches reconcile the semantic conflict implicitly . federated databases , for example , integrate local databases into one ( virtual ) global database while at the same time preserving the autonomy of each local database . in loosely-coupled systems like multi-databases query languages are extended to access different information systems . however , they do not help the user with the heterogeneity problem . other groups want to exchange knowledge and data via standards ( e . g . kif , step , etc ) , but the different semantics of the standard and the information source have to be correlated . other approaches take the semantics of knowledge or data more closely into account and represent the semantics explicitly . in the darpa " intelligent information integration " initiative approaches are developed which represent the meaning in ontologies or meta data in contexts . the ontologies may be used to reconcile the conflicts or act as a global domain specification . however , there is still a great number of disciplines whose subtask is at least the integration of information . although each research and development community has its own view of the integration of information sources the basic problems concerning for example the semantic and schematic heterogeneity remain the same . it is an interesting aspect that different groups tackle the problem in different ways . it is the aim of this workshop to bring together these heterogeneous groups in order to create a forum where the participants can compare their individual approaches . theme - - - - the interdisciplinary workshop of " intelligent information integration " covers all topics related to the integration of heterogeneous data , information and knowledge sources . the workshop will bring together researchers , developers , and practitioners and discuss further research and development directions in intelligent integration of information . topics of interest include , but are not limited to : - wrappers and mediators - integration approaches using ontologies / contexts - design principles for ontologies used for integration - languages for information integration - advanced integration architectures - semantic , schematic , vocabulary , data heterogeneity - information sources in internet , intranet - classification schemes ( for mediators , semantic heterogeneity , etc . ) - tools for supporting information integration - reviews and evaluation of existing integration approaches - practical experience with integration approaches - theoretical perspectives of information integrations - ontology mapping , ontology algebras and context logic - intelligent information retrieval - security aspects - change management - federated databases and multi-databases - integration of uncertain or inaccurate sources submission procedure - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - authors are invited to submit original research contributions or experience reports in english . submitted papers must be unpublished and substantially different from papers under review . papers that have been or will be presented at small workshops / symposia whose proceedings are available only to the attendees may be submitted . papers should be double-spaced and no longer than 12 pages . as text formats only latex or microsoft word 6 . 0 ( or higher ) are accepted . papers should be sent electronically not later than march 27 . 1998 to holger wache < wache @ tzi . org > authors that cannot submit papers electronically should please send 5 hard-copies to the following address : holger wache bereich intelligente systeme technologie - zentrum informatik ( tzi ) - fb3 universitaet bremen postfach 330440 d-28334 bremen germany papers received after the deadline or not conforming to the submission format will be rejected without review . papers will be selected on the basis of review of full paper contributions . we propose to publish the contributions in public report series of university of bremen ( " lila reihe " ) and via www . the format guidelines for the final paper version will be published at this place . final camera-ready copies of accepted papers will be due by june 01 1998 . please note , we are preparing a special issue in a journal concerning the workshop topic . selected papers will be invited to contribute a revised and extended version in that special issue . important dates - - - - - - - - - - - - - - deadline for papers : march 27 , 1998 notification of acceptance : may 01 , 1998 camera - ready copies of papers : june 01 , 1998 workshop on ecai-98 : august 25 , 1998 organizing committee - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - this workshop will be organized by the following people : o oliver duschka o dieter fensel o maurizio lenzerini o marie - christine rousset o holger wache ( contact ) program committee - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - o franz baader ( rwth aachen , germany ) , o stefan conrad ( university of magdeburg , germany ) , o adam faquar ( stanford university , usa ) , o enrico franconi ( irst , italy ) , o james hendler ( university of maryland , usa ) , o manfred jeusfeld ( kub tilburg university , the netherlands ) , o craig a . knoblock ( university of southern california , usa ) , o alon y . levy ( university of washington , usa ) , o eduardo mena ( university of the basque country , spain ) , o robert meersman ( vrije universiteit brussel , belgium ) , o werner nutt ( hebrew university of jerusalem , israel ) , o mike papazoglou ( kub tilburg university , the netherlands ) , o john sowa ( binghamton university , usa )