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A picture is worth a thousand words, we often say, yet many areas are in demand of sophisticated visualization techniques, and the Semantic Web is not an exception. The size and complexity of ontologies and Linked Data in the Semantic Web constantly grows and the diverse backgrounds of the users and application areas multiply at the same time. Providing users with visual representations and intuitive interaction techniques can significantly aid the exploration and understanding of the domains and knowledge represented by ontologies and Linked Data.

Ontology visualization is not a new topic and a number of approaches have become available in recent years, with some being already well-established, particularly in the field of ontology modeling. In other areas of ontology engineering, such as ontology alignment and debugging, although several tools have been developed, few provide a graphical user interface, not to mention navigational aids or comprehensive visualization and interaction techniques.

In the presence of a huge network of interconnected resources, one of the challenges faced by the Linked Data community is the visualization of multidimensional datasets to provide for efficient overview, exploration and querying tasks, to mention just a few. With the focus shifting from a Web of Documents to a Web of Data, changes in the interaction paradigms are in demand as well. Novel approaches also need to take into consideration the technological challenges and opportunities given by new interaction contexts, ranging from mobile, touch, and gesture interaction to visualizations on large displays, and encompassing highly responsive web applications.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution but different use cases demand different visualization and interaction techniques. Ultimately, providing better user interfaces, visual representations and interaction techniques will foster user engagement and likely lead to higher quality results in different applications employing ontologies and proliferate the consumption of Linked Data.

Topics, subjects, and contexts of interest include (but are not limited to):

  • Topics:
    • visualizations
    • user interfaces
    • visual analytics
    • requirements analysis
    • case studies
    • user evaluations
    • cognitive aspects
  • Subjects:
    • ontologies
    • linked data
    • knowledge graphs
    • ontology engineering (development, collaboration, ontology design patterns, alignment, debugging, evolution, provenance, etc.)
  • Contexts:
    • classical interaction contexts (desktop, keyboard, mouse, etc.)
    • modern interaction contexts (mobile, touch, gesture, speech, etc.)
    • special settings (large, high-resolution, and multiple displays, etc.)
    • specific user groups and needs (people with disabilities, domain experts, etc.)

Paper submission and reviewing for this workshop are organized via EasyChair. The papers should be written in English, following the Springer LNCS format, and be submitted in either PDF or in HTML on or before June 28, 2019. All deadlines are midnight Hawaii time.

For details on the PDF submission format, see Springer's LNCS guidelines. For HTML submission guidance, see the HTML submission guide of ISWC 2019.

The following types of contributions are welcome. The recommended page length is given in brackets. There is no strict page limit but the length of a paper should be commensurate with its contribution.

  • Full research papers (8-12 pages);
  • Experience papers (8-12 pages);
  • Position papers (6-8 pages);
  • Short research papers (4-6 pages);
  • System papers (4-6 pages).

It is recommended to include a (persistent) URI to a working implementation or an (annotated) screencast for submissions presenting interactive visualizations, user interfaces, tools, etc.

Accepted papers will be published as a volume in the CEUR Workshop Proceedings series, as in previous years.

For details concerning the conference and/or workshop registration, please refer to the ISWC registration page.

Valentina Ivanova, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
Patrick Lambrix, Linköping University, Sweden
Steffen Lohmann, Fraunhofer IAIS, Germany
Catia Pesquita, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Vitalis Wiens, University of Bonn, Fraunhofer IAIS & TIB, Germany
Craig Anslow, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Nikos Bikakis, University of Ioannina, Greece
Kārlis Čerāns, University of Latvia, Latvia
Aba-Sah Dadzie, Open University, UK
Aidan Delaney, Bloomberg & University of Brighton, UK
Anastasia Dimou, Ghent University, Belgium
Marek Dudáš, University of Economics, Czech Republic
Roberto García, Universitat de Lleida, Spain
Alain Giboin, Université Côte d'Azur, Inria, CNRS, I3S, France
Anika Groß, University of Leipzig, Germany
Ali Hasnain, Insight Centre for Data Analytics, Ireland
Eero Hyvönen, Aalto University & University of Helsinki, Finland
Eetu Mäkelä, University of Helsinki, Finland
Paul Parsons, Purdue University, USA
Emmanuel Pietriga, INRIA Saclay, France
Harald Sack, Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure & KIT Karlsruhe, Germany
Kamran Sedig, University of Western Ontario, Canada
Elena Simperl, University of Southampton, UK
Ahmet Soylu, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Gem Stapleton, University of Brighton, UK
Markel Vigo, University of Manchester, UK

Important Dates

  • Submission: June 28, 2019
  • Notification: July 24, 2019
  • Camera-ready: August 16, 2019
  • Workshop: October 26, 2019
 (All deadlines are midnight Hawaii time.)

VOILA 2018

VOILA 2018 impressions   VOILA 2018 website

VOILA 2017

VOILA 2017 impressions   VOILA 2017 website

VOILA 2016

VOILA 2016 impressions   VOILA 2016 website

VOILA 2015

VOILA 2015 impressions   VOILA 2015 website