What is your current research focus?
My current research focus is twofold. First, I am intensively working on data licensing and rights clearance with the help of semantic technologies. I am leading a nationally funded project called DALICC - Data License Clearance Center, in which we develop a framework that helps to detect conflicts between licenses and provides recommendations for their resolution. Additionally DALICC's aim is to provide clean and valid machine-readable representations of licenses as linked data.
My second branch of research is technology assessment mainly in the area of digital literacy and IT security. This research is about users' technology adoption patterns and problem awareness in the appropriation of new technologies and services. I am currently working on several smaller projects in the area of cyberphysical systems and autonomous systems. It is interesting to see the gap between the expectations and fears people associate with these developments and the effective status quo.
Which trends and challenges do you see in linked data / semantic web?
I observe a steady but from my perspective rather discrete uptake of linked data technologies in the industrial and social domain. I think the obvious reasons for this are that first semantic and linked data technologies provide a real added value to its adopters when it comes to solve specific and often very specific challenges in data management. The second reason is that data management strategy is definitly not a topic that you talk about in the broad public.
Adoptionwise I think that data quality and legal compatibility will be big issues in the near future, especially with the increase of more distributed concepts in data management. Questions like "Where does the data come from?", "Is the data relevant, valid, complete and robust?", "Can I use it for my purposes?", "Who owns the data and its derivatives?" will be crucial in the future applications of linked data.
What are your expectations on Semantics 2017?
I am really looking forward to Semantics 2017! We are working hard to provide our attendants a great mix of scientific and industrial talks thus stimulating the intersection between cutting edge research and industrial adoption. In this respect Semantics always had an interdisciplinary, community-linking appeal and we are eager to carry this forward.
Data is such a diverse topic with many different notions, quality criteria and definitions across the various disciplines and communities. It is relevant to talk about this and take this serious. This is what makes Semantics such an inspiring event and locus of innovation.
Prof. (FH) Dr. Tassilo Pellegrini (conference co-chair)
Department of Media and Economics, Department Medien und Wirtschaft
St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences / Fachhochschule St. Pölten Gmbh
