This special issue aims to explore the possibilities and limitations of Semantic Search. We are particularly interested in papers that place carefully conducted studies into the wider framework of current Semantic Search research in the broader context of Linked Open Data.
Research into Semantic Search and its applications has been gaining momentum over the last few years, with an increasing number of studies on general principles, proof of concept and prototypical applications. The market for Semantic Search applications and its role within the general development of (internet) technologies and its impact on different areas of private and public life have attracted attention. Simultaneously, many publicly funded projects in the field of cultural heritage were initialised. Researchers in many disciplines have been making progress in the establishment of both theories and methods for Semantic Search. However, there still is a lack of comparison across individual studies as well as a need for standardisation regarding the dissociation of Semantic Search of other search solutions, agreed upon definitions as well as technologies and interfaces.
Semantic Search research is often based on large and rich data sets and a combination of techniques ranging from statistical bag of words approaches and natural-language-processing enriched via a subtle utilisation of metadata over classificatory approaches right up to ontological reasoning. Over the last 10 years a lot of initial technical and conceptual obstacles in the field of Semantic Search have been overcome. After the initial euphoria for Semantic Search that resulted in a technically driven supply of search solutions, appraisal of successful and less successful approaches is needed. Amongst other things the limitations of working with open world solutions on – only apparently comprehensive – linked open data sets compared to small domain specific solutions need to be determined.
One ongoing challenge for semantic search solutions is their usability and user acceptance, as only highly usable walk-up-and-use-approaches stand a chance in the field of general search.
For this special issue, we invite articles which address the opportunities and challenges of Semantic Search from theoretical and practical, conceptual and empirical perspectives.
Topics of interest include but are not restricted to:
- The history of semantic search – how the latest techniques and technologies have come out of developments over the last 5, 10, 20, 100, 2000… years
- Technical approaches to semantic search : linguistic/NLP, probabilistic, artificial intelligence, conceptual/ontological …
- Current trends in Semantic Search
- Best practice – how far along the road from ‘early adopters’ to ‘mainstream users’ has semantic search gone so far?
- Semantic Search and cultural heritage
- Usability and user experience of Semantic Search
- Visualisation and Semantic Search
- Quality criteria for Semantic Search
- Impact of norms and standardisation for instance (like ISO 25964 “Thesauri for information retrieval“) and the potential of Semantic Search?
- How are semantic technologies fostering a need for cross-industry collaboration and standardisation?
- How are Semantic Search techniques and technologies being used in practice?
- Practical problems in brokering consensus and agreement – defining concepts, terms and classes, etc.
- Curation and management of ontologies
- Differences between web-scale, enterprise scale, and collection-specific scale techniques
- Evaluation of Semantic Search solutions
- Comparison of data collection approaches
- User behaviour and the evolution of norms and conventions
- Information behaviour and information literacy
- User surveys
- Usage scenarios and case studies
Submissions
Papers should clearly connect their studies to the wider body of Semantic Search scholarship, and spell out the implications of their findings for future research. In general, only research-based submissions including case studies and best practice will be considered. Viewpoints, literature reviews or general reviews are generally not acceptable.
Papers should be 4,000 to 6,000 words in length (including references). Citations and references should be in our journal style.
Please see the author guidelines at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=ap for more details and submission instructions.
Submissions to Aslib Proceedings are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts, the online submission and peer review system. Registration and access is available at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ap.
Important Dates
Paper submission: 15.12.2013
Notice of review results: 15.02.2013
Revisions due: 31.03.2014
Publication: Aslib Proceedings, issue 5, 2014.
About the Journal
Aslib Proceedings (ISSN: 0001-253X) is a peer-reviewed high-quality journal covering international research and practice in library and information science, and information management. The journal is the major publication for ASLIB – the Association for Information Management in the United Kingdom – a membership association for people who manage information and knowledge in organisations and the information industry.
Information about the journal can be found at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=ap
Contact the guest editors
Prof. Dr. Ulrike Spree
– Hamburg University of Applied Sciences –
Faculty Design, Medien and Information
Department Information
Finkenau 35
20081 Hamburg
Phone: +49/40/42875/3607
Email: ulrike.spree@haw-hamburg.de
Fran Alexander
Information Architect, BCA Research (2013- )
Taxonomy Manager, BBC Information and Archives (2009-13)
Email: fran@vocabcontrol.com
Twitter: @frangle
How to submit your paper
To submit your paper online you must first create an author account at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ap then follow the on-screen guidance which takes you through the submission process. ScholarOne Manuscripts is an intuitive and author-friendly interface for submitting articles to Emerald journals over the Internet. Online submission facilitates a fast and efficient publication service and provides the author with the ability to track their paper through the review process. All Emerald journals are moving to online submission.
If you do not have an author account on the Aslib Proceedings then you will need to create yourself an account, even if you have an account on a different journal. Please see the instructions below explaining how to register.
Registering on ScholarOne Manuscripts
· To register please follow the instructions below:
· Log on to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ap
· Click on the create account link at the top right of the screen.
· Follow the on-screen instructions, filling in the requested details before proceeding
· Your username will be your email address and you have to input a password of at least 8 characters in length and containing two or more numbers
· Click ‘Finish’ and your account has been created
Submitting an article
· Once Registered go to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ap with your username and password. This will take you through to the Welcome page.
· (To consult the Author Guidelines for this journal click on the Home Page link in the Resources column).
· Click on the Author Centre button.
· Click on the ‘click here to submit a new manuscript’ link which will take you through to the Manuscript Submission page.
· Complete all fields and browse to upload your article. Please include your structured abstract in your article file.
· At the ‘please select the type of issue’ (Details & Comments step) please highlight “Semantic Search” in the dropdown list
· You must upload a minimum of 2 files: An anonymous article file (you should upload the title page – with all author contact details – as a separate file) because we operate double blind peer review
· When all required sections are completed, preview your .PDF proof.
· Submit your manuscript.
Please contact manuscriptcentral@emeraldinsight.com if you require any assistance.
After you have submitted your paper you will receive an email indicating that your paper has been received together with its unique identity number. This means that the Editor, Publisher, and Reviewers will be able to process your paper in addition to you being able to track your paper at each stage of the publishing process.