The field of Semantic Computing (SC) brings together those disci-

plines concerned with connecting the (often vaguely-formulated)

intentions of humans with computational content. This connection

can go both ways: retrieving, using and manipulating existing

content according to user's goals ("do what the user means"); and

creating, rearranging, and managing content that matches the au-

thor's intentions ("do what the author means").



The content addressed in SC includes, but is not limited to,

structured and semi-structured data, multimedia data, text, pro-

grams, services and, even, network behavior. This connection be-

tween content and the user is made via (1) Semantic Analysis,

which analyzes content with the goal of converting it to meaning

(semantics); (2) Semantic Integration, which integrates content

and semantics from multiple sources; (3) Semantic Applications,

which utilize content and semantics to solve problems; and (4)

Semantic Interfaces, which attempt to interpret users' intentions

expressed in natural language or other communicative forms.



Example areas of SC include (but, again, are not limited to) the

following:



ANALYSIS AND UNDERSTANDING OF CONTENT

Natural-language processing

Image and video analysis

Audio and speech analysis

Analysis of structured and semi-structured data

Analysis of behavior of software, services, and networks



INTEGRATION OF MULTIPLE SEMANTIC REPRESENTATIONS

Database schema integration

Ontology integration

Interoperability and Service Integration



SEMANTIC INTERFACES

Natural-Language Interface

Multimodal Interfaces



APPLICATIONS

Semantic Web and other search technologies

Question answering

Semantic Web services

Multimedia databases

Engineering of software, services, and networks based on

natural-language specifications

Context-aware networks of sensors, devices, and/or applications



The second IEEE International Conference on Semantic Computing

(ICSC2008) builds on the success of ICSC2007 as an international

interdisciplinary forum for researchers and practitioners to

present research that advances the state of the art and practice

of Semantic Computing, as well as identifying the emerging re-

search topics and defining the future of Semantic Computing. The

conference particularly welcomes interdisciplinary research that

facilitates the ultimate success of Semantic Computing.



The event is located in Santa Clara , California , the heart of

Silicon Valley . The technical program of ICSC2008 includes tuto-

rials, workshops, invited talks, paper presentations, panel dis-

cussions, demo sessions, and an industry track. Submissions of

high-quality papers describing mature results or on-going work

are invited.



In addition to Technical Papers, the conference will feature

* Tutorials,

* Workshops,

* Demo Sessions,

* Special Sessions,

* Panels,

* and an Industry Track.



Please refer to the conference website for further information:

http://icsc.eecs.uci.edu/



SUBMISSIONS

Authors are invited to submit an 8-page technical paper manuscript

in double-column IEEE format following the guidelines available on the

ICSC2008 web page under "submissions".



The Conference Proceedings will be published by the IEEE Computer

Society Press. Distinguished quality papers presented at the con-

ference will be selected for publications in internationally renowned

journals.



There will be a Best Paper Award and a Best Student Paper Award for

the best submitted paper and the best submitted student paper. The

award winners will be announced at the conference banquet.



IMPORTANT DATES

Regular Paper Submission: March 1st, 2008

Notification: April 24th, 2008

Camera-Ready Papers: May 16th, 2008

Conference: August 4th-7th, 2008