***************************************************************************
* 2nd International Workshop on Social and Personal Computing
* for Web-Supported Learning Communities (SPeL 2009)
* http://software.ucv.ro/~popescu_elvira/spel2009/
*
* in conjunction with The 2009 IEEE / WIC / ACM International Conferences
* on Web Intelligence (WI'09) and Intelligent Agent Technology (IAT'09)
* http://www.wi-iat09.disco.unimib.it/
*
* Milan, ITALY
* 15-18 September 2009
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Motivation
==========

The workshop follows the previous SPeL 2008 workshop (http://software.ucv.ro/~popescu_elvira/spel2008), held in conjunction with the SAINT 2008 conference. The workshop combines research in the area of e-Learning, Social Networks and Social Intelligence, and Web Personalization and focuses this year on the application of Web Intelligence research paradigm to the next generation of e-learning systems.

Web-based learning is moving from a centralized, institution-based system to a decentralized and informal creation and sharing of knowledge. Social software (e.g., blogs, wikis, podcasts, and media-sharing services) has started to be used for e-learning purposes, helping to create novel learning experiences. In the world of pervasive Internet, learners are also evolving: the so-called “digital natives” want to be in constant communication with their peers, they expect an individualized instruction and a personalized learning environment, which automatically adapt to their individual needs.

This workshop deals with current research on e-learning as an intelligent e-technology, more specifically the challenges of social and personalization aspects in Web-supported learning communities. Its aim is to provide a forum for discussing new trends and initiatives in this area, including research about the planning, development, application, and evaluation of intelligent learning environments, where people can learn together in a personalized way.


Topics of interest
==================

The workshop welcomes submissions covering all aspects of Web Intelligence related to social and personal computing in web-based learning communities, including (but not limited to):

- Web 2.0 and social computing for learning
- Virtual spaces for learning communities
- Web supported ubiquitous learning
- Service-oriented computing for e-learning
- Ontologies and semantic Web for e-learning
- Mobile e-learning applications
- Intelligent learner and group modeling
- Adaptive and personalized learning environments
- Adaptive Web interfaces for learning scenarios
- Cognitive aspects in intelligent web-based learning systems
- Web mining in learning settings
- Collaborative filtering and recommendations for learners
- Web-based cooperative learning
- Intelligent agent technology in web-based education
- Pervasive e-learning scenarios
- Knowledge community formation and support
- Lifelong learning networks
- Social software for collaborative learning
- Socially intelligent agents
- Semantic social networks
- Community discovering in social learning systems
- Social structure exploitation in e-learning
- Socially-inspired e-learning systems


Paper subsmission and publication
=================================

The length of the workshop papers should not exceed 4 pages, IEEE-CS format (extra payment is available for one more extra page).

The Proceedings of the Workshop will be published by the IEEE Computer Society Press (indexed by IEEE Xplore, EI, INSPEC).

Please follow the instructions on the WI 2009 website (http://www.wi-iat09.disco.unimib.it/WI09/submission.htm), where you can find the Manuscript Formatting Guidelines.


Important dates
===============

April 30, 2009 Workshop paper submission
June 8, 2009 Workshop paper notification
June 30, 2009 Camera ready paper
September 15, 2009 SPeL 2009 workshop


Program Committee
=================

Costin Badica, University of Craiova, Romania
Dumitru Dan Burdescu, University of Craiova, Romania
Alexandra Cristea, University of Warwick, UK
Michael Derntl, University of Vienna, Austria
Adrian Giurca, BTU Cottbus, Germany
Ian Kennedy, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Tania Kerkiri, University of Macedonia, Greece
Kinshuk, Athabasca University, Canada
Vive Kumar, Athabasca University & Simon Fraser University, Canada
Chung Hsien Lan, Nanya Institute of Technology, Taiwan
Chien-Sing Lee, School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Frederick Li, University of Durham, UK
Oscar Lin, Athabasca University, Canada
Alessandro Longheu, University of Catania, Italy
Giuseppe Mangioni, University of Catania, Italy
Toshio Okamoto, University of Electro-Communications, Japan
Angela-M. Paleologou, University of Ioannina, Greece
Timothy K. Shih, National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan
Jirarat Sitthiworachart, Walailak University, Thailand
Julita Vassileva, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Stephen J.H. Yang, National Central University, Taiwan


Organizers
==========

Elvira Popescu - University of Craiova (Romania)
Sabine Graf - National Central University (Taiwan)


Please visit the workshop web site (http://software.ucv.ro/~popescu_elvira/spel2009/) for further details.