This workshop will investigate the synergy between semantics and semantic-web technology on the one hand and analysis and mining of usage data on the other hand. The two fields are a promising combination. First, semantics can be used to enhance the analysis of usage data. Usage logs contain information that can help to better understand users or to adapt a system to a user’s needs and preferences. Now that more and more explicit knowledge is represented on the Web, in the form of ontologies, folksonomies, or linked data, the question arises how these semantics can be used to aid large scale web usage analysis and mining. Second, usage data analysis can enhance semantic resources as well as Semantic Web applications. Traces of users can be used to evaluate, adapt or personalize Semantic Web applications. Since logs record real-life users, they provide an opportunity to create gold standards for search or recommendation tools. In addition, logs can form valuable resources from which knowledge (e.g. in the form of ontologies or thesauri) can be extracted bottom-up.

Also, the emerging Web of Data demands a re-evaluation of existing usage mining techniques; new ways of accessing information enabled by the Web of Data imply the need to develop or adapt algorithms, methods, and techniques to analyze and interpret the usage of Web data instead of Web pages. An important question at this time is how the Web of Data is being used: how are datasets being accessed by human users and how by machines, what kinds of queries are being performed, and what can we learn about the usage of semantic applications?

The primary goals of this workshop are to foment a new community of researchers from various fields sharing an interest in usage mining and semantics and to create a roadmap for future research in this direction.

Topics of Interest (not limited to)

We welcome work that shows how the research areas combine: how semantic resources and techniques can be used to strengthen usage data analysis and, vice versa, how usage data can enhance semantic tools and applications. Within these boundaries, we keep the scope broad. We welcome contributions using any form of semantic information, from formal ontologies to linked data and folksonomies. All records of user actions are considered usage logs; we do not limit ourselves to any format or method of collection of usage information. This ranges from traditional content-consumption logs to various forms of content-production logs, i.e. navigation, application-related transactions, queries, tagging, editing, and similar activities.

Analysis and mining of usage logs of semantic resources and applications.
Inferring semantic information from usage logs.
Methods and tools for semantic analysis of usage logs.
Representing and enriching usage logs with semantic information.
Usage-based evaluation methods and frameworks; gold standards for evaluation of semantic web applications.
Specifics and semantics of logs for content-consumption and content-creation.
Using semantics for recommendation, personalization and adaptation.
Usage-based recommendation, personalization and adaptation of semantic web applications.
Exploiting usage logs for semantic search.
Data sharing, privacy, and privacy-protecting policies and techniques.