CONFERENCE CHAIR
Nicola Guarino
National Research Council
LADSEB-CNR
Corso Stati Uniti, 4
I-35127 Padova
Italy
e-mail: guarino@ladseb.pd.cnr.it

PROGRAM CHAIRS
Chris Welty
Vassar College
Computer Science Department
Poughkeepsie, NY 12604-0462
USA
email: weltyc@cs.vassar.edu

Barry Smith
Department of Philosophy
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14260
USA
email: phismith@buffalo.edu

LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS
James Pustejovsky
Department of Computer Science and
Volen Center for Complex Systems
Brandeis University
Waltham, MA 02254 

PUBLICITY
Bill Andersen
Chief Technology Officer
Ontology Works
1130 Annapolis Road, Suite 203
Odenton, MD 21113 

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

  • Bill Andersen (OntologyWorks, USA)
  • Paul Buitelaar (Language Technology, DFKI, Germany)
  • Tony Cohn (Division of Artificial Intelligence, Univ. of Leeds, UK)
  • Robert Colomb (School of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Australia)
  • Ernest Davis (Deptartment of Computer Science, New York University, USA)
  • Randall Dipert (Dept. of Philosophy, SUNY Buffalo, USA)
  • Carola Eschenbach (Department for Informatics, University of Hamburg, Germany)
  • Andrew Frank (Insitute of Geoinformation, Technical University Vienna, Austria)
  • Antony Galton (School of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Exeter, UK)
  • Aldo Gangemi (ITBM-CNR, Italy)
  • Pierdaniele Giaretta (Dept. of Philosophy, Univ. Padua, Italy)
  • Wolfgang Grassl (Department of Economics and Business, Hillsdale College, USA)
  • Mike Gruninger (Dept. of Industrial Engineering, Univ. of Toronto, Canada)
  • Nicola Guarino (LADSEB-CNR, National Research Council, Padova, Italy)
  • Patrick J. Hayes (Inst. for Human and Machine Cognition, Univ. of West Florida, USA)
  • Heinrich Herre (Institut fuer Informatik, Universitaet Leipzig, Germany)
  • Graeme Hirst (Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Canada)
  • Ed Hovy (USC/ISI, Los Angeles, USA)
  • Hannu Kangassalo (Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland)
  • Fritz Lehmann (CYCorp, Austin, Texas, USA)
  • William E. McCarthy (Department of Accounting, Michigan State University, USA)
  • Deborah McGuinness (Knowledge Systems Laboratory, Stanford University, USA)
  • Robert Meersman (Department of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium)
  • Chris Menzel (Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University, USA)
  • Kevin Mulligan (Deptartment of Philosophy, University of Geneva, Switzerland)
  • John Mylopoulos (Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Canada)
  • Sergei Nirenburg (Computing Research Lab., New Mexico State Univ., USA)
  • James Pustejovsky (Department of Computer Science, Brandeis University, USA)
  • Peter Simons (School of Philosophy, Univ. of Leeds, UK and Ontek Corp., USA)
  • Barry Smith (Department of Philosophy, University at Buffalo, USA)
  • Dagobert Soergel (College of Information Studies, University of Maryland, USA)
  • Veda Storey (Georgia State University, USA)
  • Mike Uschold (The Boeing Company, USA)
  • Reind Van De Riet (Department of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit, The Netherlands)
  • Achille Varzi (Department of Philosophy, Columbia University, USA)
  • Laure Vieu (IRIT - CNRS, Toulouse, France)
  • Piek Vossen (Irion Technologies, The Netherlands)
  • Chris Welty (Department of Computer Science, Vassar College, New York, USA)
  • Roel Wieringa (Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Vrije Univ., The Netherlands)
    		•

    INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
    FORMAL ONTOLOGY IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS

    FOIS-2001

    October 17-19, 2001
    Ogunquit, Maine

    Sponsored by ACM 
    The Association for Computing Machinery
    Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence
    FOIS-2001 was a great success. Thanks to all who attended.
    The FOIS-2001 Proceedings is now available from the ACM Store, and on-line from the ACM Digital Library The text of Jonathan Lowe's keynote address is available here.

    Research on ontology is becoming increasingly widespread in the computer science community. Its importance has been recognized in fields as diverse as e-commerce, enterprise and information integration, qualitative modelling of physical systems, natural language processing, knowledge engineering, database design, geographic information science, libraries, and intelligent information access. Insights in this field have potential impact on the whole area of information systems. In order to provide a solid general foundation for this work, it is important to focus on the common scientific principles and open problems arising from current tools, methodologies, and applications of ontology. 

    FOIS is a unique gathering whose essential character is strongly interdisciplinary, and truly unlike any other conference. The program committee and attendees included representatives of three broad disciplines: computer and information science, philosophy, and linguistics, and researchers from sub-areas as diverse as formal ontology, knowledge engineering, logic, database design, natural language processing, library science, knowledge representation, descriptive metaphysics, and geographic information systems. 

    Although the primary focus of the conference was on theoretical issues, methodological proposals as well as concrete applications from a well-founded theoretical perspective, top-level ontologies, web and e-commerce content standards, and enterprise modeling also fall within the scope of this meeting. For a more specific list of topics, see the conference Call for Papers.

    PROCEEDINGS

    The proceedings has been published in the ACM Press book series, and the full text of all articles will appear in the ACM Digital Library. The proceedings is also available for purchase from the ACM Store.

    PROGRAM

    Detailed program information

    Invited Speakers and Panels

      E.J. Lowe - Professor of Philosophy, University of Durham.
      Keynote Address: Recent Progress in Metaphysics
      E.J. Lowe is a leading exponent of contemporary analytic metaphysics. His books in the field include The Possibility of Metaphysics: Substance, Identity, and Time; Kinds of Being: A Study of Individuation, Identity, and the Logic of Sortal Terms; and Subjects of Experience. 
      Lawrence Barsalou - Professor of Psychology, Emory University
      Invited Talk: The Human Conceptual System
      Larry Barsalou's research addresses the situated character of knowledge, the dynamic online construction of conceptual representations, the development of ad hoc categories to support goal achievement, and the structure of category learning.  He is currently chair of the Cognitive Science Society. A list of his publications and online papers can be found on his home page.
      Patrick Hayes - John Pace Jr. Eminent Scholar, University of West Florida
      Invited Talk: The Emperor's Old Clothes: Why Philosophy is Irrelevant to Ontology
      Pat Hayes is a leading figure in Artificial Intelligence. While perhaps most widely known for the Naive Physics Manifesto, he is recognized for seminal contributions to reasoning about action, time, and space. He has edited several books, including Android Epistemology, and has served as chair of AAAI, a trustee of IJCAI, and a governor of the Cognitive Science Society.
      Panel: What do e-commerce ontologists really do?
      Chair: David Koepsell (SUNY Buffalo Center for Ontology), Ontology and the economy of web services
      Richard Beatch (Kanisa), Ontologies and Categories in e-business
      Deborah McGuinness (Stanford KSL), The path from the ivory tower to e-commerce applications
      Bill Andersen (Ontology Works), XML and ontologies
      Leo Obrst (Mitre), Ontology engineering for e-commerce: a real B2B example

    Program Notes

    FOIS-2001 was preceeded by SVUG, The Workshop on Spatial Vagueness, Uncertainty, and Granularity.

    CALL FOR PAPERS

    Although the paper deadline has past, the conference call for papers is still available in the following formats: [Text][HTML][PDF]

    DEADLINES

    Electronic Abstracts Due: April 11, 2001
    Final Submissions Due: April 17, 2001
    Author Notification: June 11, 2001
    Final Camera-Ready Copies Due: August 7, 2001
    Early Registration Deadline: September 8, 2001

    VENUE

    The Cliff House is an Inn in the finest New England style that has been in operation since 1872. The Cliff House is located on Bald Head Cliff, Maine, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The timing of the conference put us there during the prime Autumn season, when the leaves were changing colors. Conference attendees had a free afternoon to chat with colleagues and enjoy the 72 Acres (30 hectares) of ocean front scenery.

    More local information

    More information about the area around the hotel can be found at some of these locations. Ogunquit is located on the Atlantic Coast of southern Maine, about 40 miles (60km) south of Portland, and 70 miles (110 km) north of Boston.

    ONCE and FUTURE CONFERENCES

    For a list of FOIS conferences, see the FOIS.ORG web pages. 
    Back to the FOIS.ORG web pages