“Motivation and Objectives”

“A picture is worth a thousand words, we often say, yet many areas are in demand of sophisticated visualization techniques, and the Semantic Web is not an exception. The size and complexity of ontologies and Linked Data in the Semantic Web constantly grows and the diverse backgrounds of the users and application areas multiply at the same time. Providing users with visual representations and intuitive interaction techniques can significantly aid the exploration and understanding of the domains and knowledge represented by ontologies and Linked Data.”

“Ontology visualization is not a new topic and a number of approaches have become available in recent years, with some being already well-established, particularly in the field of ontology modeling. In other areas of ontology engineering, such as ontology alignment and debugging, although several tools have been developed, few provide a graphical user interface, not to mention navigational aids or comprehensive visualization and interaction techniques.”

“In the presence of a huge network of interconnected resources, one of the challenges faced by the Linked Data community is the visualization of multidimensional datasets to provide for efficient overview, exploration and querying tasks, to mention just a few. With the focus shifting from a Web of Documents to a Web of Data, changes in the interaction paradigms are in demand as well. Novel approaches also need to take into consideration the technological challenges and opportunities given by new interaction contexts, ranging from mobile, touch, and gesture interaction to visualizations on large displays, and encompassing highly responsive web applications.”

“There is no one-size-fits-all solution but different use cases demand different visualization and interaction techniques. Ultimately, providing better user interfaces, visual representations and interaction techniques will foster user engagement and likely lead to higher quality results in different applications employing ontologies and proliferate the consumption of Linked Data.”

“Topics of Interest”

“Topics, subjects, and contexts of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Topics:
  • visualizations
  • user interfaces
  • visual analytics
  • requirements analysis
  • case studies
  • user evaluations
  • cognitive aspects
• Subjects:
  • ontologies
  • linked data
  • knowledge graphs
  • ontology engineering
• Contexts:
  • classical interaction contexts (desktop, keyboard, mouse, etc.)
  • modern interaction contexts (mobile, touch, gesture, speech, etc.)
  • special settings (large, high-resolution, and multiple displays, etc.)
  • specific user groups and needs (people with disabilities, domain experts, etc.)”

Co-located with ISWC 2021.

Read more on the event website

Aaron Bradley

Aaron Bradley is Senior Structured Content Architect at Telus Digital, and chief cook and bottle washer at The Graph Lounge.

thegraphlounge.com