Call for Paper: (PDFversion) | (TEXT version)
Workshop Website: http://software.ucv.ro/~popescu_elvira/spel2008

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Internet has been revolutionizing and changing not only the way we communicate, access information and conduct businesses, but also the way we learn. Online learning is moving from a centralized, institution-based system to a decentralized and informal creation and sharing of knowledge. Social software (in the form of blogs, wikis, podcasts, 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.

The learning community can be modeled as a social network, where members interact and learn together, creating and sharing resources. The study of Web-supported learning communities implies a highly interdisciplinary approach, involving knowledge not only from ICT fields (such as Web computing, agents, mobile and ubiquitous computing) but also from sociology, educational psychology, organizational and behavioral theories.

This workshop deals with current research on social and personalization aspects in Web-supported learning communities and aims at providing a forum for discussing new trends in this area.

The workshop welcomes submissions covering all aspects of online learning communities and social networks, including (but not limited to):

• Web 2.0 and social computing for learning
• Virtual spaces for learning communities
• Internet supported ubiquitous learning
• SOA for e-learning
• Ontologies and semantic Web standards for e-learning
• Mobile e-learning applications
• Adaptive and personalized educational hypermedia
• Pervasive e-learning scenarios
• Peer-to-Peer learning applications
• Multi-agent technology applications in Web-based education
• 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

Papers acceptance will be judged based on their relevance, clarity of presentation, originality and accuracy of results and proposed solutions.

PAPERS AND AUTHOR'S KIT

Workshop papers should be within 4 pages, no extra page is allowed. The Proceedings of the Symposium and the Workshops will be published, in separated volumes, by the IEEE Computer Society Press. Please follow the instructions on the SAINT 2008 website (http://www.icta.ufl.edu/saint08/ -> Information for Authors) where you can find Page Form and appropriate pointers for LaTeX Macros.

PAPER SUBMISSION

Submissions and reviews are automatically handled by a system provided by the organizers. The submission website is http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=spel2008. Papers should be submitted no later than March 1, 2008. After a review process by Organizers and Program Committee of the Workshop, authors of accepted papers will be requested to send their final manuscript to IEEE-CS press no later than May 1, 2008.

IMPORTANT DATES

REGISTRATION

It is the IEEE policy that accepted papers can be published only when IEEE recognized that at least one author has registered for presentation. So, authors will be requested to register along with the final manuscript. SAINT Conference Registration fees include a copy of the Conference proceedings, a copy of the Workshop proceedings, and admission to the Conference/Workshop sessions.

NOTE

The date and length (a full or half day) of the Workshop will be decided by SAINT2008 Organizing Committee taking into account the number of submitted papers and will be notified on the SAINT2008 website. Please also note that, according to the SAINT2008 Organizing Committee, the Workshop is subject to cancellation when the number of submitted of papers will not be enough.

ORGANIZERS

• Elvira Popescu - University of Craiova (Romania), University of Technology of Compiègne (France)
• Vincenzo Nicosia – University of Catania (Italy)
• Sabine Graf - Vienna University of Technology (Austria)

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

• Costin Badica, University of Craiova, Romania
• Dumitru Dan Burdescu, University of Craiova, Romania
• Alexandra Cristea, University of Warwick, UK
• Eva Heinrich, Massey University, New Zealand
• Kinshuk, Athabasca University, Canada
• Vive Kumar, Massey University, New Zealand, Simon Fraser University, Canada
• Fuhua (Oscar) Lin, Athabasca University, Canada
• Tzu-Chien Liu, National Central University, Taiwan
• Alessandro Longheu, University of Catania, Italy
• Giuseppe Mangioni, University of Catania, Italy
• Philippe Trigano, University of Technology of Compiègne, France
• Julita Vassileva, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
• Silvia R. Viola, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Italy