IAOA Assembly 2022 08

[IAOA] Assembly in August 2022

This page provides core information about the 2022 assembly of the International Assocation for Ontology and its Applications (IAOA) [1], located in Bern, Switzerland.

Key information

Major agenda items

• 2022 Executive Council (EC) Election
  (9 positions for 2023-2024)
• Events
  • New Sequentially Hybrid Model of Events
  • Upcoming Major Events
• Updates on Finances and Memberships
• Updates from Technical Committees and Special Interest Groups

Most important dates

• Fri, Jul 08 - assembly announcement
• Wed, Jul 27 - nomination closes, additional agenda items due
• Mon, Aug 08 - assembly called to order, ballot(s) start
• Mon, Aug 15 - ballot(s) close
• Thu, Aug 18 - Assembly session (synchronous, hybrid) and end

Highlighted sections below

• Assembly
  • [ Assembly schedule ]
  • [ Session agenda ]
• EC Election
  • [ Election schedule ]
  • [ Nomination ]
  • [ List of EC candidates ]
  • [ Election results ]

Assembly (in detail)

Assembly schedule

• Preparation phase
  • Announcement (by the IAOA President) of Assembly, incl. election process: Jul 08
  • Proposals for additional agenda items due: Jul 27
  • Finalizing agenda, material and preparations by: Aug 07
• Assembly
  • Call to order (by the IAOA President): Aug 08
  • e-ballot(s) period: Aug 08-15
  • Assembly session: Aug 18

The session end concludes the overall assembly.

Assembly session

The assembly session is held in hybrid mode during JOWO 2022 [2] on August 18th, 2022 at 17:00-18:00 CEST (https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20220818T150000&p1=1382)

Connection details for virtual participation:

• https://ju-se.zoom.us/j/69514929419
• Password: 213306

Session agenda

The agenda includes the following items:

1. Introduction
2. General Updates
   1. EC Election for 2023-2024 (results)
   2. Preliminary 2021 Finances
   3. Membership Development
3. Events
   1. JOWO 2022
   2. FOIS & ISAO 2023
   3. Sequentially Hybrid Model
4. TCs & SIGs
   1. SWAO
   2. ISTC
   3. EduTC (including ESAO)
5. Outlook
6. AoB

The membership is encouraged and welcome to suggest additional agenda items to be included before the deadline.

Terms of Reference

For the formal regulations of the assembly, including the EC election, please refer to the IAOA Statute as of Jun 23, 2016, as linked at [3], especially Art. 11 (Voting and Decisions), Art. 13 (Assembly) and Art. 14 (Executive Council).

EC Election (major part of the Assembly)

Election schedule

• Announcement (by the IAOA President) of Assembly, including Election Process: Jul 08
• Candidature Phase
  • Nomination and Discussion opens: Jul 08
  • Nomination closes: Jul 27 (AoE = UTC-12)
  • Candidates list published: Jul 28
• Campaigning by candidates:
  • continues from Jul 29
    (after completion of the nomination-verification-acceptance of a candidate)
  • Campaigning and discussion closes: Aug 07
• Election
  • Ballot opens: 00:01, August 08 (CEST)
  • Ballot closes: 23:59, August 15 (AoE = UTC-12)
  • Announcement of election results: before or on Aug 18

Process Details

Nine (9) positions are open for election. The new Executive Council takes office on January 01, 2023, by default until Dec 31, 2024.

Nomination

• Starting from July 08, 2022 you can nominate and second any individual (excluding yourself) as a candidate for membership in the next IAOA Executive Council (EC).
• Any person who is a current member of IAOA may nominate or second a nomination (excluding self). Only an individual who is verified as an IAOA member may be a proper candidate to go on the ballot.
• To make a nomination, send an email to the [iaoa-member] mailing list <iaoa-member@ovgu.de> (if you are already an IAOA member) providing:
  • (A) your name/affiliation/email-address,
  • (B) the nominee's name/affiliation/email-address, and
  • (C) a citation stating why your nominee would make a good candidate for the IAOA EC.
• To second the nomination, send an email to the [iaoa-member] mailing list <iaoa-member@ovgu.de> providing the name of the nominee you are seconding.
• The individual making a nomination (and those who second the nomination) should be responsible for communicating with the nominee, and get the nominee to send his/her acceptance (on the nomination, seconding, and candidacy) in writing to the [iaoa-member] mailing list <iaoa-member@ovgu.de>.
• The nomination period closes at 23:59, Jul 27, 2022 (AoE = UTC-12). The list of candidates is published in completion on Jul 28, 2022.
• Nominated candidates are deemed to have been elected if the number of candidates is not larger than the number of vacant positions. In that case no ballot is required.

Campaigning and discussion

• Once a nominee has been verified to be a member of IAOA, and has accepted the nomination, and the nomination has been seconded, he/she should send to the [iaoa-member] mailing list <iaoa-member@ovgu.de> :
  • a brief "position statement" (between 200~250 words) describing his/her view on the Association, goals as Executive Committee (EC) member, activities they want to pursue if elected, ... etc.
  • this statement will accompany the candidate's listing when the list of all candidates on the ballot are published prior to voting
• after that, the candidate can start his/her campaign activities on the [iaoa-member] mailing list <iaoa-member@ovgu.de>.
• Candidates are encouraged to make position statements and plans they have if elected to the EC.
• Other IAOA Members are invited to ask questions, seek clarifications on the candidates' plans etc.
• Other items to be voted on by the Assembly might also be introduced and discussed during this period (in line with Art. 13 of the Statute).
• The mailing list is not moderated for subscribers and IAOA members are encouraged to interact freely.
• Campaigning and discussion will close on August 7, 2022 at 10:59 AoE = UTC-12 / 23:59 CET.

Official start of the 2022 IAOA Assembly

• The President shall call the Assembly to order (virtually, in an email message) and points out the list of candidates that may be elected to the next IAOA Executive Council membership, along with any other items that will be on the (electronic) ballot.
• All members are expected and asked to respond to this message by going to the voting page to confirm their presence at this virtual assembly (as the ballot outcome will be the stronger, the more members have participated, even although no quorum applies).
• Any error or discrepancy found on the list of candidates (and other ballot items) should be reflected to the IAOA President and the Executive Council < iaoa - council [at] ovgu . de > on the same day for rectification.

Ballot

• IAOA members can vote online from 00:01, August 8 (CET) till 23:59, August 15, 2022 (AoE = UTC-12).
• A vote for the IAOA EC means the selection of up to 9 members from the list of candidates.
• A vote for an item means the selection of one among the provided options for that item.
• All votes are anonymous.
• A member may cast his/her electronic vote by going to IAOA Member Area: https://iaoa.org/index.php/member-area/ and there to the Utilities area.
  • You will need your membership password to get into the voting site
  • If you have lost your password, you can request a new one via the "Lost your password?" link on the login page to the Member Area.
  • If there is additional trouble with your authentication or membership, write < info [at] iaoa.org > for help.
  • Should you have any doubt or problem relating to this election, don't hesitate to contact the President Laure Vieu OR the Secretary Frank Loebe < secretary [at] iaoa . org >

Voting outcome

• Immediately after voting is closed at 23:59 August 15 (AoE), raw results of the votes shall be available by going to IAOA Member Area: https://iaoa.org/index.php/member-area/ and then to the Utilities.
  • Note that these are only "raw" votes ... the official election and ballot outcome will need to be confirmed and will need to be announced later.
• The 9 members that receive more votes among the candidates for the EC are elected and will join the new IAOA EC.
• In case of a tie, the length of continuous membership by candidates in the Association will be taken into account, with longer membership ranking higher. If there is still a tie, then age will be used to break the tie, with younger candidates taking priority.
• The members that are elected will join the new IAOA Executive Council and will take office on January 1, 2023.
• Unless we run into complications (such as technical issues, etc.), the outcome of the voting will be officially announced to the [iaoa-member] mailing list by August 17, 2022.
• Any and all reports of concern (including especially, complaint and/or objection) to the officially announced voting results should be brought to the attention of the Executive Council in writing (via email to <iaoa - council @ ovgu . de>) within 48 hours of the official announcement. Each item of concern received will be individually and openly handled. Past this window, no further report of this nature on the matter will be considered.

Q & A and Clarifications

• ... (to be added as they arise!)

• Question: Since only IAOA members may vote, when (before what date) must I join IAOA to be able to vote in this Election?
  • Answer: ... PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOUR MEMBERSHIP IS UP-TO-DATE as soon as possible.

Please apply for renewal before making a nomination or otherwise participating in the election.

• Question: What is quorum for the Assembly where this EC Election is held? Please also clarify when and how should members 'confirm their presence' in the Assembly so as to be properly recognized in the quorum count.
  • Answer: According to the IAOA Statute (Art. 13) the Assembly is validly constituted without a quorum, unless there are motions on Statute changes or the dissolution of the Association. Nevertheless, a high participation rate is very desirable! Your presence will be counted if you are a member of IAOA and you cast your electronic vote (including abstentions!) directly during the ballot period.

• Question: What is the term of office for the newly elected IAOA Executive Council (EC)?
  • Answer: It will be 2 years, as recorded in Article 14 of the Statute.

• Question: What should I do if I have questions (not covered here) or run into problems with the Election or voting process?
  • Answer: Just send a message to the Executive Council (via email to <iaoa - council @ ovgu . de>), stating clearly who you are, and what is the issue (please also provide some context where applicable) ... we will try to respond to you promptly.

List of Nominations

Nomination Phase

(chronological order of nominations, within each entry chronological order of secondings (by members, formally valid) and supporters (by former members, informally))

• Jul 25, 2022:
  • current EC members who are ready to continue and pre-accepted their nomination in or since EC meeting n.284, held on Jul 05, 2022 (cf. message 819):
    • nominees:
      • Ken Baclawski (Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA)
      • Torsten Hahmann (University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA)
      • Megan Katsumi (University of Toronto, Canada)
      • Oliver Kutz (Free University of Bolzano, Italy)
      • Frank Loebe (University of Leipzig, Germany)
      • Fabian Neuhaus (Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany)
      • Emilio Sanfilippo (Laboratory for Applied Ontology, ISTC-CNR, Trento, Italy)
  • plus two IAOA members approached from within the EC:
    • nominees:
      • Boyan Brodaric (Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Canada)
        • acceptance statement sent to IAOA President on Jul 27, 2022
        • acceptance statement sent to [iaoa-member] in message 840 of Aug 03, 2022
      • Guendalina Righetti (Free University of Bolzano, Italy)
        • acceptance statement in message 832 of Jul 27, 2022
  • nominator: Laure Vieu (message 819)
  • seconders:
    • Megan Katsumi for all nominees except for herself (message 820)
    • Frank Loebe for all nominees except for himself (message 821)
    • Oliver Kutz for Guendalina Righetti (message 824)
    • Paul Brandt for Oliver Kutz, Frank Loebe, Fabian Neuhaus, and Emilio Sanfilippo (message 836)
    • Maria Hedblom for Guendalina Righetti (message 831)
  • supporters:
    • Mara Abel for Guendalina Righetti (message 825)
    • Maria Claudia Cavalcanti for Boyan Brodaric (message 827)

• Jul 26, 2022:
  • nominee: Tiago Prince Sales (University of Twente, The Netherlands (as of Aug 01, 2022))
    • acceptance statement in message 833 of Jul 27, 2022
  • nominator: Giancarlo Guizzardi (message 822)
  • seconders:
    • João Paulo Almeida (message 823)
    • Oliver Kutz (message 824)
    • Paul Brandt (message 836)
    • Jose Palazzo Moreira de Oliveira (message 828)
    • Laure Vieu (message 829)
  • supporters:
    • Mara Abel (message 825)
    • Julio Nardi (message 826)
    • Maria Claudia Cavalcanti (message 827)
    • Maria das Graças da Silva Teixeira (message 830)
    • John Mylopoulos (message 835)

Support during Campaigning Phase

• candidates supported
  • Megan Katsumi
  • Guendalina Righetti
  • Boyan Brodaric
  • Tiago Prince Sales

by Frank Loebe (message 839)

EC Candidates

Listing with Workpages

• Ken Baclawski (Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA)
• Boyan Brodaric (Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Canada)
• Torsten Hahmann (University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA)
• Megan Katsumi (University of Toronto, Canada)
• Oliver Kutz (Free University of Bolzano, Italy)
• Frank Loebe (University of Leipzig, Germany)
• Fabian Neuhaus (Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany)
• Guendalina Righetti (Free University of Bolzano, Italy)
• Tiago Prince Sales (University of Twente, The Netherlands)
• Emilio Sanfilippo (Laboratory for Applied Ontology, ISTC-CNR, Trento, Italy)

Position Statements

Kenneth Baclawski

Professor Baclawski's primary research area is ontology engineering. This includes research in the Semantic Web, formal methods for software engineering and software modeling, and data semantics in biology and medicine.

Professor Baclawski has 20 granted or pending patents. He has authored over 350 professional publications, including articles in such journals and conferences as Applied Ontology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America, Information Systems, the International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing, and the International Semantic Web Conference. He has served on numerous peer review panels for the US National Science Foundation, the US National Institutes of Health, and the Association for Computing Machinery; and has served on many program committees of research conferences. He serves as a consultant to companies and government laboratories, and has edited and written several books and research monographs.

Professor Baclawski is currently the Editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Ontolog Forum, and the founder and chair of the Workshop on Interoperability of Situation Management and Decision Making. He has chaired the Ontology Summit from 2017 to 2021. He was the Treasurer of the IAOA from 2016 to 2020, and is now the Deputy Treasurer. In addition to serving as IAOA Treasurer, he has been active on the Infrastructure Committee.

Best regards,

Ken Baclawski

Torsten Hahmann

message 841

Dear members,

As one of the candidates for the EC, I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself to those of you who do not know me. I have been on the EC and served as treasurer since 2021 with lots of help from Ken Baclawski as deputy treasurer (and previous treasurer). I also served a year as deputy treasurer before joining the EC. As treasurer and deputy treasurer, we mostly work behind the scenes on things like preparing budgets, annual reports, reviewing incoming funds, making payments, and helping support conferences and workshops (like FOIS). In addition, as the EC as whole we have been very busy in completing the shift to the new Swiss-based organization and setting up the new free membership model.

I'd be more than happy to continue serving on the EC, but am also very encouraged to see new (and old) faces willing to contribute to a larger degree to IAOA, so that we actually have an election (and not just confirmation) of EC members.

I received a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Toronto in 2013 and am now an associate professor of Spatial Computing at the University of Maine. I work on a number of ontology-centric projects that range from the foundations of ontology (e.g. the design of a hydro reference ontology, design of ontology patterns for spatial data, dealing with quantities and units), reasoning with ontologies (verification of first-order logic/Common Logic ontologies, automatic translations between Common Logic and OWL, reasoning within triple store), to applications in various domains (geographic information, flooding, forest health, utilities, cellulosic materials, privacy).

As for the coming year, I'm hopeful that we can regularly offer in-person (FOIS, workshops and the summer school) and online events (e.g. the online education series ESAO) that are of broad interest to all of us and the larger ontology community. I also want IAOA to be an active community that fosters the open exchange of ideas in a welcoming and respectful way.

I strongly encourage everyone to vote so that the resulting EC will represent the membership at large. I'm confident that regardless of the outcome of the election, we will have a great team of seasoned and new folks on the EC to move the organization forward.

Moreover, I encourage everyone to try to get more actively involved IAOA in any way you see fit, such as by joining one of the scientific committees or interest groups (see here: https://iaoa.org/index.php/organization/scientific-committees/) or simply by attending and contributing to affiliated virtual and in-person events (see the event calendar: https://iaoa.org/index.php/about/events/).

Have a good weekend,

Torsten

Frank Loebe

message 845

Dear all,

for a brief introduction of my background, I mention my educational background in computer science, specializing on artificial intelligence, particularly knowledge representation, and logic. Researchwise, I've primarily been active in applied ontology since the early 2000s. Most of my work there concerns ontology representation as well as top-level ontological notions and their application, mainly related to the General Formal Ontology (GFO).

I do highly appreciate the field of applied ontology with its interdisciplinary character and diverse surrounding areas, as well as its community with many interesting members. Not at least therefore I accompany the IAOA since its initial ideas were publicly discussed at FOIS 2008 and act as Secretary since 2013 (the first year for which I got elected into the Executive Council), sharing that task with Megan Katsumi for the last few years. I hope that one or another contribution has materialized during that time, such as to the relocation of our association from Italy to Switzerland. Another continued activity of mine concerns the Education Technical Committee, with respect to which I aim at more regular efforts.

In terms of goals for the next EC period of 2023-2024, I surely support what Torsten and Fabian have expressed in their statements, please cf. [1]. In addition to that, I have plenty of ideas to improve IAOA's regular business and its adaptation to new circumstances to allow all EC members and further helping hands to get involved. If elected, I shall be happy to add my share in moving things forward within the overall EC.

Thank you for any contribution to this election and best regards,
Frank

PS: Let me note that no clear request for candidate statements by all candidates has been enforced for this election. From my point of view, given the season of the year and the late advent of the statements that we have, it should _not_ be taken as a sign of disinterest or lack of commitment if other candidates have or will not send one.

(This suggests one improvement for running future elections ... ;-) ).

[1] https://wiki.iaoa.org/index.php/IAOA_Assembly_2022_08#Position_Statements

Fabian Neuhaus

message 844

Dear members,

I would like to thank Laure, Megan, Frank and Paul for the nomination.

Because many new members have joined IAOA since the last election, I would also like to use the opportunity to introduce myself. While my academic roots are in philosophy, I am working as senior researcher at the faculty for computer science of the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany. My research interests include, among many others, the logical foundations of ontology languages, best practices for ontology development, and ontology extension via machine learning techniques.

I have been member of the IAOA Executive Council since 2013, and since the beginning of last yearI I have had the honor of serving as your Vice President. Over the years I have been involved in many IAOA activities, most recently as member of the Joint Ontology Workshops (JOWO) steering committee and as program (co-)chair for IAOA's main conference "Formal Ontology in Information Systems" (FOIS) in 2020 and in 2021.

During the last years one of my major concerns has been to strengthen IAOA by increasing its appeal to a wider audience. For this reason Oliver Kutz and I proposed the elimination of membership fees, which was adopted in 2021. For the same reason Roberta Ferrario, Boyan Brodaric and I introduced a new track structure for FOIS in 2021 and increased the diversity of the FOIS program committee. As a result we were able to increase the ratio of accepted papers with the focus on methods, applications or domain ontologies from 12% in 2020 to 55% in 2021. Further, at FOIS 2021 there was a significant increase of submissions by authors who did not publish at previous editions of FOIS.

In my opinion, one major task for the next EC will be improvement of membership engagement. In recent years the main way IAOA has interacted with its members was via its newsletter and the organization of events (e.g., FOIS, JOWO and the summer school ISAO). I believe that both are very valuable services for the community and IAOA should continue to provide them. However, originally IAOA was also intended to provide a forum where people can meet, discuss and organize themselves to work on subjects of their interest. While this is happening to some degree in our committees and SIGs, I believe that there is a lot of potential for improvement.

If reelected as EC member, I will continue to work with the other EC members at broadening the appeal of IAOA and on increasing membership engagement.

Best regards,
Fabian

Guendalina Righetti

message 843

Dear all,

I would like to introduce myself to all of you as a new candidate for the EC.

I am currently finishing my PhD in Computer Science at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, where I started in 2018. Actually, I started my education in Philosophy at the University of Genova, and I have been moving, more or less consciously, towards (theoretical) computer science at every step of my education ever since.

My research interests are thus quite interdisciplinary and lie at the intersection between logic, knowledge representation, cognitive science, and applied ontology. My PhD project is about integrating cognitive and logical theories of concepts, contributing to the goal of rendering KR more cognitively oriented (or at least aware).

I have been involved in the organisation of different ontology-oriented scientific events since the start of my PhD. I have actively participated in every occurrence of the JOWO series since 2019, either as an author or as a workshop chair. In particular, I have been co-chair of the 4th, 5th, and 6th editions of the Cognition And Ontology Workshop (CAOS 2019, CAOS 2021, CAOS 2022, https://caos.inf.unibz.it/pastcaos/). I have been involved in the organisation of FOIS as publicity co-chair in 2020 and 2021 (https://fois2021.inf.unibz.it/organisation/) as well in the publicity of the ESAO Launch Day in 2021. More generally, I have also been involved in the organisation of the 23rd International Conference on Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management (EKAW 2022) as publicity co-chair, as well as in the organisation of the 13th International Conference on Computational Creativity (ICCC 2022) as web chair.

I believe that I could serve as an enthusiastic new addition to the council, willing to learn and to put myself out for the organisation. More concretely, I would like to work on further increasing IAOA’s interdisciplinary vision, by attracting new members coming from different backgrounds, and possibly different career levels, by working in the Education Committee and on the ESAO educational series.

Best regards,
Guendalina Righetti

Tiago Prince Sales

message 842

Dear all,

Let me take a few minutes of your time to properly introduce myself.

I received my PhD cum laude from the University of Trento (Italy) in 2019. During my PhD, I was hosted by the Laboratory for Applied Ontology (LOA) of the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC). Later in 2019, I joined the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (Italy). First as a research assistant and soon after as an assistant professor. Now, I am a senior researcher at the University of Twente (The Netherlands).

My main areas of research are ontology-driven conceptual modeling and applied ontology. In particular, I contribute to the development of the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO) and its lightweight implementation in OWL, dubbed gUFO. I also contribute to the development of the OntoUML language and its associated engineering tools, as well as to the design of multiple ontologies for business and social domains, including value, risk, security, competition, trust, and money.

I have always enjoyed collaborating with the industry and engaging in technology transfer projects. My most recent partners include the Dutch National Health Care Institute, Accenture Labs Israel, and the AlpineBits Alliance.

In the last years, I played multiple roles in the organization of ontology-centric scientific events, including being co-chair of the 4th and 5th editions of the Workshop on Foundational Ontology (FOUST); co-chair of the 10th International Workshop on Vocabularies, Ontologies, and Rules for the Enterprise (VORTE); co-chair of the 15th and 16th editions of the International Workshop on Value Modeling and Business Ontologies (VMBO); program chair and general chair of the 13th and 14th editions of the Seminar on Ontology Research in Brazil (ONTOBRAS), respectively; and proceedings chair of the 8th Joint Ontology Workshops (JOWO).

I would like to join the executive council to more actively contribute to the development of our community. If elected, I would like to work on increasing IAOA’s visibility and attracting more members to join it. Moreover, I feel like I can be a voice in the executive council for the younger researchers within our community.

Best regards,
Tiago Prince Sales

Election Results

The election results can be found on the IAOA voting system page

43 voters gave a total of 287 preferences (1 abstained)

The newly elected members for the next period of office for the IAOA Executive Council are:

• Boyan Brodaric (Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Canada)
• Torsten Hahmann (University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA)
• Megan Katsumi (University of Toronto, Canada)
• Oliver Kutz (Free University of Bolzano, Italy)
• Frank Loebe (University of Leipzig, Germany)
• Fabian Neuhaus (Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany)
• Guendalina Righetti (Free University of Bolzano, Italy)
• Tiago Prince Sales (University of Twente, The Netherlands)
• Emilio Sanfilippo (Laboratory for Applied Ontology, ISTC-CNR, Trento, Italy)

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This page is maintained primarily by the Secretary of the Association (Frank Loebe).

Please do not edit or modify this page yourself; send any editing request to the Secretary or the President.