Final call: First IAOA Summer Institute in Applied Ontology, Tuscany, Italy, July 17-23, 2011

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First IAOA Summer Institute in Applied Ontology
Firenze, Italy
July 17-23, 2011
Topic: Process Ontology and its Applications
in the human environment, in engineering, and=20
in business

FINAL CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

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The International Association for Applied Ontology (www.iaoa.org), in coope=
ration with the Vespucci Initiative (www.vespucci.org), organizes its first=
 Summer Institute in Applied Ontology in Florence, Italy, on July 17-23, 20=
11. Applications will close soon.

The IAOA promotes interdisciplinary research and international collaboratio=
n at the intersection of philosophical ontology, linguistics, logic, cognit=
ive science, and computer science, and applications of ontological analysis=
 more generally.=20

This first Summer Institute in Applied Ontology will focus on the topic of =
Process Ontology and its applications to the analysis of processes in the h=
uman environment, in engineering, and in business.=20

The Summer Institute facilitators will be:
Antony Galton (University of Exeter, UK)
Michael Gruninger (University of Toronto, Canada)
Werner Kuhn (University of Muenster, Germany)
David Mark (State University of New York at Buffalo, USA).

Date: July 17-23, 2011, Process Ontology: http://vespucci.org/programme=20

Venue: Firenze, Italy (see http://vespucci.org/presentation)

Accommodation: hotel, bed and breakfast, or camp ground in Fiesole (20 minu=
tes by bus from Firenze; shuttle bus or car to venue)
Application: at vespucci.org and www.iaoa.org, until the end of April, 2011=
.
Notification of acceptance: continuing.
Grants may be available for participants with special financial needs, if t=
hese are stated and justified in the application.

Goals and Contents:
Understanding processes has become one of the key challenges to society: ho=
w much does our climate change, and why? how can deforestation of the Amazo=
n be put under control? how can manufacturing processes be optimized? Proce=
ss ontology provides the theory, tools, and techniques to analyze processes=
 and to improve the design and use of information systems that support huma=
n decisions in dynamic situations. The institute will feature tutorials on =
ontology, progressing into research discussions and group work on the ontol=
ogical analysis of processes.

Participants will learn to:
- apply basic ontological distinctions and formal ontology;
- sort out the different kinds of things that go under the name "process";
- identify spatio-temporal patterns underlying processes;
- understand implications of choosing between three- and four-dimensionalis=
m
- relate existing process ontologies to each other;
- specify complex states, processes and events in terms of simpler ones;
- design domain-specific process ontologies (e.g. in manufacturing, e-comme=
rce, geography, biology) from more generic ontologies.=20