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Prior to ESWC 2008, a gathering of like-minded researchers took place: the first STI International Offsite. With nearly 100 attendees representing the majority of the STI member organizations, the offsite meeting consisted of a two-day session focusing on the STI achievements, structure, purpose, and future plans. Click here for the formal review.
Vision
Elena Simperl, Education Service Coordinator and recipient of the STI Service Coordinator of the Year award, lead the entire event which opened with a fairly intimidating forecast of our future digital world by Michael Brodie, chair of the STI Advisory Board. The preluding stream of shocking statistics - summarizing the increasing amount of information exchanged on today's Internet and predicting the exponential jump in the coming decade - laid the foundation for his fundamental point: "shift happens":
From a computing era to a problem solving era...
The new challenge is approaching the question of what people can do, rather than the old question of what computers can do. He proposed a new virtuous cycle between solutions to real problems and the capacity of computer science to provide these solutions; conclusively this begs a shift:
From Computer Science 1.0 to 2.0...
Currently, technology dominates (or more accurately, limits) solutions. The next generation of computer science must provision solutions which dominate technology. This advance is not a simple increment or extension. Rather a complete paradigm shift. Perhaps Einstein summarized it best: "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
Download Michael Brodie's presentation.
Photo: Presentation of the Service Coordinator of the Year Award - (Michael Brodie and Elena Simperl) - Courtesy of Federico Facca
Revision
Rudi Studer, Research Area Coordinator, then presented Christian Bizer from the Freie Universität Berlin with the STI PhD of the Year award, which was followed by a presentation of his work. After his presentation, Michael Brodie again took the stage to lead a collective session on... 2020.
Entitled the Future Game, the session challenged the audience members to envision the role of semantic technologies in the coming decade. These predictions intentionally spanned far beyond semantic research in order to further define the operational tasks and necessary steps to be taken by STI as a whole. He conclusive challenged STI to become a digital ecosystem: a self-organizing network of organizations operating in (and extending) a digital environment that supports cooperation, knowledge sharing, and development of semantic technologies, methods, and applications.
The attendees were then further coerced into active participation with the assignment of coming up with a 3-minute elevator pitch answering the question: "What are the benefits of STI International and why should you become a member?" - click here to browse the creative results!
Philosophy Behind the Curtain
After the mad rush of recording elevator pitches, Sunday morning opened with a strict reminder that our basis is founded upon something much deeper than computer science: the philosophy of our modern world. The lights went off, the doors were shut, and Dieter Fensel gave a 90-minute multimedia lecture which no amount of coffee could properly prepare the naive attendee to absorb. Sparing no detail (Trinity's, blue and red pills included), the STI President dissected the Matrix Trilogy revealing the philosophical theories applicable to our work. He breezed from Kant to Hegel in order to provide a bigger picture of what STI seeks to accomplish: provisioning a world where the fine line between our physical and digital realities slowly begins to disappear.
STI International - Offsite 2008 - Courtesy of Federico Facca
Work Hard, Play Hard
The offsite concluded with the presentation of the elevator pitches before a judging committee of a handful of STI big wigs (Dieter Fensel, President; Raphael Völz, Roadmapping Service Team member; Mark Greaves, Advisory Board member; and John Domingue, one of the Standardization and Reference Architecture Service Coordinators), including John Domingue's insightful remarks on a retrospective look at the development of the field of semantic technologies in the last decade. Afterwards, Alexander Wahler, STI CEO, took the stage to thank those responsible for organizing the event and then it was off to the pitch.
STI International Football Champions 2008 - Courtesy of Federico Facca
Pre-European Championship fever got the best of us and so the offsite meeting came to a close with a much hyped football match between STI Innsbruck and STI International. Although quickly ejected due to the ol' double yellow, player/coach John Domingue boastfully carried the well earned trophy to the club after he and his International boys cleanly swept Innsbruck 5-2. Further proof that one institute will always struggle without the support of others.
Next Year
Conclusively, a success (which is saying a lot since I played for the losing side). Looking forward to next year's meeting. Please send me any comments or recommendations: graham DOT hench AT sti2 DOT org.
Browse the offsite photos on STI's flickr photostream or Photo Gallery. Also, we invite you to tag your STI Offsite photos on flickr ("STI International", "Off-Site 2008", "Tenerife, Spain"). Thanks!
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