Call for Papers: Special Issue on Semantic Technologies for Data and Algorithmic Governance

Technology is playing a progressively important key role in enabling
effective governance structures, processes, and frameworks. As society
becomes increasingly dependent on complex systems ranging from simple
‘decision support systems’ to ‘systems of systems’ and ‘semi autonomous
systems’, data and algorithmic governance are of utmost importance.

When it comes to data and algorithmic governance tools and techniques
there are still many open questions. For instance, to what extent do
these systems safeguard against privacy violations and honor
intellectual property rights? Can granular consent be granted, and will
the consequences be understood by its users? How can biases,
discrimination, and censorship be identified and acted on? Do
transparency and explainability lead to greater accountability? How can
trust be woven into the fabric of these systems?

Towards this end, this special issue aims to explore the development and
evaluation of semantic technologies with respect to the data and
algorithmic governance mechanisms, processes and methodologies that are
critically needed to support the development of trust-centric social and
business applications alike.

*Topics of interest*

We welcome original high quality submissions on (but are not restricted
to) the following topics:
-Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data management
-Techniques for enabling ownership, control, and access
-Identifying fake news and misinformation
-Managing bias and ensuring fairness
-Enabling transparency, explainability, and accountability
-Methods for policy governance
-Information flow control and accountability
-Measuring data quality
-Managing the data life cycle
-Metrics for assessing the effectiveness of governance algorithms
-Data privacy, regulations and compliance
-Provenance, trust and metadata for authoritative sources
-Privacy and security enforcement
-Methods for information flow control and accountability
-Frameworks and systems for personal data storage and control
-Ensuring data authenticity and integrity
-Privacy-preserving data mining and machine learning methods
-Protecting against identity theft and data falsification
-User-friendly interface design for data and algorithmic governance
-Standards for data and algorithmic governance
-Tackling legal issues with respect to data and algorithms
-Law and governance in e-democracy and e-participation
-Benchmarking approaches to data and algorithmic governance
-Building trust and transparency mechanisms in the fabric of the Web
-Participatory frameworks for fair and efficient algorithmic governance

*Deadline*

The new deadline is: January 29, 2021 (extended!). Papers submitted before the deadline will be reviewed upon receipt.

*Author guidelines*

Submissions shall be made through the Semantic Web journal website at
http://www.semantic-web-journal.net. Prospective authors must take
notice of the submission guidelines posted at
http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/authors. Note that you need to
request an account on the website for submitting a paper. Please
indicate in the cover letter that it is for the Special Issue on
Semantic Technologies for Data and Algorithmic Governance. Submissions
are possible in the following categories: full research papers, surveys,
application reports and case studies. While there is no upper limit,
paper length must be justified by content.

*Guest editors*

Michel Dumontier, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Sabrina Kirrane, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria
Oshani Seneviratne, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA

The guest editors can be reached at swjgovernance@googlegroups.com.