Social Mining and Search

For the German journal Datenbank-Spektrum we are soliciting contributions from both researchers and practitioners for a special issue on "Social Mining and Search". Submissions in German and English are welcome. Background: Today much of the contents and structures on the Web are provided and maintained by users, among others in the form of Web logs, social networks, or on sharing portals for videos, photos, or links. Personal opinions and comments are considered as valuable knowledge sources that discuss headline events and combine different forms of contents. Social search relates to the personalized search in such types of dynamic sources, while considering the underlying network of users and aiming at an automated recommendation of useful contributions at the same time. Moreover, Web search results can be improved by integrating Web 2.0 contents or by fostering user cooperation. Social mining relates to the analysis of user-generated content for the purpose of trend identification, sentiment analysis, opinion mining, search for new markets, etc. Research questions relate, among others, to the assessment of information quality, credibility, or geographic association. Moreover, an increase in misuse (vandalism, stalking, edit wars, plagiarism) is observed, and there is the question up to which degree algorithmic counter measures can be developed. Contact: Ralf Schenkel, schenkel@mmci.uni-saarland.de Benno Stein, benno.stein@uni-weimar.de Deadline: November 3rd, 2009 Guidelines for authors can be found under www.datenbank-spektrum.de.