Fourth workshop on Exploiting Semantic Annotations in Information Retrieval (ESAIR)

There is an increasing amount of structure on the Web as a result of modern Web languages, user tagging and annotation, and emerg- ing robust NLP tools. These meaningful, semantic, annotations hold the promise to significantly enhance information access, by enhancing the depth of analysis of today’s systems. Currently, we have only started exploring the possibilities and only begin to un- derstand how these valuable semantic cues can be put to fruitful use. Unleashing the potential of semantic annotations requires us to think outside the box, by combining the insights of natural lan- guage processing (NLP) to go beyond bags of words, the insights of databases (DB) to use structure efficiently even when aggregating over millions of records, the insights of information retrieval (IR) in effective goal-directed search and evaluation, and the insights of knowledge management (KM) to get grips on the greater whole. This workshop aims to bring together researchers from these dif- ferent disciplines and work together on one of the greatest chal- lenges in the years to come. The desired result of the workshop will be to gain concrete insight into the potential of semantic an- notations, and in concrete steps to take this research forward; to synchronize related research happening in NLP, DB, IR, and KM, in ways that combine the strengths of each discipline; and to have a lively, interactive workshop where every participant contributes actively and which inspires attendees to think freely and creatively, working towards a common goal.DISTRESSPROMIS