"Hi, sdforum semantic web SIG event on 9/2 will be focused on Bing and semantic search engine. see below for program. I thought it might be interesting to some of you. -aj- AJ Chen, Ph.D. ... MoreCo-chair, Semantic Web SIG, SDForum.org http://web2express.or.... Palo Alto, CA 94306, USA TITLE: BING! BING! BING! 6:30pm - 9pm September 2, 2009 Cubberley Community Center 4000 Middlefield Rd., RM H-1 Palo Alto,, CA With the recent release of Bing search engine, Microsoft has revitalized its life in the web search world. Moreover, the deal with Yahoo puts Bing behind Yahoo's search box. Boom! (or shall we say Bing!) Bing is becoming the second largest search engine behind Google. Putting aside the crazy corporate fight, we are going to take a close look at Bing technology on this event. Hopefully, you will learn whether Bing has the real food to win over users and keep them happy. How does it mix semantic approach in web search? We are delighted to have two chief scientists from Microsoft Bing to present on this event. Dr. Jan Pedersen, Chief Scientist for Core Search at Microsoft Bing, will discuss some of the technologies that drive the distinctive Bing UI, in particular the Explore Panel and the Instant Answers. Dr. Ronald Kaplan, Chief Scientist at the Powerset division of Microsoft Bing,will describe some of the linguistic and semantic technologies that are deployed in Bing's Reference section. Agenda: 6:30pm - 7:00pm Registration / Networking / Refreshments / Pizza 7:00pm - 7:45pm Behind the scenes at Bing, by Dr. Pedersen 7:45pm - 8:30pm Powerset natural language technologies in Bing, by Dr. Kaplan 8:30pm - 9:00pm Q&A. SPEAKER BIOS: Jan O. Pedersen, Chief Scientist for Core Search at Microsoft Bing Pedersen began his career at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center where he managed a research program on information access technologies. In 1996 he joined Verity (recently purchased by Autonomy) to manage their advanced technology program. In 1998 Dr. Pedersen joined Infoseek/Go Network, a first generation Internet search engine, as Director of Search and Spidering. In 2002 he joined Alta Vista as Chief Scientist. Alta Vista has later acquired acquired by Yahoo! , where Dr. Pedersen served as Chief Scientist for the Search and Advertising Technology Group. Prior to joining Microsoft, Dr. Pedersen was Chief Scientist at A9, an Amazon company. Ronald M. Kaplan, Chief Scientist and Principal Researcher at the Powerset division of Microsoft Bing Ronald M. Kaplan is Chief Scientist and a Principal Researcher at the Powerset division of Microsoft Bing. He is also a Consulting Professor in the Linguistics Department at Stanford University and a Principal of Stanford's Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI). He was previously a Research Fellow at the Palo Alto Research Center (formerly the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center), where he was the manager of research in Natural Language Theory and Technology. Ron and his colleagues are responsible for the theoretical framework and computational implementation at the core of Powerset's natural language technology. REGISTRATION: You do not need to pre-register. Members attend free; Non-Members $15.00 For more information, visit: www.sdforum.org/SemanticSIG[1] "