Dr David Hansen

Australia’s role in the development of the Semantic Web was recently recognised when Flagship research leader Dr David Hansen was accepted as a participant in the Semantic Web for Health Care and Life Sciences Interest Group (HCLSIG).

The group, a recently formed World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) interest group, met in Boston last month for its inaugural meeting.

Dr Hansen, project leader of the flagship’s Health Data Integration (HDI) project, has an extensive background in data integration research and development in Australia and internationally.

"The Group has been formed to connect the medical industry with Semantic Web experts in an effort to improve collaboration, research and development, and innovation adoption in the health care and life science industries," says Dr Hansen.

"The W3C is developing standards and tools for the Semantic Web — the next generation of the World Wide Web. This technology relies heavily on metadata and ontologies.”

Speaking last November at the launch of HCLSIG, W3C Director Tim Berners-Lee highlighted that HCLSIG "puts W3C specifications through the paces of a dynamic, multifaceted and interdependent set of communities. We have a remarkable opportunity to listen to the area experts, to see how our work meets their needs, and to serve their future requirements."

About the W3C

The W3C was created to lead the Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. It is an international industry consortium jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan. Services provided by the Consortium include a repository of information about the World Wide Web for developers and users, and various prototype and sample applications to demonstrate use of new technology. Over 400 organisations are members of the consortium.

UPDATE Home

Message from the Director

Applying maths to cancer research gets results

CSIRO makes connections in Southeast Asia

Unique initiatives aims to develop tomorrow's scientists

Australian expert joins International Semantic Web Group

Preventative Health Presentations for October 2005 to January 2006

Meet the Flagship Fellow

About this email

The Preventative Health Flagship is a CSIRO initiative and part of the National Research Flagships program that aims to deliver scientific solutions to advance Australia's most important national objectives. One of the largest scientific initiatives ever mounted in Australia, it aligns closely with the Federal Government's National Research Priorities. The initiative brings together our national research resources to deliver breakthroughs in fields ranging from healthcare to light metals and the environment.

Please feel free to forward it to those in your organisation who would be interested in receiving future newsletters.

If you do not wish to receive this electronic newsletter from the Preventative Health Flagship, please reply to this message with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line. Alternatively, please contact PreventativeHealth@csiro.au or telephone us on +61 2 9490 8006 to request the removal of your email address.

This E-Newsletter is a publication of CSIRO Communications. It does not purport to be comprehensive or to render professional advice. All material in this publication is subject to copyright. For permission to reproduce any part or all of an article, please contact the editor.