World Wide Web Conference makes Seoul debut

About 1,000 web experts from around the world gathered in Seoul yesterday to talk about the past and future of the World Wide Web, focusing on recent hot topics such as Big Data.

The 23rd annual World Wide Web Conference 2014 began yesterday at COEX, southern Seoul, the first time it has been held in Korea. The conference, hosted by the International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee, will feature discussions and workshops focused on information gathering through social media, how to manage Big Data and how to make money online. The conference ends Friday.

Tomorrow is the best day to visit, as panel discussions from academic and industry experts will be held.

In the morning, Christos Faloutsos, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and an expert on data mining and database management, will give the keynote speech about data analysis and error detection.

Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web and a senior researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, will share his insight as a panelist in a discussion tomorrow, along with scientists and representatives of global web-related service providers like Google and Cisco.

Professors from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul National University and Oxford University will lead a discussion about the role IT leaders should play in the global transition from an industrial-based society to an information-based one.

Choi Jong-deok, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics and deputy head of the conglomerate’s software R&D center, will speak on Thursday morning about the benefits and dangers of the fast expanding World Wide Web. Choi will suggest solutions to information security issues through using platforms such as Samsung Tizen, an open-source mobile platform like Android.

On Thursday afternoon, experts from global web giants will talk about Big Data, from data mining to analysis. Panelists include technology executives from Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, IBM and AT&T.

At his keynote speech on Friday, Qi Lu, executive vice president of Microsoft Applications and Services Group, will talk about how the world’s largest web company plans to create a user-friendly web environment. Andrei Broder, scientist and researcher at Google, will join him.

The last three days of the conference are open to the public so that anyone who is interested can learn about global web trends. Scholars and web industry insiders yesterday held tutorials discussing measures to offer higher-quality web search services. Topics included how to boost the accuracy and efficiency of search results, and technical measures to filter spam and incorrect information.

Today, sessions will aim to pass on techniques about using information gathered from microblogs like Twitter. Participants will discuss how to analyze microblog data and how to better apply big data in marketing products and services on e-commerce platforms.

BY KIM JI-YOON [jiyoon.kim@joongang.co.kr]