Role of Logics in Information Systems

Goals of this Dagstuhl Seminar

There is a long tradition of using formal logics in the design and realization of information systems. Logics are for example used as frameworks for describing the relevant information managed by information systems and to give formal background to data models and query languages.

The workshop is intended to bring together researchers working in different aspects of the use of logics in information systems such as specification of information systems with logic frameworks (namely dynamic or temporal logic), logics for temporal databases, logic-based queries and updates, consistency checking and verification, etc. The list of participants covers people working on different aspects of logical frameworks as well as people using logics in practical information system technology. The aim of this workshop is to bring together researchers in logics and people who actually build IS applications or IS tools. This combination may foster interaction between people that do not usually meet at conferences.

Since the topic “Logics in Information Systems” is very broad, we will concentrate on three aspects and their relation.

• Design of Dynamic Information Systems
  Logics for information system behavior, provable correct information systems, conceptual modelling, specification and verification
• Temporal Databases
  Data models for temporal data bases, temporal query languages, temporal integrity, time models, real time applications
• Logics for Querying and Integrity Constraints
  Deductive databases, query optimization, integrity checking, logics for updates, query language semantics

Presentations combining aspects of these three topics are of special interest, e.g. using one logical framework (eg, temporal or dynamic logic) for designing and querying a temporal database. Bringing together researchers of the three mentioned disciplines seems to be promising because they start to use similar formalisms (for example, non-standard logics) and techniques (for example, automated reasoning) in different areas having different research traditions.

The three topics are seen under the main theme “Practical Impact of Logics for Information System Applications”. We are specially interested in contributions showing the applicability of logic techniques to information system applications.