About

After I graduated in Telecommunication Engineering at University of Florence in 1998 I’ve worked as system administrator, internet engineer and CTO in industries. In 2002, I moved back to Academia  for the start-up of Media Integration and Communicaton Center of the University of Florence. I earned a Master in Internet Engineering in 2003 and a PhD in Computer Science from University of Florence in 2007.  My research interests include Social and Semantic Web, knowledge management, and learning technologies.

Detailed resume:

Research Interests

• Knowledge management and Semantic Web
  • Enterprise Semantic Web Applications
  • Semantic Web and knowledge management
  • Ontology based multimedia annotation and retrieval
  • Rule languages
• Social Semantic Web: (Web 2.0 and 3.0):
  • User interaction and usability design for social and semantic web applications
  • Social knowledge and engineered knowledge: relations and interactions
  • Folksonomies for ontology authoring/enrichment
• Technology enhanced learning (e-learning)
  • Ontology lifecycle in the learning process
  • User experience in semantic-rich e-learning systems
  • Social Semantic Web in Education

Professional Experience

· Postdoctoral Associate from July 2008 University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

I’ve been involved in the Integrated Asset Management Project (http://pgroup.usc.edu/iam ) within the Cisoft Center (http://cisoft.usc.edu). I’ve mentored PhD Students working on topics related to Semantic Web applications for oilfield domain such as field events managements, Data Provenance and Workflow Context modeling and mining for reservoir management.

· Postdoctoral Fellow - School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University Surrey, Canada August 2007 - July 2008

I was involved in the LORNET project funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). I conduct research related to semantic web technologies in e-learning with particular focus on Social Semantic Web

· Visiting researcher, May- November 2006, - Hewlett Packard Labs

As PhD student I worked within the Semantic Web Group defining mechanism for discovering, sharing and browsing of images based on RDF geo-location metadata.

· Researcher, December 2002 – August 2007 - Multimedia Integration and Communication Center, University of Florence, Italy

My research work was focused on using knowledge representation for supporting automatic or semiautomatic annotation of multimedia content. I have been working on ontology enrichment for video annotation and retrieval. As a project manager I was leading projects related on analysis and development of applications for Public Administration (E-government applications based on interoperability architectures, analysis of services and security in e-government application, ERP services design)

· Chief Technology Officer, 2000 April, 2002 December - Motoride.com

Working within the Boston Consulting Group, I was responsible for the design and implementation of the Motoride portal. Starting from the vendor and software selection, through the system architecture design and implementation, I was responsible for developers and system engineers’ team. During this period I gained a very good knowledge of the BroadVision platform, all the technical issues related to the portal development, maintenance and implementation, e-commerce and e-marketing strategies.

· System and Network Engineer, 1999 December, 2000 April - Menarini Industrie Farmaceutiche Riunite

I was responsible for LAN and WAN project and management. I worked on Company WAN connection, Company Groupware system implementation and management, Internet/Intranet sites: project and development (DNS, Proxy Caching, Design, Maintenance), Worldwide coordination for IT System integration and development.

· Multimedia Developer, 1998 July – 1999 December - IdeaEsse

I was responsible for web sites design and implementation, multimedia applications, LAN and WAN projects

Education

· PhD in Computer Science, University of Florence, Media Integration and Communication and Integration Center - December 2007

Thesis title: “Annotating, Discovering and Sharing Multimedia Resources through the Semantic Web”

Supervisor: Prof. Alberto Del Bimbo

· Master in Internet Engineering, University of Florence - June 2003

University of Florence, Italy

· Bachelor Degree (5 years) in Telecommunication Engineering, University of Florence – June 1998

For my diploma thesis, I worked at the Signal and Image Processing Institute of the University of Southern California (Los Angeles) from July thru December 1997. My work was focused on the implementation of an algorithm for the optimization of VBR video transmission over ATM networks.

· College Degree, Liceo Classico Dante, June 1990

Other courses and professional training

· Summer School on Ontological Engineering and the Semantic Web, 2005 10-16 July Cercedilla, Spain

· DELOS Summer School on Digital Library Technologies, 2004 6th-10th September, Pisa, Italy

· Cisco Networking Academy –CCNA Cisco Program for Academy Instructors, 2003, University of Florence, Master in Internet Engineering

· Technical Courses:

o BroadVision – Technical Introduction to Broadvision Management Tools DCC, Publishing Center, 2000,

o BroadVision – Server Side Scripting, 2000

Teaching experience

I developed courses and give lectures in the following topics:

· Web languages and programming, 2006 - Master in Multimedia Content Design, University of Florence, Italy

· Multimedia and Semantic Web, 2005 and 2006 - Module of the Multimedia Database course Computer Engineering Faculty, University of Florence, Italy

· Fundamentals of knowledge representation and Semantic Web, 2005 - Computer Engineering Faculty, University of Florence, Italy

· Information and Communication Technology, 2004 and 2005 - Agriculture Faculty, University of Florence, Italy

· E-government guidelines for Public Administration, 2003 - Master in Communication and Management, University of Florence, Italy

· Instructor for Cisco Networking Academy Program, 2003 - Master in Internet Engineering, University of Florence, Italy

Journal Editorial

· Bertinii M., Devedzic V., Gasevic D., Torniai C. Interactive Learning Environments Journal, Special Issue on “Semantic Technologies for Multimedia-enhanced Learning Environments,” proposal accepted, open call for papers posted, papers currently under review.

Publications

Book Chapters

· C. Torniai, S.Battle, S. Cayzer, “Sharing, Discovering and Browsing Geotagged Pictures on the Web”, in “Geospatial Web. How Geo-Browsers, Social Software and the Web 2.0
are Shaping the Network Society”, Springer, 2007

International Journals

· M.Bertini, R. Cucchiara, A. Del Bimbo, C. Grana, G. Serra, C. Torniai, R. Vezzani “Dynamic Pictorially Enriched Ontologies for Video Digital Libraries”, IEEE Multimedia, forthcoming

· J. Jovanović, D. Gašević, C. Torniai, S. Bateman, M. Hatala, “The Social Semantic Web in Intelligent Learning Environments - State of the Art and Future Challenges -” Special issue on Web 2.0 for Interactive e-learning, Interactive Learning environment, forthcoming

· M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo and C. Torniai, “Multimedia Enriched Ontologies for Video Digital Libraries”, International Journal of Parallel, Emergent and Distributed Systems, January 2007; Vol. 22. No. 6, pp. 407–416.

Magazines

· M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo and C. Torniai, “Ontologies for Video Digital Libraries” ERCIM News Special Issue on “European Digital Libraries”, Number 66, July 2006, pp. 37

· C. Torniai, “Exploring Maps through Georeferenced Images and RDF Shared Metadata”, Informer, Number 23, Summer 2007, ISSN 0950-4974, p. 6-7

International Conferences

· Jing Zhao, Fan Sun, Carlo Torniai, Amol Bakshi, Viktor Prasanna, “A Provenance-Integration Framework for Distributed Workflows in Grid Environments” Workshop on Grid and Utility Computing (WUGC), Bangalore, December 2008.

· Siadaty, M., Eap, T., Jovanović, J., Gašević, D., Torniai, C., Hatala, M., “Semantic Technologies for Socially-enhanced Context-aware Mobile Learning“, In Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, 2008, pp. 413-418

· Siadaty, M., Torniai, C., Gašević, D., Jovanović, J., Eap, T., Hatala, M., “m-LOCO: An Ontology-based Framework for Context-Aware Mobile Learning,” In Proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Ontologies and Semantic Web for Intelligent Educational Systems at 9th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems, 2008

· Torniai, C., Jovanović, J., Bateman, S., Gašević, D., Hatala, M., “Leveraging Folksonomies for Ontology Evolution in E-learning Environments“, In Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Conference on Semantic Computing, Santa Clara, CA, USA, 2008, pp. 206-215

· C. Torniai, J. Jovanovic, S. Bateman, D. Gasevic, and M. Hatala, “E-learning meets Social Semantic Web”, 8th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, 1-5 July 2008

· J. Jovanovic, C. Torniai, D. Gasevic and M. Hatala “Leveraging the Social Semantic Web in Intelligent Tutoring Systems”, International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Montreal Canada, 23-28 June 2008

· S.Bateman, J.Jovanovic, C. Torniai, D.Gasevic, and M.Hatala “Combined Usage of Ontologies and Folksonomies in E-learning Environments”, Semantic Web User Interaction Workshop, CHI 2008, 5-10 April 2008, Florence, Italy

· M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo, C. Torniai, R. Cucchiara, C. Grana, “Dynamic Pictorial Ontologies for Video Digital Libraries Annotation”, In Proceedings of the ACM MIR workshop on the Many Faces of Multimedia Semantics, Ausburg, Bavaria, Germany, September 28, 2007, pp. 47 - 56

· A. Bagdanov, M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo, G. Serras and C. Torniai, “Semantic annotation and retrieval of video events using multimedia ontologies”, In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Semantic Computing ICSC 2007, Irvine, California,17-19 September 2007, pp. 713-720

· M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo, C. Torniai, C. Grana, R.Vezzani, R. Cucchiara, “Sports Video Annotation using Enhanced HSV histogram in Multimedia Ontologies”, In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Visual and Multimedia Digital Libraries (VMDL07), Modena, Italy, September 13-14, 2007, pp. 160-167

· C. Torniai, S.Battle, S. Cayzer, “The Big Picture: Exploring Cities through Georeferenced Images and RDF Shared Metadata”, CHI 2007 Workshop “Imaging the City”, San Jose,19 April, 2007

· C. Torniai, S.Battle, S. Cayzer, “Sharing, Discovering and Browsing Photo Collections through RDF geo-metadata”, In Proceedings of SWAP 2006, the 3rd Italian Semantic Web Workshop, Pisa, Italy, December 18-20, 2006, CEUR Workshop Proceedings, ISSN 1613-0073, online http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-201/42.pdf.

· M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo, C. Torniai, R. Cucchiara, C. Grana, “MOM: Multimedia Ontology Manager. A Framework for Automatic Annotation and Semantic Retrieval of Video Sequences”, in Proceedings of the 14th annual ACM international conference on Multimedia, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, Oct. 23-27, 2006, pp. 787-788

· C. Grana, R. Vezzani, D. Bulgarelli, G.Gualdi, R. Cucchiara, M. Bertini, C. Torniai, A. Del Bimbo, “PEANO: Pictorial Enriched ANnotation of VideO”, in Proceedings of the 14th annual ACM international conference on Multimedia, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, Oct. 23-27, 2006, pp. 793-794

· M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo and C. Torniai, “Automatic Annotation and Semantic Retrieval of Video Sequences using Multimedia Ontologies”, in Proceedings of the 14th annual ACM international conference on Multimedia, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, Oct. 23-27, 2006, pp. 679-682

· M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo and C. Torniai, “Ontologies for Video Digital Libraries”, In Proc. Of the 7th KDD Multimedia Data Mining workshop report, in conjunction with the 12^th ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, August 20-23, 2006 Philadelphia, PA, USA

· M. Bertini, G. D’Amico, A. Del Bimbo, C. Torniai, “Using Knowledge Representation Languages for Video Annotation and Retrieval“, In Proceedings of Flexible Query Answering Systems (FQAS) 2006, Milano, June 7-10, 2006, pp. 634-646

· M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo, C.Torniai, “Video Annotation and Retrieval with Pictorially Enriched Ontologies”, in Proceedings of Italian Research Conference on Digital Libraries Management System (IRCDL), Padova (IT), January 27, 2006, pp. 76-79

· M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo, C. Torniai, “Automatic Video Annotation Using Ontologies Extended With Visual Information”, In Proceedings of the 13th annual ACM international conference on Multimedia, Singapore November 6-12, 2005, pp. 395-398

· M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo, C. Torniai, “Enhanced Ontologies for Video Annotation and Retrieval”, In Proceedings of the 7th ACM SIGMM international workshop on Multimedia Information Retrieval (MIR), Singapore November 10-11, 2005, pp. 89-96

· M. Bertini, R. Cucchiara, A. Del Bimbo, C. Torniai, “Domain Knowledge Extension with Pictorially Enriched Ontologies“, 11th International Conference on Computer Analysis of Images and Patterns (CAIP) , Rocquencourt, September 5-8, 2005, pp. 652-660

· M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo, R. Cucchiara, C. Torniai, “Video Annotation with Pictorially Enriched Ontologies“, In proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (ICME), Amsterdam (NL), July 6-8, 2005, pp. 1428-1431

· M. Bertini, A. Del Bimbo, R. Cucchiara, C. Torniai, “Ontologies enriched with visual information for video annotation“, Multimedia and the Semantic Web Workshop in Conjunction with the 2^nd European Semantic Web Conference (ESWC), Heraklion (GR), May 29, 2005

Tutorials

· Gasevic D., Witte R., Torniai C. “Tools for the Semantic Web: Semantic Web Technologies in Multimedia Enhanced Applications”, 4th Annual LORNET Conference on Intelligent, Interactive, Learning Object Repositories Network, Montreal, November 2007

Patents

· System and Method for Data Provenance Management , co-inventors: Jing Zaho, Fan Sun, Carlo Torniai, Amol B. Bakshi, assignors to Chevron USA Inc, applied September, 2008, USPatentApplication No. 12/275877; Chevron Ref: T-7544

Projects

I have been involved in the Integrated asset Management Project which is part of the joint USC-Chevron CiSoft effort to realize the vision of an integrated, instrumented, intelligent oilfield.

I worked within Delos Network of Excellence on Digital Libraries, funded by the EU Sixth Framework Programme. In particular I’ve been involved in research and coordination activities for the Video Annotation with Pictorially Enriched Ontologies Task.

I’ve also worked in the VIDI-Video EU research project defining techniques to semantic access to video content by means of detection of a large number of concepts.

Program Committees

· International Workshop on Visual interfaces to the Social and the Semantic Web (VISSW 2009)

· IADIS International Conference Web based Communities 2009

· IADIS International Conference - Information Systems 2009

· Workshop on Visual interfaces to the Social and the Semantic Web (VISSW 2009)

· IADIS International Conference - Information Systems 2008

· IADIS International Conference Web based Communities 2008

· SAAKM2008, Semantic Authoring, Annotation and Knowledge Markup Workshop

Reviewer

Books

· S. Dasiopoulou, C. Saathoff, Ph. Mylonas, Y. Avrithis, Y. Kompatsiaris, S. Staab, “Semantic Multimedia and Ontologies: Theory and Applications” Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, September 2007

International Journal

· IEEE Transactions on Multimedia

· IEEE Multimedia

· IEEE Software

· Elesevier Information systems Journal

International Conference and workshop

· ICSOFT 2007

· CIVR 2007

· ACM Multimedia Information Retrieval workshop 2005

· ACM Multimedia 2006 - 2007

· ECDL 2005

Languages

· Italian, English, French

Skills

· Languages: C, C++, Java, Javascript, PHP, PL/SQL. Good knowledge of XML, XSL, DDT, WSDL.

· OS: Linux, HP Unix, Windows (9x, NT, 2000, XP), Solaris, Netware 4.X, Netware 5.

· Semantic Web – Definition, design and analysis of Ontologies. Good knowledge of OWL, RDF, RDFS. Good knowledge of SPARQL and Joseki. Good knowledge of Protégé, good knowledge of Jena API.

· Information management: knowledge of Sharepoint 3.0: installation configuration of custom web parts, corporate site design organization and maintenance.

· Web Engineering: Web Server, DNS, Proxy Caching, Reverse Proxy caching Firewall. Good knowledge of Microsoft IIS, Netscape Enterprise Server,Microsoft DNS server, Microsoft Proxy Server, Novell BorderManager. Very good knowledge of Apache web servers

· Web Application Project and Design: Very good knowledge of HTML/DHTML/XML, MySQL, and PHP based site development, web site tools development and design: Macromedia Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Microsoft FrontPage. Graphics tools Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw, 3D Studio Max, audio and video tools Adobe Premiere, Macromedia Director, Soundforge. Good knowledge of Jackarta Velocity, J2EE patterns for web applications

· Network/Internet architecture : Token Ring, ATM, Frame Relay and TCP/IP, IPX/SPX protocols. Internet connection project and sizing, Internet security: Routing, and firewalling policies. Good knowledge of Cisco IOS, Cisco routers and switches configuration and management

· Portal Architecture - E-Commerce/ E-Business: B2B, B2C, C2C: project management, strategies and implementation planning. BroadVision: architecture and features: 1to1 Marketing strategies and implementation, DCC structure and, Publishing Center structure, user profiling strategies, server side scripting. Legacy and logistic IT system integration