Tom De Nies

About me

In 2008, I achieved my Bachelor’s degree in Informatics, followed by my Master’s degree in Computer Science Engineering in 2010, both at Ghent University. From April 2011 until December 2016, I worked as a researcher at iMinds/imec IDLab (the former Multimedia Lab), at the department of Electronics and Information Systems at Ghent University. In May 2016, I obtained my PhD in Computer Science Engineering, with my doctoral dissertation on "Enabling Automatic Provenance-based Trust Assessment of Web Content".

My main research topics include Semantic Web and Future Media. Specifically, my research is centered around automatic assessment of the value and trustworthiness of content on the Web, based on enriched metadata and provenance. In 2012 and 2013, I was also a member of the W3C Provenance Working Group, where I contributed to the PROV standard. More specifically, I was one of the authors of the PROV-Constraints Recommendation and lead editor of PROV-Dictionary (Note). Besides this, I also investigate the potential of machine-interpretable digital books, in terms of discoverability, enrichment and adaptation. Projects I've worked on in the past include the iMinds project SMIF (Smarter Media in Flanders) and the former VRT Medialab collaborative production platform CHAMP.  I was involved in several national projects in the digital publishing sector, including "Uitgeverij van de Toekomst" (Publisher of the Future), e-Strips, and EduTab. In the context of these projects, I also became a member of the W3C Digital Publishing Interest Group. In 2016, I was acting research lead for the COMBUST project, to improve the trustworthiness of integrated Linked Data. Currently, I am focusing on various other iniatives, on a self-employed basis.

In my spare time, I enjoy photography and music. In summer I frequently attend music festivals, usually with my old-school Volkswagen van, for which I don't mind getting some engine grease under my fingernails to keep it running.

Publications

Pet Projects

Awards