The designers and users of present-day information systems deal with more and more complex applications that have to meet stringent quality requirements. Logic, in the form of many different logical formalisms, is a suitable tool to address some of the emerging problems, particularly those that benefit from a declarative formulation. The advantages of logic include formal, well-understood syntax and semantics, and thoroughly studied computational properties.

Emerging applications requiring database management have motivated new developments in logical frameworks for their support. Examples of these new developments are:

• logical frameworks for various aspects of electronic commerce, e.g. negotiation and communication, EDI, electronic contracts
• logics for security, for example in distributed data stores
• workflow logics as descriptive frameworks for specifying, querying, animating and modifying workflows
• logical frameworks for handling data of varying quality in data warehouses ("soft" integrity constraints, ..)
• logics for information integration, database interoperation, and virtual enterprises
• logical frameworks for the specification of multimedia applications
• logics for temporal, spatial, and spatio-temporal database applications
• logical frameworks in scientific data handling
• logical specification of agents and policies
• logical aspects of knowledge discovery in databases and OLAP.

In addition to addressing the above new developments, the seminar will focus on the critical evaluation of existing logical frameworks for databases and information systems in the light of past experience and future potential. In particular, the following are candidates for such a review: nonmonotonic logics, logics of time and action, deontic logic, deductive and constraint databases. Leading researchers from emerging database applications areas are also being invited to comment on the role of logic in their areas, hopefully generating lively discussions.