Abstract
Natural Language is still the main carrier for the definition, synthesis and exchange of knowledge in the real world, and this is entirely reflected by Web contents. No interpretation process over Web data is really possible without a more or less explicit reference to natural language(s), the primordial soup from which semantics emerges. The advantage and opportunities for NLP research are evident. This paper introduces the Special Issue of the journal on NLP in the Web era by first discussing some opportunities for current NLP research and then summarizing the contribution gathered by the volume.