Special session: web computing
Konrad Klöckner · 2003
Communication facilities on the World Wide Web play a key role in the design and implementation of distributed systems for cooperation purposes. Internet communication facilities allow processes to be spread over the Web to communicate and to access remote resources. Performance of the whole distributed system, in particular a distributed communication system, depends on this facility. It was the development of efficient and cost effective interconnection structures on the one hand and the price performance evolution in microelectronics on the other hand which were prerequisites for the development of distributed communication applications. Since the 1990’s the widespread use of the Internet and other technology on top of it offer the developers of CSCW systems both a great technological basis with various strengths such as location transparency, operating transparency, standardized protocols, standardized data formats, etc. As local and wide-area networking technologies become more sophisticated, distributed group working is a well-suited scenario for computer use and presents theoretical and practical problems that have not yet been thoroughly addressed in computer science research. This session aims to bring together experts from academia and industry who share an interest in the study and design of effective Web computing solutions as well as approaches and methodologies. It focuses on understanding the impact of Web computing environments in order to facilitate the design of complex cooperation systems. It is open for sharing information about new Web technologies and practices. The papers focus on understanding the impact of Web tools to facilitate the design of complex cooperation systems. They cover the field of cooperative information systems, the designing and implementation of collaborative applications and the construction of collaborative systems with JAVA. Further on virtual communities and community networks are analysed and discussed. The papers from the session are briefly summarized.