With recent advances in radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, sensor networks, and enhanced Web services, the original World Wide Web is continuing its evolution into what is being called the Web of Things and Services. Such a Web will support an ultimately interactive environment where everyday physical objects such as buildings, sidewalks, and commodities become recognizable, addressable, and even controllable via a mostly ubiquitous Web. This integration of the physical and virtual worlds will fundamentally impact the way we live and in doing so afford tremendous new business opportunities with great human benefit, such as support services to keep the elderly independent, and intelligent traffic management that will cut wasted hours from every day. More efficient supply chains, improved environmental monitoring, better access to health services … the list is endless.

Enabling Context-Aware Web Services: Methods, Architectures, and Technologies compiles the newest developments and advances driving this new age forward. With contributions from leading researchers across the world this pioneering work bridges the gap between context-awareness and Web services. A comprehensive presentation of what’s already accomplished and what is possible, the chapters of this book are systematically organized into three major sections:

• Methods focuses on the principle of context awareness in Web services and various ways to model those services at the specification level.
  
• Architectures details the infrastructures, frameworks, and standards needed to build context-aware Web services.
  
• Technologies presents a cornucopia of techniques adapted from once isolated research areas including semantic Web, database, and artificial intelligence development, as well as formal methods being employed to improve the development of context-aware Web services.

Researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and educators across any number of fields will find new ideas worth considering, jumping-off points for developing improved software and applications, and seeds for business ventures that efficiently deliver needed products, information, or services. The possibilities are as limitless as we dare to imagine.