2005 Web Services Workshop Registration

Registration for the Web Service Workshop closed on April 26, 2005.

Web Services: A Mechanism for Across-the-Internet On-Demand Computing and Communication

When:  Wednesday, June 8, 2005, 9 AM - 5 PM
Where: Skamania Lodge, Stevenson, Washington

The appearance of the World Wide Web one decade ago marked a significant advancement in the way we communicate ideas and research results. Our ability to create HTML-based web pages and to host our own web sites allows us to provide materials of our own choosing to students, colleagues and broader
audiences around the globe. While web pages are static, real-time calculations and database access are available with the incorporation of script-based access methods (such as CGI or php) or java applets. However, a different class of functionality is now available using information technology methods which only recently have become used in the geosciences. These methods offer on-demand computing using facilities located remotely but accessed in real-time across the Internet. More widely deployed in the commercial world, these methods offer our earth sciences communities access to additional computing resources, evolving data archives maintained elsewhere, and delivery of data products selectively produced in real-time. These methods also allow run-time access to common codes (for the sake of commonality) or to codes which undergo frequent upkeep.

The purpose of this workshop is to examine these Across-the-Internet On-Demand methods in contrast to more familiar script- or java-based methods. While evolving, four principal IT methods are currently widely used to provide distributed computing services: java servlets, CORBA, java-RMI, and web services. These methods have strengths, weaknesses, and are better at different types of computing purposes. The workshop will explore these differences and then examine in more depth the method of web services. Web Services can be used to create a true community library of remote computing modules ranging from the very simple (e.g., latitude-longitude to UTM conversion) to the heavy duty (modeling codes). The goal of the workshop is to give participants sufficient conceptual understanding in order to know which method to choose when planning to offer online service to others. Workshop target audience consists of scientists, project leaders or adminstrators, students. IRIS offers supplemental financial support to attend this workshop in advance of the main IRIS meeting. IRIS will offer a followup workshop later in 2005 aimed at students and programmers who wish to learn how to create a web service.

For more information, contact the convenors:

David Okaya (Univ. Southern California) okaya@usc.edu
Andrea Donnellan (NASA/JPL) donnellan@jpl.nasa.gov
Tom Owens (Univ. South Carolina) owens@seis.sc.edu

For details about the workshop, please read the Web Services Workshop Agenda (PDF).