Cyberinfrastructure 1 and e-Science 1 are conventionally presented in terms of Grid technologies 2 3 that support remote access to computational science resources (such as supercomputers), distributed data management, networked instruments and similar technologies. Web Services are a key technology for realizing this vision 4 5. In contrast to these heavyweight approaches, however, many important innovations in network programming are emerging outside the (by now) traditional Web Services framework and are collectively known as Web 2.0 6. As we discuss in this chapter, these developments need to be tracked and incorporated into the e-Science vision.

This chapter reviews some of the core Web 2.0 concepts by considering their impact on e-Science activities. For a related perspective on these issues, see 7. Web 2.0 is not a specific set of technologies and is best characterized as a movement towards network programming for everyone. The blurred distinction between a Web application and a Web tool (such as Google’s My Maps and Yahoo’s Pipes applications) means that even non-programmers can make sophisticated custom Web applications. In contrast to Web 2.0, the Enterprise-centric view of Web technologies holds that Web development is the domain of highly trained programmers working in very sophisticated development environments with complicated service interface and message specifications. Enterprise technologies are characterized by various Web software vendor efforts from Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Sun, HP, and others. Grid computing is closely aligned (through the Open Grid Forum 8, for example) with Enterprise computing.

The numerous Web Service specifications (collectively known as WS-*) have formed the basis for much of Grid computing since 2001. We compare Web 2.0 with Enterprise-style cyberinfrastructure applications in the Table 1. This table will also serve as a definition for our usage of the phrases “Enterprise Grids” and “Web 2.0” throughout this chapter.

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