Syndicate - Individual Service Composition in the Web-Age

Abstract

Nowadays, for a web site to reach peak popularity it must present the latest information, combined from various sources, to give an interactive, customizable impression.

Embedded content and functionality from a range of specialist fields has led to a significant improvement in web site quality. However, until now the capacity of a web site has been defined at the time of creation; extension of this capacity has only been possible with considerable additional effort. The aim of this thesis is to present a software architecture that allows users to personalize a web site themselves, with capabilities taken from the immense resources of the World Wide Web.

Recent web sites are analyzed and categorized according to their customization potential. The results of this analysis are then related to patterns in the field of software engineering and from these results, a general conclusion is drawn about the requirements of an application architecture to support these patterns. A theoretical concept of such an architecture is proposed and described in detail.

The empirical part of the study includes an implementation of the proposal and a demonstration of the assembly of capabilities found in the World Wide Web. This implementation is based on established technologies but applies them to a new, specially-designed structure. It allows users to add selected facilities to arbitrary web sites simply by calling a specific web address. This gives the user the potential to adapt the appearance and function of web sites to his or her personal needs.

An in-depth analysis of the challenges and restrictions of the software design completes the proposed architecture. Practical examples of behavior patterns show possible implementations in a range of fields.

Finally, a vision developed from the results presented in this thesis is outlined and subjects for future research are examined.