Web-based Support Systems (WSS) are an emerging multidisciplinary research area in which one studies the support of human activities with the Web as the common platform, medium and interface. One of the goals of WSS research is to extend the human physical limitation of information processing in the information age.

Research on WSS is motivated by the challenges and opportunities arising from the Internet. The availability, accessibility and flexibility of information as well as the tools to access this information lead to a vast amount of opportunities. It identifies both domain independent and dependent activities before selecting suitable computer and Web technologies to support them. It also examines how applications and adaptations of existing methodologies on the web platform benefit our decision-making and other various activities.

This book presents research related to fundamental issues of WSS, frameworks for WSS and current research on WSS. The research on Web-based support systems is classified into three parts:

Web-based support systems for specific domains
Web-based applications and WSS techniques
Design and Development of WSS.

Contenu
Web-Based Support Systems for Specific Domains.- Context-Aware Adaptation in Web-Based Groupware Systems.- Framework for Supporting Web-Based Collaborative Applications.- Helplets: A Common Sense-Based Collaborative Help Collection and Retrieval Architecture for Web-Enabled Systems.- Web-based Virtual Research Environments.- Web-Based Learning Support System.- A Cybernetic Design Methodology for 'Intelligent' Online Learning Support.- A Web-Based Learning Support System for Inquiry-Based Learning.- Web-Based Applications and WSS Techniques.- Combinatorial Fusion Analysis for Meta Search Information Retrieval.- Automating Information Discovery Within the Invisible Web.- Supporting Web Search with Visualization.- XML Based Markup Languages for Specific Domains.- Evaluation, Analysis and Adaptation of Web Prefetching Techniques in Current Web.- Knowledge Management System Based on Web 2.0 Technologies.- Design and Development of Web-based Support Systems.- A Web-Based System for Managing Software Architectural Knowledge.- CoP Sensing Framework on Web-Based Environment.- Designing a Successful Bidding Strategy Using Fuzzy Sets and Agent Attitudes.- Design Scenarios for Web-Based Management of Online Information.- Data Mining for Web-Based Support Systems: A Case Study in e-Custom Systems.- Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) as a Technical Framework for Web-Based Support Systems (WSS).