Introduction: Modeling in Distributed Environments

Much of the motivation for the drive towards interoperability in the past few years has come from the enormous power of the Internet and its applications, particularly the World Wide Web (WWW). Five years ago the Internet was an interesting way of connecting computers; today, it is the basis of an industry that is registering explosive growth and intruding into many aspects of our lives. It is commonplace to compare the WWW to traditional libraries: instead of books that take years to publish, and are deposited relatively inaccessibly in massive physical structures, the WWW allows everyone with a simple electronic connection to be an instant publisher and a reader of up-to-date information. With the WWW, we appear to be drowning in information.