[[File:Human Behavior Co-constituting the Web.png|thumb|450px|Human behavior co-constituting the web.]]
'''Web science''' is an emerging [[interdisciplinary]] field concerned with the study of large-scale socio-technical systems, such as the [[World Wide Web]].<ref>{{Cite journal
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| year = 2006
| pmid = 16902115
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1145/1364782.1364798| last1 = Hendler | first1 = Jim| authorlink1 = Jim Hendler| last2 = Shadbolt | first2 = Nigel| authorlink2 = Nigel Shadbolt| title = Web science: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the web| last3 = Hall | first3 = Wendy| authorlink3 = Wendy Hall| last4 = Berners-Lee | first4 = Tim| authorlink4 = Tim Berners-Lee | last5 = Weitzner | first5 = Daniel| journal = Communications of the ACM| volume = 51| issue = 7| year = 2008| url = http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/266555/1/CACM.pdf}}</ref> It considers the relationship between people and technology, the ways that society and technology co-constitute one another and the impact of this co-constitution on broader society. Web Science combines research from disciplines as diverse as [[sociology]], [[computer science]], [[economics]], and [[mathematics]].<ref>[{{cite web|url=http://www.slideshare.net/webscikorea/why-do-we-need-web-science-research|title=Why doDo weWe needNeed webWeb scienceScience research]Research?|date=6 December 2009|publisher=}}</ref>
An earlier definition was given by American computer scientist [[Ben Shneiderman]]: "Web Science" is the processing the information available on the web in similar terms to those applied to natural environment.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1145/1247001.1247022 | title=Web science | journal=Communications of the ACM | date=2007 | volume=50 | issue=6 | pages=25 | first=Ben | last=Shneiderman}}</ref>
The Web Science Institute describes Web Science as focusing "the analytical power of researchers from disciplines as diverse as mathematics, sociology, economics, psychology, law and computer science to understand and explain the Web. It is necessarily interdisciplinary - as much about social and organizational behaviour as about the underpinning technology."<ref>[{{cite web|url=http://www.southampton.ac.uk/wsi/about/what_is_web_science.page?|title=What Retrievedis 12Web JuneScience? 2014.]- Web Science Institute - University of Southampton|publisher=}}</ref>
== Research groups ==
There are numerous academic research groups engaged in Web Science research,<ref>[{{cite web|url=http://tw.rpi.edu/web/wsrc|title=WSTNet at RPI: Web Science Research Center|date=30 atOctober Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY]2012|publisher=}}</ref><ref>[{{cite web|url=http://eng.webst.kaist.ac.kr/|title=웹사이언스 Division of Web Science공학 and Technology, KAIST, Korea]|publisher=eng.webst.kaist.ac.kr}}</ref><ref>[{{cite web|url=http://west.uni-koblenz.de/|title=Institute for Web Science and Technologies, University of Koblenz-Landau]WeST|publisher=}}</ref><ref>[{{cite web|url=http://www.ebusiness-unibw.org/|title=E-Business and Web Science Research Group at Bundeswehr University Munich]|publisher=}}</ref><ref>[{{cite web|url=http://dtc.webscience.ecs.soton.ac.uk/|title=Education The- Web Science DoctoralInstitute Training Centre at the- University of Southampton]|publisher=}}</ref><ref>[{{cite web|url=http://www.jku.at/content/e262/e242/e2380/e131292|title=JKU The» WebWebwissenschaften Sciences- Masters program at the Johannes Kepler University Linz]Master|publisher=}}</ref><ref>[{{cite web|url=http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/news/4365|title=New Web Science Institute, to explore how the Web will shape our future - Electronics and Computer Science - University of Southampton]|publisher=}}</ref><ref>[{{cite web|url=http://webscience.blogs.usj.edu.lb The Interdisciplinary Research Unit in|title=UIR Web Science at@CEMAM Saint-JosephUniversityUSJ of– Beirut] / Lebanon|publisher=}}</ref> many of which are members of WSTNet, the [[Web Science Trust]] Network of research labs. Health Web Science emerged as a sub-discipline of Web Science that studies the role of the Web's impact human health outcomes and how to further utilize the Web to improve health outcomes.<ref>http://www.websci11.org/workshops/health-web-science-workshop/></ref><ref>http://www.websci12.org/workshops/health-web-science-workshop</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.jmir.org/2013/8/e166/|title=The Emergent Discipline of Health Web Science|first1=Joanne S|last1=Luciano|first2=Grant P|last2=Cumming|first3=Mark D|last3=Wilkinson|first4=Eva|last4=Kahana|date=1 January 2013|publisher=|volume=15|issue=8|doi=10.2196/jmir.2499|pmid=23968998|pmc=3758025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1561/1800000019 | volume=4 | title=Health Web Science | journal=Foundations and Trends in Web Science | pages=269–419}}</ref>
