We usually differentiate between research and technology by saying that we first do research on a subject and then this research results in certain technology spinoffs. For example, the study of artificial neural networks starting back in the early 1940s and continuing on today has had many spinoffs both in software and hardware. Research papers were written on the structure of neural nets, followed later by the studies of psychologists curious about the properties of learning and memory. Today, we have software neural net simulators and electronic chips with analog neural pathways. The World Wide Web (or "web") has a similar history if one considers the early pioneers of hypermedia, such as Ted Nelson, who described what an information web might be like long before such a thing existed.

One of the intriguing attributes of the web, however, is that technology and research are occurring side-by-side. Often, a technology occurs that might spawn a research endeavor. The creation of Mosiac and Netscape are good examples of how technology can precede and drive research. A package such as Macromedia Director could lead someone to think that a simulation package might be created based upon it, for example. Such a package could offer novel features... features of a research nature. The introduction of the Java language, as a technology, created a rash of papers on Java-based simulation. Would these papers have been possible prior to Java? Quite possibly; however, it is often hard to imagine extensive research on a web-related subject without also considering software development. Sometimes, the software must be written in order for the research to proceed.

This interplay and intertwining of research and technology, which seems to breed within every subject connected with the web, is fascinating. It has caused us to reconsider---and perhaps blur lines between---perceived differences between research and technology. Our simulation community has to grasp all of the opportunities, and invent new ones, or we will be left in the dust. There is no question that the web will drive a considerable amount of simulation research for the foreseeable future. Much of this research will be conceived in conjunction with, or after, a technology is born. There is so much in the way of financial incentive that a product may be literally out the door before a research paper is written.

Hopefully, we'll look at broadening the web-based simulation area well beyond studies of Java. The use of Java for creating client-side simulation executions is still a new idea and Java-based simulation is still a fertile area. But, we need to begin thinking of simulations as fundamental forms of media. Models and the execution of models are media types. Given these media types, how will we share them and collaborate with others using the web? What new web technologies exist that will cause us to rethink what it means "to model?"