Advances in Web Intelligence

In recent years the Internet has become a source of data and information of indisputable importance and has immensely gained in acceptance and popularity. The World Wide Web (WWW or Web, for short), frequently named "e;the nervous system of the infor- tion society,"e; offers numerous valuable services leaving no doubt about the signi?cance of the Web in our daily activities at work and at home. Consequently, we have a clear aspiration to meet the obvious need for effective use of its potential by making - provements in both the methods and the technology applied. Among the new research directions observable in Web-related applications, intelligent methods from within the broadly perceived topic of soft computing occupy an important place. AWIC, the "e;Atlantic Web Intelligence Conferences"e; are intended to be a forum for exchange of new ideas and novel practical solutions in this new and exciting ?eld. The conference was born as an initiative of the WIC-Poland and the WIC-Spain Research Centres, both belonging to the Web Intelligence Consortium - WIC (http://wi-consortium.org/). So far, three AWIC conferences have been held: in Madrid, Spain (2003), in Cancun, Mexico (2004), and in ?odz, ' Poland (2005).