Hypermedia Workflow: A New Approach to Data-Driven Scientific Workflows

This paper presents a new approach to scientific workflows based on the hypermedia design paradigm, the core of the REST architectural style. A Web resource model for workflow elements: tasks and data, is proposed. A workflow execution protocol based on the hypermedia-as-the-engine-of-application-state principle is also introduced. We compare the hypermedia model with one based on a workflow execution engine. Benefits and implications of the hypermedia approach for other important aspects of the workflow lifecycle, including provenance and mapping of tasks to resources, are also discussed. As a proof-of-concept of the hypermedia workflow concept, we implemented a simulator for execution of synthetic workflows based on the Pegasus workflow generator.