Abstract. This paper is about a new research field called Web Intelligence (WI for short). We try to explain the needs for coining the term as a sub-discipline of computer science for systematic studies on advanced Web related theories and technologies, as well as the design and implementation of Intelligent Web Information Systems (IWIS). Background information and related topics are discussed in an attempt to demonstrate why we consider WI to be a subject worthy of study and, at the same time, to establish a starting point for the further development of WI.