The document provides an introduction to web services and related standards. It discusses: 1) Fundamental concepts of web services including definitions, architectures, and an e-science example. 2) Related standards including XML, SOAP, and WSDL. XML is described as the foundation for structuring data in web services. 3) Other topics covered include XML namespaces for resolving naming collisions, XML schema for defining valid document structures, and SOAP for defining the unit of communication in web services.