Coordinating transactional web services

A method for coordinating an activity between web services, the method comprising:

• defining a protocol associated with the activity, the activity being created for a first web service and the protocol including a message exchange corresponding to the activity;
• generating an activity context comprising data to coordinate relationships between participants in said activity, the activity context including a reference to a registration service corresponding to the activity;
• sending the activity context to the first web service;
• and
• registering a second web service to the activity based on the activity context after the first web service sends the activity context and a request to coordinate the activity to the second web service,
• wherein the first web service and the second web service communicate based on the protocol.

A coordination service apparatus for coordinating an activity between web services comprising:

• an activation service for creating protocols associated with the activity of a first web service, the activation service having an address, wherein the activation service creates a behavior associated with the protocols and sends the address to the first web service;
• a registration service for registering web services in the activity;
• and
• a coordinator device for coordinating an activity between the first web service and a second web service, wherein the coordinator service transmits information on the protocols associated with the activity to the second web service responsive to receiving a request for the information on the protocols from the second web service after the first web service sends the address to the second web service.