1. From Data Dirt Roads
To Infocosm
Invited Talk, 7th Intl. Conf. on Management of Data, Pune, India, Dec. 29, 1995.
[Some parts of the talk emphasize issues and perspectives of particular interest to developing countries.]
Amit Sheth
Large Scale Distributed Information Systems Lab
University of Georgia
http://www.cs.uga.edu/LSDIS
amit@cs.uga.edu
Special Thanks: Vipul Kashyap, Srilekha Mudumbai
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 1
2. Outline
³ Infrastructure
computing and communication to support information
society in the next century
³ State-of-the-art
Internet, WWW, Electronic Commerce
unique opportunities due to Network Computing
³ New Challenges in Information Management
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 2
3. Our Journey to the
Information Society
³ Information (Data) Superhighway (aka Infobahn)
material/physical object-- geography, distance*
infrastructure not services or application*
high cost of broadband fiber-optic networks
promoted TV (not computer) as the user device
computer has been found to be a better starting point
promise of applications envisaged earlier have fizzled
500 channel TV, VOD and the interactive TV? What went wrong?
Infocosm (Amit Sheth)
* see also for related discussion: The Road Ahead, Bill Gates. 3
4. Journey and Destination
³ “The Information superhighway is an
impoverished metaphor -- it describes only a
means of transportation. We need a description
of the destination, of the Infocosm.” [Ferguson]
Glover Ferguson, Computer World, Vol. 1, Iss. 6, July 17 1995.
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 4
5. Destination Infocosm
a society whose members (“organisms”) can have
more effective decision making capability using
information that is available whenever needed, at
any place, and in (m)any form(s) [Sheth 93]
a world where people will work, learn and play,
unconstrained by time, place and form [Ferguson 95]
Sheth and Kashyap, Information Brokering- A Key Challenge in
the emerging Infocosm, December 1993.
Glover Ferguson, Computer World, Vol. 1, Iss. 6, July 17 1995.
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 5
6. Related Themes
³ Telecosm (George Gilder)
focus on communication and data
need to add computing and information
³ Telepresence
³ “Information at Fingertips”*
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 6
7. Components
Information
Computing Communication
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 7
8. Computing and Communication
³ The last decade belonged to computing,
PC is 120B$ business.
³ Next decade will belong to communication.
³ Future computing will be networked oriented
(analogy of neural nets: “the intelligence will be in the network”).
We will sell and use Information, not data.
X Opportunity for Developing Countries!
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 8
9. Wireless communication
• Stratospheric market estimates are norms, but
prior expectations have exceeded
• Estimates of wireless communication devices:
224M by the year 2000, 300M by the year 2002
• Growth rate of 40-50% => economy of scale
• Tremendous number of alternatives
• India and developing countries will have larger
share of wireless than most expect
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 9
11. Wireless communication and
computing
U.S. installed base (millions)
60
50 Cellular
40
Paging
30
20
10 PCS
0
1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) EBB, February 1995 1
12. Telecommunications
-- a few observation about India
Madras ISDN-trials were announced for 8/95
in Madras (probably delayed?)
$500 deposit (Handset) to $1550 (PBX)
Internet-access announced
e-mail available in several cities; WWW in the few largest ones
Possible significant use of satellite
64Kbps dedicated lines are routinely used by large
companies for international communication
Expect big take-off for paging and for possibly cellular
Privatization, while delayed, will have the biggest impact
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 2
15. CYBERSPACE COMPONENTS
End-User Services & Applications Infrastructure Services
• Electronic Commerce •WWW
• Information Commerce/ Mall •White Board, Groupware (Notes)
• Digital Library • Payment / Billing / Collection
• Video on demand, 500 channels • Security
• Edutainment • Authentication
• Virtual Corporation Communication Infrastructure
•Periodic Connection;On-line Connection
Software Protocols & Standards
• X.25
•EDI, PDES, HTML, ...
Wireless Wired
• http , -telnet, r-login
(paging) Copper
• ftp, X.400 one way
Cellular Cable
two way
Satellite Fiber
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 5
16. Internet
-- a few personal experiences
³ organizing international trip
³ e-mail exchange with a friend in Ahmedabad
³ ftp and WWW for book project management
³ use of WWW for
paper distribution
complete workshop management
publicity for the lab (4000+ accesses per week)
direction to my home
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 6
17. Internet
CommerceNet-Neilsen Survey
³ 11% (24M) use Internet in USA and Canada;
17% (37M) have access; 8% (18M) use Web
³ Use in last 24 Hours: Access the Web (72%);
Send e-mail (65%); Non-interactive discussion
(36%); Download Software (31%); Use Another
computer (31%); Interactive Discussion (21%),
Real-time audio or video (19%)
³ Average use: 5.5 hr per week!
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 7
18. winning the whole world?
WWW weird, wacky, and wow!
Also from CommerceNet-Neilsen survey--
Use of the Web for
Browse or explore (90%)
search for other information (73%)
search for information on companies/organizations
(60%)
Search for information on products/services (55%)
purchase product or services (14%; 2.5M)
Web users are upscale with an annual income of
more than $80K (or $50K depending on the survey).
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 8
19. Internet Multimedia Milestones
Transport Multicasting World Wide Web
Object technology for Web browsers:
1995 Rapid adoption of 56kbit/s Mbone backbone supports Hot Java
access by small businesses limited multicasting Open Doc
and branch offices via OLE
ISDN, frame relay and VRML
leased lines
1996 ATM backbone deployment Real-time audio and video Enhanced real-time Internet
products ship:
by Internet service providers servers based on
24-bit Color CU-SeeMe
Regional Bell operating companies pseudo-multicasting FM Real Audio Player
bundle ISDN and Internet access Internet Phone, Netphone
for small business market Multimedia Netscape Navigator
1997 Projected ISDN installed base :
1.6 million lines (U.S.) Widespread adoption of Widespread use of Web-centric
7.68 million lines (global) real-time Internet tools for
Projected installed IP next generation protocol
base of V.34 modems :
entertainment, distance learning,
with support for and conferencing
5.4 million (global)
Telcos bundle ISDN and Internet
broadcasting
access for home market
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) OEM Magazine September 1995 9
27. WWW: Conquereing the Business World
Example of use in a Workflow Application
Healthcare Info Infra. Tech.
project: UGA and CHREF
Generates:
• alerts to identify CLINICAL SUBSYSTEM
patient’s needs.
• contraindications to
Reminders to parents
caution providers.
Health providers can obtain up-to-date
clinical and eligibility information
CT
Reports to state
Hospitals and clinics update
central databases after
encounters Health agencies can
Hospitals and
SDOH and use reports generated
case workers
CHREF to track
can reach
population’s needs
maintain out to the
databases, State and HMO’s population HMOs can keep track
can update
support EDI
patient’s eligibility
TRACKING SUBSYSTEM of performance
transactions data
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 7
28. Web Browsers: Conquereing the Business World
Example of use in a Workflow Application
Interface for a Physician
List of Overdue
Vaccinations
Link to contraindication
information obtained from
the Internet
Clinical Aspects
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 8
29. Electronic commerce -- statistics
Year # of Companies Sales on the
on the WWW Internet
1994 29,000 100K
500
1995 152,000 75,000K Financial
400
services
1996 553,000K 300
(projected) Publishing
200
Table: NBC News 100
Chart: The Economists Law
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 90 91 92 93 94 95 9
31. Saturn Corp. Fidelity Investments
(Automaker http://www.saturncars.com) ( $14 billion mutual funds investor
http://www.fid-inv.com )
Traffic :84,000 people a month reading 27,000
pages Vision: Use web as new distribution and sales channel
Vision :Use web to build image as innovative What you can do: Review and select 160 mutual
company; build customer relationships funds, plan college and retirement savings ,download
What you can do: View 1996 models , find a software demo, participate in survey and “Guess The
retailer, read Saturn magazine, order brochure, Dow” contest
locate and write other owners via bulletin board Payoffs: Undisclosed savings in mailing, handling &
printing from electronically delivered prospectuses.
Payoff: 25% of brochures requested via Web
W. W. Grainger, Inc. ($3 billion wholesaler and distributor http://www.grainger.com/index.html)
Traffic: 3,000 pages downloaded weekly
Vision: Create low-cost way to expand sales reach; lower acquisition costs for customers
What you can do: Search product databases, review new products, locate branches worldwide,
send E-mail, order catalog
Payoff: Detailed customer demographics and feedback helps set direction
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) COMPUTERWORLD November 20, 1995 1
32. World PC
aka Information Appliance aka Browser Boy
³ 500$-700$ PC supporting network computing
no hard disk
³ $50 LSI Logic “superchip” that incorporates a
microprocessor, memory, high speed modem and audio
and video processor
Java and Servers complete the computing paradigm
Can reach much larger population
many more would have $500 disposable compared to $2000
more appealing to less technical user
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 2
33. Java
³ New programming language (subset of C++)
especially suitable to run on network (from Sun)
³ Applets (small efficient program) delivered on
network
³ Microsoft licensed it (a first for Microsoft), IBM
too
³ Already hundreds of applications, including
spreadsheets, wordprocessors and games
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 3
34. Java
•Java: C++ minus : Browser Network Server
Typedefs, Preprocessor, ...
Functions, Multiple Inheritance User asks
Opeartor Overloading, Pointers for object request
Plus: Multithreading, ...
• Server Site: Object
Java Souce Compiler Byte Codes Browser
Time
reply
• Client Site: doesn’t
understand request Java
Class Loader Byte Code verifier
object type code to
Run-time Interpreter support
object
Object reply
Displayed
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 4
35. Browser Boy vs Bill Gates*
Java
The Economist, Oct. 14, 1995.
* Richard Shaffer, Forbes, December 4, 1995.
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 5
36. Network computing--
the Equalizer
Impact on marketing
³ Marketing a software product will no longer
involve the huge investment; WWW provides
level playing field-- (almost) as easy to have the
presence on the Web for a small company; level
playing field in delivery, sales, payment
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 6
37. An opportunity for Developing
Countries
³ New Communication Infrastructure Alternatives
potential for fast catch-up
³ New Computing Paradigm leading to
diminishing importance of geographic separation and distance
new marketing, sales, support alternatives
new ways to interact with clients and customers
new ways to develop software, new software marketplace
³ New commodity to sell-- information
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 7
38. Focus on information
³ Exponential growth in the capability of
computing (Moore’s law) and communication
bandwidth is well documented.
³ Our ability to represent information and
knowledge: from numbers and letters to objects
and relationships, from syntax to semantics, from
transactions to workflows, from data to
information, ... has received less attention, is
harder to address, and has lagged.
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 8
39. Data vs Information
Data Information
Set of facts Application of facts and knowledge of
“when” to use facts
Data Measurements about the real world Derivation from facts using cognitive
obtained from human/machine sensors and perceptual processes
Interoperability ==> transformation across Interoperability => transformation of
different forms, representations and query knowledge to make it suitable for
languages application of different facts in a different
environment
Data + Knowledge about Meaning of data = Information
+ Knowledge of when to apply it
Information can be used for decision making based on data
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 9
40. Technical Challenges in
Global Information Systems
Difficulties in information access:
cosmic Easter egg hunt problem-- hard to locate and access pertinent
problem
information;
write-only database problem -- easy to create, hard to maintain
Scale: needle in the haystack problem
vast amount of information; large number of autonomous sites
Heterogeneity: tower of Babel problem
Information represented in different ways
Query expressiveness: the Pidgin problem
query language not expressive enough to specify the user’s interest
Information Overload:
too much junk (less relevant) information on the network
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 10
41. Some approaches ....
User centered approach:
menu-based browsing
hypertext browsing
Syntactic/structural approach:
information retrieval, indexing techniques
name and attribute-based search, pattern matching
Descriptive (symbolic) semantics-based approach
making design assumptions explicit
capturing the semantics of the query
Cognitive (sub-symbolic) semantics-based approach
Pattern/Speech Recognition Algorithms
Neural Networks
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 1
42. Challenges with current techniques for
Information Resource Discovery
Unattractiveness of Navigation and Browsing:
tend to give up if the number of links are more than 3 or 4
need to annotate links with contextual information in order to help reduce the “link-
chasing”
Scalability problems in Indexing information:
cannot index all the information on the internet !!
difficult to index heterogeneous but related information
combining results obtained by using independent/ different indices
Hard to maintain pre-determined relationships:
file update might make some hyper-links meaningless !!
hierarchical organizations might prove expensive to search
if user specified criteria for search is different from criteria of organization
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 2
43. Infocosm via
InfoHarness and InfoQuilt
³ InfoHarness
access, scale, heterogeneity
³ InfoQuilt
query expressiveness, semantics
correlation of heterogeneous media
InfoHarness is a trademark of Bellcore. Adapt/X Harness is a commercial product
based on the InfoHarness system (see http://www.bellcore.com/features/index.html).
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 3
44. InfoHarness: Business Need Example
A Software Business House
Req., Design, .... Where ? Source code
Documents How to access ? ( C functions ),
(Framemaker) man pages
( Unix files )
Figures Third party tools
( postscript files )
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) * Leon Shklar, Satish Thatte 4
45. InfoHarness: Business Need Example
A Software Business House*
Req., Design, .... Source code
Documents Now I know ... ( C functions ),
(Framemaker) man pages
( Unix files )
Figures Third party tools
- Uniform access
( postscript files )
- Integrated view of heterogeneous information
InfoHarness
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) * Leon Shklar, Satish Thatte 5
46. InfoHarness
Dealing with Data Heterogeneity:
Use of Domain Independent Metadata
1. Information Unit
1.1 Type Text file
1.2 Location (or its portion), bitmap, email
1.3 Other Attributes message, manpage, directory of
2. List of Collections that man pages
include this IHO
Physical Data
•Logical structuring of information space without restructuring, reformatting
or relocating
•Accessing information via logical units
•Utilizing third party indexing tools to search for information
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 6
48. We can use keywords to query
the WAIS collection, but we can
not provide the semantics “author”
with the keyword “kilpatrick”
Kilpatrick
is not the
author! He
is referenced.
49. Attribute-based Access
An attribute-based
access method allows
the specification of
semantics like “author”
and “date”. The typed
attribute “date” allows
data access not
supported
by keyword based
methods
50. The results will only
contain those articles
authored by Kilpatrick
that were posted after
July 1, 1995.
Keyword-based and Attribute-based access are complementary
51. InfoHarness Project: Scalability
Query Result
Query Processor Combining
Partial Results
Partition 2 M.O. Partition n M.O
Partition 1 Metadata Object
Attribute Index Index Index Index Index
Metadata 11 12 21 n1 n2
Partition 1 Partition 2
Partition n
(Database of (Database of .... (Database of objects
Textual object) Textual object)
with Textual and Image
Components)
http://www.cs.uga.edu/LSDIS/infoharness
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 1
52. INFORMATION COMMERCE
A proposed Architecture
INFORMATION CONSUMERS
I nf o r I n f o r m a t i Io n f o r m a t i o n
n
ma t i o R e q u e st . . R e q u e st
.
n
Re q u e
st Ontologies/
INFORMATION BROKERING User Models
I n f o r m a t iI o n o r m a .t i I.onnf o r m a t i o n
nf
Sy st e m IS 1Sy st e m IS 2 Sy st e m IS m
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) INFORMATION PROVIDERS 2
53. An a t o m y of
I n f o r ma t i o n
Br o k e r i n g T a sk s
³I n f o r ma t i o n R e so u r c e
Di sc o v e r y
i d e nt i f i c a t i o n o f t h e i n f o r ma t i o n
so u r c e s r e l e v a n t t o a g i ve n qu e r y
or i n f o r ma t i o n n e e d
³Qu e r y P r o c e ssi n g
I n f o r ma t i o n F o c u si n g
i d e nt i f i c a t i o n o f t h e su b se t o f
i n f o r ma t i o n i n a g i v e n i n f o r ma t i o n
so u r c e r e l e v a nt t o a g i ve n qu e r y
I n f o r ma t i o n Co r r e l a t i o n
c o mb i n i n g t h e r e l e v a nt
Infocosm (Amit Sheth)n f o r m a t i o n
i f r o m d i f f e r e nt 3
54. Challenges in Information Brokering
Ne w Ch a l l e n g e s a n d
R e se a r c h Di r e c t i o n s
³ Se m a n t i c s- - k e y t o
i n f o r ma t i o n
wh a t d o y o u wa n t ? wh a t i s
a va i l a b l e ?
R e l a t i o n sh i p b e t we e n
st r u c t u r e a n d se m a n t i c s
Co n t e x t , c o nt e x t , c o nt e x t
Un c e r t a i n t y , pa r t i a l
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) o r m a t i o n ,
i nf i n c o n si st e n c y 4
55. Se m a n t i c s ?
W a t ? W e r e
h h ?
what is semantics ? Where is semantics ?
+ relationships
Vocabulary Ontology (domain specific)
Content-descriptive (domain specific
metadata)
Content Metadata
content-based (indices) (abstract structure)
Structure
content-independent Data
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 5
56. CO NT E XT
Qu e r y t o W i t e
h Ho u se se r v e r
a sk i n g f or d o c u me n t s o n
“ I nd i a ” .
2 562 9 O f f i c e - o f - Navajo-and-Hopi-Indian- R e l o c a t i o n
2 5654 Na t i o n a l - Co m m i ssi o n - o n - American-Indian, - Al a sk a -
Na t i v e , - a n d - Na t i v e - Ha wi i a n - Ho u si n g
2 566 8 I n st i t u t e - o f - American-Indian- a n d - Al a sk a -
Na t i v e - Cu l t u r e - a n d - Ar t s- De v e l o p m e n t
1 4 8 62 6 National-Indian- Ga m i n g - Co m m i ssi o n
1 4 8 63 2 B u r e a u - o f - Indian-Affairs
1 53 62 2 P u b l i c - a n d - Indian-Housing- P r o g r a m s
1 58 9 3 0 Indian-Health-Services
1 3320 6 1 9 9 4 - 0 4 - 2 9 - B a b b i t t - a n d - De e r - B r i e f i n g -
o n - Indian-Affairs
1 3330 5 1 9 9 4 - 0 4 - 2 9 - P r e si d e n t - i n - M e e t i n g - wi t h -
Indian-Tribal- L e a d e r s
30 8 37 1 9 9 4 - 0 5- 1 9 - P r e si d e n t - a n d - India-PM-RAO-
i n - P r e ss- Av a i l a b i l i t y
30 9 25 1 9 9 4 - 0 5- 1 1 - P r e si d e n t - Na m e s- F r a n k -
W sn e r - a s- Ambassador-to-India
i
8 1 9 60 1 9 9 4 - 0 8 - 0 2 - E i g h t - Na m e d - Na t i o n a l -
Ad v i so r s- o n - Indian-Education
8 1 9 62 1 9 9 4 - 0 8 - 0 3 - F o u r - o n - Am e r i c a n - Indian-
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) v e l o p m e n t - B o a r d
Culture- De 6
1 7 9 39 5 Aid t I di 10 01 93
57. E na b l i ng
I n f o c o sm
InfoQuilt Project:
Using metadata PatchQuilt and user models/ontologies to support information
requests over globally distributed heterogeneous media repositories
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) h ttp ://w w w .c s .u g a.e d u /LS DIS /in fo q u ilt 7
58. I n f o Qu i l t
Semantic Relationships between
Metadata
Qu e r y : Ge t m e r e g i o ns
( b l o c k s, c o u n t i e s) h a v i ng
a population g r e a t e r t h a n 50 0
a n d area g r e a t e r t h a n 50
sq f e e t h a v i n g a n u r b a n
land c o v e r a n d mo d e r a t e
relief
qu e r y r e p r e se n t s se m a n t i c
r e l a t i o n sh i p s b e t we e n t h e
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 8
me t a d a t a :
59. I n f o Qu i l t
Extraction of Domain Specific Metadata
Population:
Area:
SQL Queries
return blocks, Land Cover: IP functions compute regions
counties Relief: Land cover, Relief
Correlation SQL queries return
blocks with Land
SQL Queries return cover, relief
boundaries of blocks,
counties
St r u c t u r e d I ma g e
Da t a St r u c t u r e d Da t a
US Ce n su s Da t a L a n d Co v e r
Bu r e a u T I GE R / L i n e El e v a t i o n
Correlation of blocks satisfying various constraints in different databases!!
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 9
60. I n f o Qu i l t :
Mu l t i me d i a
Co r r e l a t i on
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 1 0
62. InfoQuilt/OBSERVER:
Vocabulary Sharing
Ontology-Based System Enhanced
with Relationships for
Vocabulary hEterogeneity Resolution
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 2
63. InfoQuilt
Using descriptive and content-based metadata approach
•Top-down processing: Domain
- Capture the context of user query Ontology
- Construct and display ontologies for
specific domains Query
Context
• Bottom-up processing: COMPARE
- Extract metadata from information source
- Generate mappings between metadata Information
and information Resource
- Construct information resource context Context
from the metadata
Metadata
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 3
64. A Message
³ Emerging network computing and increasing
importance of communication and the available
alternatives are tearing up traditional
geographical and market boundaries, and giving
once-in-a-life-time opportunity for the developing
countries to catch-up
³ Use information to be happy; know how to
supply information to be wealthy
³ But make no mistake-- data is not information
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 4
65. Memorable and Interesting Quotes
“By means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating
thousand of miles in a breathless point of time. The round globe is a vast ... brain,
instinct with intelligence!”
[AI Gore’s Quotation of Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851]
Zooming is when you overcome your fears and trust the universe to make things right.
You fly and float and hum and weave and sing. Opportunity knocks. Hello! I like
playing with people who zoom. Win-win deals all the time. It’s cooool ..... On really
cool days I zoom. On reallllllly cooooooooool days I zooooooooom.
[Dave Winer <dwiner@well.com>, DaveNet, 9/22/95]
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 5
66. About the Speaker
Dr. Amit Sheth directs the Large Scale Distributed Information Systems (LSDIS) Lab, is an Associate
Professor of Computer Science at the University of Georgia, and an Adj. Assoc. Professor in the College of
Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Earlier he worked for nine years in the R&D labs at
Bellcore, Unisys, and Honeywell. His primary current research interests include workflow automation
(project METEOR), management of heterogeneous digital data and semantic issues in global information
systems (projects InfoHarness and InfoQuilt), and electronic/information commerce.
Prof. Sheth has led projects on heterogeneous DBMS, factory information system, integration of AI-
database systems (project/system BrAID), transactional workflows (PROMPT and METEOR), federated
database tools (BERDI and TAILOR), multidatabase consistency, and data quality(Q-Data). LSDIS lab
(http://www.cs.uga.edu/LSDIS) maintains active collaboration with industry, and has won significant funded
projects in the areas of interoperable and global information system. Prof. Sheth has published over 80
papers in the areas of federated databases, workflow management, multidatabase consistency, metadata and
information modeling, and data consistency and semantics. He has participated in over 30 program/organiz-
ation committees for conferences , given over 45 invited and colloquia talks and 14 tutorials, and lead two
international conferences and a workshop as a General/Program (Co-)Chair. Currently he is a
General (Co-)Chair of the Intl. Conference on Cooperative Information Systems, the Program Chair
of the NSF Workshop on Workflow and Process Automation, and is on the editorial board of five journals.
He has also served twice as an ACM Lecturer.
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 6
67. Partial Bibliography
Besides the articles referred in the presentation, there is considerable information in popular and technical literature on
the topics of information superhighway, metadata, electronic commerce and related topics. I suggest using any of
the existing Web tools for a search (for example, most Internet-tools will return more than one hundred URLs for
any of these topics). Because the list is too large, below is a partial list of research publications with which the
speaker has been associated. These and other LSDIS publications can be obtained from
http://www.cs.uga.edu/LSDIS.
A. Sheth and L. Kalinechenko, "Information Modeling in Multidatabase Systems: Beyond Data Modeling" (invited paper) Proc of the 1st International
Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM), Baltimore, November 1992.
A. Sheth and V. Kashyap, "So Far (Schematically) yet So Near (Semantically)" (invited paper) Proc of the DS-5 Semantics of Interoperable Database
Systems, Lorne, Australia, November 1992; In IFIP Transactions A-25, North-Holland, 1993.
V. Kashyap and A. Sheth, "Semantics-based Information Brokering: A step towards realizing Infocosm", Technical Report DCS-TR-307, Dept. of
Computer Science, Rutgers University, March 1994 (Position Paper, December 1993).
V. Kashyap and A. Sheth, "Semantic based Information Brokering" Proceedings of the 3rd Intl. Conf. on Information and Knowledge Systems,
November 1994.
W. Klas and A. Sheth, Eds., "Metadata for Digital Media", Special issue of SIGMOD Record, December 1994.
L. Shklar, A. Sheth, V. Kashyap, and K. Shah, "InfoHarness: Use of Automatically Generated Metadata for Search and Retrieval of Heterogeneous
Information" Proceedings of CAiSE-95, June 1995.
V. Kashyap and A. Sheth, "Schematic and Semantic Semilarities between Database Objects: A Context-based Approach" to appear in the VLDB
Journal.
V. Kashyap, K. Shah, and A. Sheth, "Metadata for building the MultiMedia Patch Quilt" (to appear in) Multimedia Database Systems: Issues
and Research Directions, S. Jajodia and V.S.Subrahmaniun, Eds., Springer-Verlag, 1995.
A. Sheth, V. Kashyap and W. LeBlanc, “Attribute-based Access of Heterogeneous Digital Data,” Proceedings of the Workshop on Providing Web
Access to Legacy Data, the 4th International World Wide Web Conference, December 1995.
A. Sheth, "Data Semantics: What, Where and How?" to appear in Database Application Semantics, Proceedings of the 6th IFIP Working
Conference on Data Semantics (DS-6), R. Meersman and L. Mark (Eds.), Chapman abd Hall, London, UK, 1996.
Infocosm (Amit Sheth) 7