Knowledge to Mediate from User's Workstations to Databases

Information systems that are now becoming available are reaching the capabilities envisaged by Vannevar Bush in 1945 when he specified the ‘memex’. We can sit at our workstations and view data from many different sources. But any integration of the information still takes place in our minds, and we now have a common complaint of information overload. New hardware and software technologies address aspects of this problem. In this panel we want to develop a vision which integrates new directions to carry us beyond ‘Memex’. We use the term ‘Mediation’ for the software which fits between the users’ agent the workstation, and the diverse data sources. Specifically, the ability of computers to communicate effectively opens up possibilities for information processing which greatly exceed those on our immediate horizon. User’s on their workstations should be able to PANEL SESSION Knowledge to Mediate from User’s Workstations to Databases