Organizing information on the next generation web - Design and implementation of a new bookmark structure

The next-generation Web will increase the need for a highly organized and ever evolving method to store references to Web objects. These requirements could be realized by the development of a new bookmark structure. This paper endeavors to identify the key requirements of such a bookmark, specifically in relation to Web documents, and sets out a suggested design through which these needs may be accomplished. A prototype developed offers such features as the sharing of bookmarks between users and groups of users. Bookmarks for Web documents in this prototype allow more specific information to be stored such as: URL, the document type, the document title, keywords, a summary, user annotations, date added, date last visited and date last modified. Individuals may access the service from anywhere on the Internet, as long as they have a Java-enabled Web browser

User Customisation of Agent Profiles in the National electronic Library for Communicable Disease

The Internet provides overwhelming amount of medical information. However, healthcare professionals often cannot find the information they need when they need it and if they do the quality may be uncertain. A new Internet digital library, the National electronic Library for Communicable Disease (NeLCD), is addressing this issue by providing a single-entry portal to evidence-based information on treatment, investigation and prevention of communicable disease. Autonomous Intelligent Agents are essential for the development and runtime of the NeLCD library as they perform autonomously a number of tasks related to the search, assist humans in information publishing, the document review process and data exchange. In this paper, we present an application of Intelligent Agents in user profiling and customisation. In particular, they allow users to personalise the search, modify the input controlled vocabulary and customize the search results to better meet their needs. In addition, they can autonomously alert users about new postings according to their interests. Profiling of Intelligent Search Agents (ISA) and Pro-active Alert Agents (PAA) allows extensive customisation of the library according to user’s personal preferences, professional background and medical specialty

Agents in Online Healthcare Digital Library Management of the National Resource for Infection Control

In this paper, we describe a specification for the use of agents within the National Resource for Infection Control (NRIC - www.nric.org.uk) in the UK. The National Resource for Infection Control is an Internet medical digital library that provides a single point of access to quality appraised, evidence based information within the field of infection control. One of the most important aspects of running an online healthcare digital library is the improvement of the functionality provided to the users, in order to facilitate the transfer of information in as useful a manner as possible. Software agents can help solve some of the problems involved in this process in an efficient manner. The methods by which agents may be used in this scenario to aid the improvement of this digital library are detailed here

Distributed search in National Electronic Library for Health

Modern healthcare specialists are overwhelmed by the volume of medical information available on the Internet However, they cannot always find what they need when they need it. The UK National Electronic Library for Health (NeLH) is addressing this issue by providing a single-entry portal to evidence-based medical information on the Internet enhanced with a quality tag assigned by professional experts. In order to fully utilize the potential of an Internet-based library, the NeLH is distributed and consists of a number of Virtual Branch Libraries (VBLs), each dedicated to a particular disease or a medical area. VBLs are dynamically updated and their design reflects the needs of each particular user base. However, users accessing a single VBL may want to search the entire NeLH or should have the option of being able to search the entire NeLH. Therefore, support for a distributed search according to an adopted topology of VBL servers is essential. In this paper, we present an agent-based solution to distributed search based on a star topology of the NeLH

Intelligent Information Agents for the World Wide Web

This paper provides a snapshot of the current status of Intelligent Information Agents for the World Wide Web (WWW). This area is still in its infancy, but, like the Web itself, is undergoing rapid change. Software agents are being employed in a variety of ways on the Web and elsewhere. However, we focus here on agents that accomplish tasks such as searching, browsing and filtering information available on the WWW. In addition, we discuss KQML and CORBA, enabling technologies that provide a framework for developing future software agents. INTRODUCTION The World Wide Web (WWW) contains a complete universe of on-line information. Unfortunately, it has become almost impossible for a casual user to look for specific information without getting lost among huge amounts of mixed data. Some problems are inherent in any information retrieval system. In particular, retrieval failures arise because of the the ambiguity of natural language. Queries are at best imperfect representations of the us..

FY97-11100-1. ABSTRACT Intelligent Information Agents for the World Wide Web

This paper provides a snapshot of the current status of Intelligent Information Agents for the World Wide Web (WWW). This area is still in its infancy, but, like the Web itself, is undergoing rapid change. Software agents are being employed in a variety of ways on the Web and elsewhere. However, we focus here on agents that accomplish tasks such as searching, browsing and filtering information available on the WWW. In addition, we discuss KQML and CORBA, enabling technologies that provide a framework for developing future software agents