-Mark Langston
Psychology Dept.
Memphis State University

   Is anyone reading this newsgroup aware of research or development efforts in
the
   following areas:

    1. Hypertext links enabling retrieval from multiple heterogenous sources of
information?
    2. "Qualified Hypertext LInks" -- By this I mean attaching semantic
information to the links
        themselves and retrieval using this to cut down on links that get
followed.

  Any information would be appreciated
  Thanks
  Nari

We have a prototype hypertext editor for the NeXT, and a browser for line mode  
terminals which runs on almost anything. These can access files either locally,  
NFS mounted, or via anonymous FTP. They can also go out using a simple protocol  
(HTTP) to a server which interprets some other data and returns equivalent  
hypertext files. For example, we have a server running on our mainframe  
(http://cernvm.cern.ch/FIND in WWW syntax) which makes all the CERN computer  
center documentation available. The HTTP protocol allows for a keyword search  
on an index, which generates a list of matching documents as annother virtual  
hypertext document.

If you're interested in using the code, mail me.  It's very prototype, but  
available by anonymous FTP from info.cern.ch. It's copyright CERN but free  
distribution and use is not normally a problem.

The NeXTstep editor can also browse news. If you are using it to read this,  
then click on this: <http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html> to find  
out more about the project. We haven't put the news access into the line mode  
browser yet.

We also have code for a hypertext server. You can use this to make files  
available (like anonymous FTP but faster because it only uses one connection).  
You can also hack it to take a hypertext address and generate a virtual  
hypertext document from any other data you have - database, live data etc. It's  
just a question of generating plain text or SGML (ugh! but standard) mark-up on  
the fly. The browsers then parse it on the fly.

The WWW project was started to allow high energy physicists to share data,  
news, and documentation. We are very interested in spreading the web to other  
areas, and having gateway servers for other data.  Collaborators welcome! I'll  
post a short summary as a separate article.

Tim Berners-Lee                         ti...@info.cern.ch
World Wide Web project                  Tel: +41(22)767 3755    
CERN                                    Fax: +41(22)767 7155
1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland             (usual disclaimer)

                WorldWideWeb - Executive Summary

The WWW project merges the techniques of information retrieval and hypertext to  
make an easy but powerful global information system.

The project started with the philosophy that much academic information should  
be freely available to anyone. It aims to allow information sharing within  
internationally dispersed teams, and the dissemination of information by  
support groups.

     Reader view

The WWW world consists of documents, and links.  Indexes are special documents  
which, rather than being read, may be searched. The result of such a search is  
another ("virtual") document containing links to the documents found.  A simple  
protocol ("HTTP") is used to allow a browser program to request a keyword  
search by a remote information server.

The web contains documents in many formats. Those documents which are  
hypertext,  (real or virtual) contain links to other documents, or places  
within documents. All documents, whether real, virtual or indexes, look similar  
to the reader and are contained within the same addressing scheme.

To follow a link,  a reader clicks with a mouse (or types in a number if he or  
she has no mouse). To search and index, a reader gives keywords (or other  
search criteria). These are the only operations  necessary to access the entire  
world of data.

     Information provider view

The WWW browsers can access many existing data systems via existing protocols  
(FTP, NNTP) or via HTTP and a gateway. In this way, the critical mass of data  
is quickly exceeded, and the increasing use of the system by readers and  
information suppliers encourage each other.

Making a web is as simple as writing a few SGML files which point to your  
existing data. Making it public involves running the FTP or HTTP daemon, and  
making at least one link into your web from another. In fact,  any file  
available by anonymous FTP can be immediately linked into a web. The very small  
start-up effort is designed to allow small contributions.  At the other end of  
the scale, large information providers may provide an HTTP server with full  
text or keyword indexing.

The WWW model gets over the frustrating incompatibilities of data format  
between suppliers and reader by allowing negotiation of format between a smart  
browser and a smart server. This should provide a basis for extension into  
multimedia, and allow those who share application standards to make full use of  
them across the web.

This summary does not describe the many exciting possibilities opened up by the  
WWW project, such as efficient document caching. the reduction of redundant  
out-of-date copies, and the use of knowledge daemons.  There is more  
information in the online project documentation, including some background on  
hypertext and many technical notes.

     Try it

A prototype (very alpha test) simple line mode browser is currently available  
in source form from node  info.cern.ch [currently 128.141.201.74] as

        /pub/WWW/WWWLineMode_0.9.tar.Z.

Also available is a hypertext editor for the NeXT using the NeXTStep graphical  
user interface, and a skeleton server daemon.

Documentation is readable using www (Plain text of the instalation instructions  
is included in the tar file!). Document

         http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

is as good a place to start as any. Note these coordinates may change with  
later releases.

_________________________________________________________________

Tim Berners-Lee                 Tel:    +41(22)767 3755
WorldWideWeb project            Fax:    +41(22)767 7155
C.E.R.N.                        email:  t...@cernvax.cern.ch
1211 Geneva 23
Switzerland

Thanks to feedback from many people, some bugs have been fixed. In particular,  
the documentation shipped with the tar file now contains absolute links to  
futher references on our servers, so that the links will still work when the  
files are read elsewhere.  There are a few other minor changes. Details are in  
the bug and feature lists in the online documenation. New tar files are  
available as follows. Instructions are enclosed in each.

 WWWLineMode_0.11.tar.Z         Portable line mode hypertext browser - source.

 WWWNeXTStepEditor_0.12.tar.Z   NeXTStep hypertext browser/editor.

The following tar files remain unchanged:

 WWWDaemon_0.1.tar.Z            Simple hypertext server program

Many thanks to all those who are using the code and commented, both for the  
enthusiasm and the bug reports!

     Tim
________________________________________________________________________

Tim Berners-Lee                      Tel:       +41(22)767 3755
WorldWideWeb project                 Fax:       +41(22)767 7155
C.E.R.N.                             email:     t...@cernvax.cern.ch
1211 Geneva 23
Switzerland

In article <6...@cernvax.cern.ch> timbl@info .cern.ch (Tim Berners-Lee) writes:

Thanks,  Michael

--
Michael Kaufman | I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on
 kaufman        | fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in
  @eecs.nwu.edu | the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be
                | lost in time - like tears in rain. Time to die.     Roy Batty

See article <6...@cernvax.cern.ch> for background on WWW. Sorry for clogging up  
the news. - Tim BL
__________________________________________________________________________
Tim Berners-Lee                       ti...@info.cern.ch
World Wide Web project                Tel: +41(22)767 3755      
CERN                                  Fax: +41(22)767 7155
1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland