Panel on: Bridging the Gap between Cooperative Information Systems and Database Systems
Organizer:
Sharma Chakravarthy
University of Florida
Panelists:
Discussion Theme:
CIS (Cooperative Information Systems) can be viewed as a
generalization of database systems and can utilize solutions
developed in a number of areas, such as distributed AI, agents,
databases, and cooperative problem solving, to name a few. Similarly, CIS
can be viewed as a generalization of other areas as well.
Although each area has addressed and developed its own set of solutions for classes of problems that are considered interesting, there is a real need for the cross fertilization of ideas, architectures, and solutions to address/solve larger problems, such as electronic commerce, use of knowledge Depots, and utilization of the WWW. There is considerable overlap as well as uniqueness in the set of problems addressed by each area. Most importantly, the perpsective is different, thereby generating solutions that are different from one another.
To provide a concrete example that I am familiar with, consider the use of active database functionality for supporting various protocols used in cooperative problem solving. This has been investigated recently by several groups. However, this problem has also been addressed by the DAI community earlier with a slightly different viewpoint. I believe that these viewpoints are important and provide complementary solutions to that problem.
The objectives of this panel are to bring together a group of people (practitioners as well as academics) to: