THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INTERNET CONFERENCE INFORMATION-SYSTEM

The conferencing information system (CIS) described in this paper is d eveloped to provide timely information about ongoing computer-supporte d conferences throughout the Internet. CIS consists of three major com ponents: the information server (S), the conference announcer ((A) and the conference querier (Q). A advertises a conference, S maintains th e conference information, while Q retrieves the current conference inf ormation from S and assists the user in joining any of the existing co nferences. Availability of the service is achieved by running multiple Ss throughout the lnternet. Responsiveness is improved by requiring e ach autonomous domain to run a local daemon D that acts as a mediator between Qs and Ss and as a backup server for local conferences.