ALIBI - A NOVEL-APPROACH TO RESOURCE DISCOVERY

Provides a new answer to the resource discovery problem, which arises because although the Internet makes it possible for users to retrieve enormous amounts of information, it provides insufficient support for locating the specific information that is needed. ALIBI (Adaptive Loca tion of Internet-worked Bases of Information) is a new tool that succe eds in locating information without the use of centralized resource ca talogs, navigation, or costly searching. Its powerful query-based inte rface eliminates the need for the user to connect to one network site after another to find information or to wrestle with overloaded centra lized catalogs and archives. This functionality was made possible by a n assortment of significant new algorithms and techniques, including c lassification-based query routing, fully distributed cooperative cachi ng, and a query language that combines the practicality of Boolean log ic with the expressive power of text retrieval. The resulting informat ion system is capable of providing fully automatic resource discovery and retrieval access to a limitless variety of information bases.