ON INTELLIGENT AND COOPERATIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A WORKSHOP SUMMARY

Future information systems will involve large numbers of heterogeneous, intelligent agents distributed over large computer/communication networks. Agents may be humans, humans interacting with computers, humans working with computer support, and computer systems performing tasks without human intervention. We call such systems Intelligent and Cooperative Information Systems (ICISs). Although we can imagine extensions of capabilities of current ISs and of individual contributing core technologies, such as databases, artificial intelligence, operating systems, and programming languages, we cannot imagine the capabilities of ICISs which we believe will be based on extensions of these and other technologies. Neither do we know exactly what technologies and capabilities will be required, what challenges will arise, nor how the technologies might be integrated or work together to address the challenges.

In this paper, we provide initial definitions for key concepts and terms in this new area, identify potential core contributing technologies, illustrate the ICIS concept with example systems, and pose basic research questions. We also describe the results of discussions on these topics that took place at the Second International Workshop on Intelligent and Cooperative Information Systems held in Como, Italy, October 1991. The workshop focused on core technologies for ICISs. The workshop and the results reflect the multi-disciplinary nature of this omerging area.