[104] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
"If only our online catalog were as powerful as WAIS"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Glee Willis)
Tue Apr 28 11:27:28 1992
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1992 10:22:11 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
From: Glee Willis <willis%unssun.scs.unr.edu@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.BITNET>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I would like to post to PACS-L this abridged version of the latest digest
for the benefit of those who aren't fully aware of WAIS's efforts to
"harness the Net". If people want copy of Brewster's previous comments,
they can contact me or Brewster. -- Glee
[abridged version]
From: rhys@cs.uq.oz.au
Subject: Re: WAIS project notes
>[I can describe what WAIS is, and what it does, but I have had a hard time
>communicating why I think it is important. Any help would be appreciated.
>Late one night I wrote some notes that might be illustrative. -brewster]
WAIS Project Notes: The Net
I liked this article Brewster.
Why is WAIS important? I think it's important because it encourages people to
make stuff available more readily, so information is easier to find. Without
WAIS, much of the data is still available, but WAIS gives the coherent
front-end that enables people to provide and find things. Without WAIS,
companies may provide databases of information, but with widely differing
access methods and so on, it's just not possible to reach a critical mass of
users to make it worthwhile. Something like WAIS brings information provision
and retrieval to the critical mass stage.
------------------------------
From: Hooper_TA@cc.curtin.edu.au
Subject: Re: WAIS notes
You write:
>[I can describe what WAIS is, and what it does, but I have had a hard time
>communicating why I think it is important. Any help would be appreciated.
>Late one night I wrote some notes that might be illustrative. -brewster]
If I had more time I could write more. I've jotted down why I think WAIS
is important. I guess most of these points boil down to the fact that it
is really the first idea to cover all these bases.
--
- WAIS harnesses the network
The physical hardware of the Internet has evolved much faster than the
software used on it. People who are still sending email and reading News
are using only a fraction of the power of the networks.
WAIS provides a simple protocol that can locate information sources anywhere
on the Internet, without a user having to worry about confusing technical
details. To the WAIS user, there is no difference in using a database around
the world or a database next door.
The quantity of information on the Internet is staggering. If each computer
on the Internet held only a few thousand words that may be of interest to
someone, we are already talking about many gigabytes of information. When you
include the data that is sitting idle in files and proprietary database systems,
then the potential expands to many terabytes. WAIS provides the common
denominator to harness all that information into a usable form, and deliver
it to the desktop.
- Creating an information marketplace
Because TMC has made the WAIS software freely available and based it on a
recognised protocol, it has gained acceptance quickly. This groundswell
of support is the first step in creating an information marketplace based on
WAIS.
- Available on the users workstation - consistently and efficiently
In this age of personal workstations, users are reluctant to connect to
information services which relegate their workstation to the status of a
'dumb terminal'. The power of the personal workstation is totally wasted in
such an application. Furthermore, users need to deal with a confusing variety of
differing user interfaces for each information source.
The WAIS clients for workstations supersede this unsatisfactory arrangement. By
offering a consistent interface across platforms and utilising the power of the
local workstation, users are able to locate information in a quicker and more
efficient fashion.
By taking the human out of the request-response loop, users feel more
comfortable using a database and they are likely to try numerous different
sources of information in one session. Finding new sources is a simple WAIS
query in itself, so the user need not resort to slow and inefficient manual
methods of locating information.
- Uses current technology
WAIS is working now. It has an infinite advantage over numerous proposed or
theoretical models of global information sharing. By bootstrapping the
available technology into working, we are better equipped to deal with future
advances in technology that WAIS can harness. Computer networks will soon be
delivering audio and video in real time. We need to understand how this media
is going to be delivered before we can even comprehend how we are going to use
it. The WAIS model provides a good foundation in which this new technology will
be instantly usable.
- A bright future
The rate of growth in WAIS servers and the international cooperation promises
a bright future for WAIS. The server and client software is by no means
perfect, but the cooperative effort in place is already addressing the
shortcomings. People with an interest in WAIS are finding that they can just
take their data and plug it into WAIS, making it available to the whole world
easily. In turn, end users of the data are finding more and more useful
sources coming online, increasing their dependence on WAIS as part of their
day to day information requirement.
The WAIS concept is reaching the point where it can become a viable information
transport in both the public and private sector.
--
Well, that about sums it up. I liked what you said about the transition
being fast. In my experience, these things always move ahead of the
academics who claim to study them. The academics will just have to come
along afterwards and try and work out what happened.
Meanwhile, the information revolution continues!
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 92 10:35:42 PDT
From: al@cs.brown.edu
Subject: WAIS notes
I found your notes on Wais interesting. I find the Wais interface to
be somewhat counter intuitive, yet I use it several times a week and
am one of the more vocal Wais preachers on campus. Why? Because it
lets me get answers to questions _fast_.
A few weeks back I had an argument with someone about a Biblical
reference. I didn't know which passage the reference was to, but
again I got the answer from Wais within 30 seconds.
Wais allows me to become an expert on topics I know nothing about,
simply by finding and searching the relevant databases. It does this
by taking the discussions of the real experts and letting me look at
only the bits relevant to the problem immediately at hand.
I am uncomfortable with your statement that "People are asking
computers questions" (although I have used phrasing that implies as
much above). When I use Wais I do not feel that I am asking the
computer a question, but instead I am looking something up in a
reference work. I don't ask the dictionary a question when I look
things up in it - I simply use it as a repository of information. The
same with Wais. I believe that the future of libraries is in systems
like Wais.
Another factor in Wais' success has been its price - it is free, and
at the moment most servers are free as well. Anybody who wants to
play with Wais can ftp the sources, compile, and start to play. (The
first few times I used Wais I was playing with a new toy - it took a
while before I began to depend on it as a tool). I think this will be
crucial to the continued success of systems like Wais. If our public
libraries are to replace their encyclopedias with online systems (or
perhaps even eliminate their reading rooms completely, and make
everything electronically accessible from home) then the price of
these new systems must remain cheap.
One can argue that by using Wais as a reference source one loses some
of the joy of browsing through a work. Although this is true to some
extent, I have found that one can also browse through the Wais
servers. Every few weeks I play with wais, looking what servers are
available, and what kind of cool stuff they have to offer. What
starts as playing often ends up as a useful tool. This is another
factor in Wais' success. It's a lot of fun to play with as a toy,
simply to see what kind of info is out there, but it rapidly becomes a
very useful tool (but doesn't lose it's alternate identity as a toy).
(If only our online card catalog were as powerful as Wais...)
