Extending the microcosm model to a distributed environment

In recent years, there has been significant growth in the use of computer networks to support electronic delivery of information. As the volume of available information has grown, a need for powerful tools that can manage access has arisen. It has been suggested that hypertext techniques can provide such a facility. The Microcosm system is a hypertext link service developed at the University of Southampton. The system is based upon a modular architecture which allows the functionality of the system to be easily and dynamically extended. This paper describes the development of a distributed version of Microcosm based upon this modular design. The distributed system described utilises the fine granularity of the Microcosm model to support a wide range of wide possible configurations. The system also extends the document management facilities of Microcosm to allow information stored by other information services to be incorporated. The result is a system that can apply Microcosm's open linking services to a wide range of networked information.