1. Yannis Ioannidis University of Athens, Hellas Someone Else’s Problems

2. Problems › Comprehensive information systems › Multi-modal/multi-channel access

3. Comprehensive Info Systems › Databases, Web, Digital Libraries, Document Systems, Archives, … › Different philosophies in information storage, access, manipulation, … › Even different “scientific” communities with limited communication among them

4. › Need to understand real differences › Need to develop comprehensive approaches to deal with all forms of information Comprehensive Info Systems

5. › Need to be able to ask for “Details of the $100K and up bank transactions of anyone mentioned in the same document as someone in the `most-wanted’ table who …” and the system to deal with information of different degrees of structure  Database tables of people and transactions  XML files of transaction details  Text files of newspaper articles

6. Comprehensive Info Systems › Query languages and other interfaces › Other forms of interaction › Algebras › Query processing and optimization › Information synthesis › …

7. Multi-Modal/-Channel Access › Access information using different devices at different times › Within and across user sessions › Critical for mobile databases, location- based information access, …

8. Multi-Modal/-Channel Access › Persistent sessions across multiple devices › Session maintenance as user moves around - start from where user left off › Device-dependent interface and content & service delivery

9. Multi-Modal/-Channel Access › Need to be able to ask for “Seafood restaurants in Lowell, MA” and the system  deliver a different response (in terms of visual abstraction level) when that is viewed from a laptop or a mobile phone  be prepared to respond on-line or later

10. Multi-Modal/-Channel Access › “Multi-” query languages and other interfaces › “Multi-” algebras › “Multi-” processing and optimization › “Multi-” response formation › “Multi-” session management › …

11. Multi-Modal/-Channel Access › Intimately related to  information approximation  quality of service