In recent years, much has been written about the National Information Infrastructure. As currently envisioned, it will include computers and computer networks; it will include the phone system and broadcast media; and it will include information ``appliances'' of all sorts, like tvs and vcrs. It will be universally accessible -- day and night, at school and at work and at home, whenever and wherever information and services are needed. It will be able to handle information of diverse sorts -- text and graphics, audio and video, data and knowledge. It will provide its users with easy access to distributed and heterogeneous information and services (related to shopping, entertainment, education, health care, the law, politics, and so forth). It will provide a simple mechanism for its users to distribute information and services to others. It will provide support for collaborative work among individuals from different organizations with different interests and different abilities.

Michael R. Genesereth