Many questions occur in the computer user's mind when confronted with the explosion of ComputerArtifacts which have been made available within the internet. The confusion one usually encounters cannot be eliminated by human effort alone. The resources of time and energy will long have been exhausted if one tries by "brute force" to extract some artifact which matches the user's requirements for information. Even if one is able to form a "perfect query" using a comprehensive search engine, the results are numerous, dated and perhaps irrelevant to the matter at hand. 

What is needed is a disciplined, targeted and continuous use of the computer as a "filter". One which has more than one filtering mechanism to locate and classify relevant information. One which uses the computing system as an extension of the user. 

Some computer systems are designed with interfaces which allow the user to "interact" with a computer which is "attached" to known and processable informational artifacts and which utilize a processing scheme which "allows" extraction of information.

What might be constructed for the user is a system which is specialized and acts in a manner which "extends" the reach of the user, and which allows a more comprehensive search of freely available information and which "zeros" in one what a user "wants". This would be the result of an interaction with the system based on initial and subsequent expressions of "need".

Is this possible? What systems now exist to do this?

''There is active research in a number UK universities -- and no doubt elsewhere -- into creating agent-based systems for achieving the above goals.'' 

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'''External Links'''

Agent-Based Systems
* D''''''istributedDesignConstraints
** http://www.csd.abdn.ac.uk/~apreece/Research/KRAFT/kraft_agents98.html
* Info-Sleuth
** http://www.argreenhouse.com/InfoSleuth/
* Related Publications and Research
** http://www.argreenhouse.com/InfoSleuth/publications.shtml

Other Links
* Shared Information
** ''As the worlds of information, communication and media converge, consumers and businesses are increasingly demanding real time sophisticated services on a global scale. The ability of service providers to satisfy these needs in a timely, accurate and cost effective manner rests upon their ability to instantly and securely share accurate information, both internally and with their ecosystem partners''
*** http://www.telcordia.com/news_events/events/2007/commonlanguage_tmf_webinar.html