The workshop investigates application and research issues of interoperating data and knowledge bases. Multidatabase interoperability and resolution of semantic heterogeneity constitute enabling technologies for the development of complex applications requiring access to multiple information resources. The main objective is to bring together researchers from industry and academia to discuss how the basic research addresses problems encountered by applications in the heterogeneous database environment. Participants have an opportunity to study real user problems identified by the industry representatives. The collaboration between basic and application researchers can then be based on a solid foundation created by basic research. The main topics to be discussed include: semantic integration of information from diverse sources; methods to resolve semantic incompatibilities; query optimization techniques and distributed transaction processing in multidatabase environments; descriptive modeling of asynchronous data processing; and incorporation of emerging technologies (such as active and object-oriented databases) into multidatabase systems. It is expected that the results of the workshop will be summarized in a final report to be published later. The report will evaluate the progress made in multidatabase interoperability and identify areas in need of further research.
