An Architecture for Digital Object Typing

Though the Internet provides a powerful platform for distributed access to data, current standards fail to encompass management of complex information. The ability to mediate between heterogeneous information formats is a key foundation on which more powerful information systems can be built. This paper outlines our efforts in creating a digital object architecture that facilitates the management of distributed heterogeneous information. The key features of the architecture are: (i) the ability to aggregate multiple data sources and relevant processing services into a single logical entity; (ii) a flexible, distributed, digital object typing mechanism; and (iii) support for dynamic aggregation of information processing services.