This entire range of information needs to be coordinated and combined into a single, reasonably seamless archive system. Applications A brief discussion of several popular information dissemination technologies is useful before moving into the details of the prototype. More detailed discussions of information systems protocol integration are available. Z39.50 is a general information search and retrieval protocol. Unlike the other systems described in this paper, it is a pure protocol and not a stand-alone application.
Gopher is designed to present information as a series of menus which can be navigated by the user.
Data objects themselves are quite simple -they are either menu items with associated location information or data objects which may or may not be of interest to the user. The Gopher client either displays the menu item or retrieves the data object for perusal by the user. The user simply specifies the link to be followed and a new data object is retrieved and presented. WWW provides gateway access to several of the other systems mentioned in this paper, including Z39.50. NCSA Mosaic NCSA Mosaic is an integrated information access environment for a variety of network information systems and protocols.