object management and sharing in autonomous, distributed databases  an important current trend in information management is from a record-based to an object-based orientation. in particular, existing record-oriented database management systems fulfill many of the requirements of traditional database application domains, but they fall short of providing facilities well-suited to applications in office information systems, design engineering databases, and artificial intelligence systems. in an object-oriented system: information units of various modalities, levels of granularity, and levels of abstraction have individual identity; semantic primitives for object classification and inter-relation are explicitly part of the system; and objects can be active as well as passive.  the purpose of the research project described here is to devise and experimentally test concepts, techniques and mechanisms to support a distributed object management system, termed the distributed personal knowledge manager (dpkm). dpkm is an adaptive tool for the non-computer expert; it is intended to allow end-users to define, manipulate, and evolve collections of information. dpkm handles various forms of information/knowledge in an integrated manner; this includes symbolic data, meta-data, derived data (rules), behavioral information (procedures), constraints, and mixed modality information. an individual dpkm also serves as an access port to other (external) information resources.  this research specifically focuses on the following issues.  an information model to support the integrated specification of various forms of data/knowledge1;  an end-user interface providing a layered view of knowledge, multi-media information input and output, and prescriptive user guidance1, 2;  an efficient mechanism for internally organizing and evolving dpkm databases ;3;  a multi-level networking/communication mechanism to support inter-dpkm information exchange, sharing, coordination, and access control4, 5.  in the approach taken in this research, each data/knowledge base is a logical context (node) in a logical network. associated with each context is a collection of information objects and mappings. the objects model units of potentially shareable information at different levels of abstraction; these are: symbolic (or atomic) objects, abstract objects, object classifications via enumeration (enumerated sets) or via selection predicate (predicate sets), constraints on inter-object relationships (generic mappings), and behavioral objects (procedures). mappings specify relations among instances of objects. it is significant to note that information objects classically distinguished in database terms as "schema" and "data" are treated here within a uniform framework. an extensible set of operations supports the manipulation and sharing of objects.  an experimental prototype implementation of dpkm is under development, based on an interconnected network of personal workstations and computers. it is intended that the dpkm project will examine applications in a variety of domains, but it will principally focus on the researcher and design engineer for the purposes of initial experimental application and testing.  dennis mcleod