mediationtodealwithheterogeneousdatasources.docVIP

Mediation to Deal with Heterogeneous Data Sources. Gio Wiederhold gio@ Stanford University Jan. 1999 Introduction The objective of interoperation is to increase the value of information when information from multiple sources is accessed, related, and combined. However, care is required to realize this benefit. One problem to be addressed in this context is that a simple integration over the ever-expanding number of resources available on-line leads to what customers perceive as information overload. In actuality, the customers experience data overload, making it nearly impossible for them to extract relevant points of information out of a huge haystack of data. Information should support the making of decisions and actions. We distinguish Interoperation of Information from integration of data and databases, since we do not expect to combine the sources, but only selected results derived from them [Kim:95]. If much of the data obtained from the sources is materialized, then the integration of information overlaps with the topic of data warehousing [Kimball:96]. In the interoperation paradigm we favor that the merging is performed as the need arises, relying on articulation points that have been found and defined earlier [ColletHS:91]. If the base sources are transient, a warehouse can provide a suitable persistent resource. Interoperation requires knowledge and intelligence, but increases substantially the value to the consumer. For instance, domain knowledge which combines merchant ship data with trucking and railroad information permits a customer to analyze and plan multi-modal shipping. Interoperating over multiple, distinct information domains, as shipping, cost-of-money, and weather requires broader knowledge, but will further improve the value of the information. Consider here the manager who deals with delivery of goods, who must combine information about shipping, the cost of inventory that is delayed, and the effects of weather on possible d