HT Article Summaries by Group I: Fitzgerald, Kalafut, Klein, and Muhlenburg.
          "IRIS Hypermedia Services" by Bernard J. Haan, et al.

     The term "hypertext" has given way to the term "hypermedia"
because other types of information; like graphics, animation, sound
and video, became involved.  IRIS Hypermedia Services' Intermedia tool
is different mainly because it models a hypermedia framework, not just
a single program.  Intermedia consists of a file system browser,
direct manipulation editors, link browsers, linguistic tools, and a
link creator/traverser.  Its separation of link data and document data
is also distinctive.  It is both an author's tool and a reader's tool.
The Intermedia system appears to UNIX as 2 separate processes - the
Intermedia or end-user process and the Link Server process.
     A primary goal of Intermedia was to show that object-orientation
best supports hypermedia functionality.  This led to several
hypermedia policies implemented at the framework level to assure
consistency across applications.  The data consistency policy states
that document data must be consistent with link data at all times.
Selection and menu handling must be consistent across Intermedia
applications.  Editing operations like cut, copy, and paste must be
the same for both document data and link data.  Multiple users can
access document data and link data, while only one user is allowed to
annotate anything at a single time.  Intermedia features active anchor
flags and allows for the transfer of entire webs.
     The Intermedia mechanism is comprised of 2 major components - the
Intermedia Layer and the Link Engine.  The Intermedia Layer supports
live data manipulation.  It is implemented with a set of MacApp
classes and other classes.  The Link Engine supports the storage and
retrieval of persistent link data.  It is composed of the Link Client,
the Link Server, and a DBMS.  The data model has 5 major relations:
document, anchor, anchor view, anchor application, and link.
Operations include the opening and closing of sockets; obtaining the
next unique identifier; importing and exporting of document and link
data; and the addition, deletion, modification, and moving operations.
     Remaining issues yet to be implemented include the integration of
hypermedia into the desktop, multiple active webs, filtering tools,
wide-area hypermedia, and transparent object storage.  In the
ever-changing world of information, we must try to make hypermedia
globally accessible on all desktops.  Intermedia can make this happen.