Software agents for collaborative information sources

The main issue addressed in this paper is how to simultaneously involve several information sources (ISs) to satisfy users' needs. These ISs are distributed on networks and may present several incompatibilities at different levels. As a solution, we suggest the development of a collaborative environment that will enable these ISs to interact efficiently. This environment is based on several types of software agents integrated in a multi-agent system architecture. Furthermore, some of these agents are enhanced with mobility mechanisms. This research is part of the CIS (Collaborative Information Sources) project.