With the rapid growth of computer and communication technologies, the creation, modification and distribution of digital multimedia information have become easier than ever. Such multimedia information includes still images, video, audio, texts and artifacts in virtual space. The efficient storage of valuable information and rapid access to it is crucial to all modern organizations.This proceedings volume consists of papers by researchers and academicians which explore the various aspects of the digital media information base. A special emphasis is placed on new database system technologies.

This volume is a progress report on the project Research and Development of Advanced Database Systems for Integration of Media and User Environments, supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan. It investigates research on new database systems due to the recent development of network technology; a clearer picture of integration by database technology is drawn as a result.

This volume contains technical papers and panel position papers selected from the proceedings of the International Symposium on Information Systems and Technologies for Network Society, held together with the IPSJ (information processing society of Japan) National Convention, in September 1997. Papers were submitted from all over the world, especially from Japan, Korea and China. Since these countries are believed to form one of the major computer manufacturing centers in the world, a panel on “Computer Science Education for the 21st Century” was set up. A special session on the Japanese project on Software Engineering invited representative researchers from the project, which is supported by the Ministry of Education, Japan.

This volume is the first in a series which aims to contribute to the wider dissemination of the results of research and development in database systems for non-traditional applications and non-traditional machine organizations. It contains updated versions of selected papers from the First International Symposium on Database Systems for Advanced Applications.

With the rapid growth of computer and communication technologies, the creation, modification and distribution of digital multimedia information have become easier than ever. Such multimedia information includes still images, video, audio, texts and artifacts in virtual space. The efficient storage of valuable information and rapid access to it is crucial to all modern organizations.This proceedings volume consists of papers by researchers and academicians which explore the various aspects of the digital media information base. A special emphasis is placed on new database system technologies.

This volume is a progress report on the project Research and Development of Advanced Database Systems for Integration of Media and User Environments, supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan. It investigates research on new database systems due to the recent development of network technology; a clearer picture of integration by database technology is drawn as a result.

This volume contains technical papers and panel position papers selected from the proceedings of the International Symposium on Information Systems and Technologies for Network Society, held together with the IPSJ (information processing society of Japan) National Convention, in September 1997. Papers were submitted from all over the world, especially from Japan, Korea and China. Since these countries are believed to form one of the major computer manufacturing centers in the world, a panel on “Computer Science Education for the 21st Century” was set up. A special session on the Japanese project on Software Engineering invited representative researchers from the project, which is supported by the Ministry of Education, Japan.

This volume is the first in a series which aims to contribute to the wider dissemination of the results of research and development in database systems for non-traditional applications and non-traditional machine organizations. It contains updated versions of selected papers from the First International Symposium on Database Systems for Advanced Applications.