Progress 1: A text-based Web chat prototype with a database backend
for concurrency management and text search

This is a text-based interactive collaboration environment
that allows users around the world to communicate with each 
other in real time via Internet and a Web based chat board. 

. current key features: 
	. email-oriented format and integrated chat and bulletin board 
	  with on-line archiving and searching
	. support multiple chat channels simultaneously
	. support multiple chat communication modes within a channel:
		. personal conversations (one-to-one), 
		. group conferences(many-to-many), and
		. moderated auditoriums (one-to-many, talk show model).
 	. doesn't require special chat client software. 
	  Chat client only requires a netscape browser with 
	  multi-frame capability on any platform 
	. high performance server technology, built on 
	  parallel web/database/chat servers on a MIMD parallel machine IBM SP2,
	  to be able to support large number of concurrent users

. Current applications: 
	. first used/demonstrated at the NPAC/Maxwell campaign96 web 
	  site for the Newt G. visit, http://www.npac.syr.edu/campaign96/
        . the PCRC-Java discussion group. http://merlin9.npac.syr.edu:1963/pcrc/home.html
. Main server - http://merlin9:1963/cgi-bin/chat/chat.html
  Backup server - http://kayak:1963/cgi-bin/chat/chat.html

Progress 2: A customizable full-text index/search engine for web search

This work continues the previous work in building large-scale web index/search database
on high-performance parallel database system, with more focus on customizations and
finer granular web search - build search systems for content specific web information space
on a single web site.

. key features:
	. full-text indexing/searching with advanced search capability - 
	  query refining,keyword highlighting, word expansions etc.
	. gather/index content (i.e, directory/path) specific URLs via HTTPDs - 
		use regular expressions for information filtering in the gather and search process
	. customizable HTML Form-based search interface pages for different search domains while
	. multiple search systems/engines sharing a single text index database
	. high performance server technology, built on 
	  parallel web/database/chat servers on a MIMD parallel machine IBM SP2,
	  to be able to support large number of concurrent users

.  Current applications: 
	. first used/demonstrated at the NPAC/Maxwell campaign96
 	  web site for the Newt G. visit. http://www.npac.syr.edu/campaign96/
	. customizable search buttons for Geoffrey's foil set, http://merlin9:1963/gcf/