NCSA mosaic and the world wide web: Global hypermedia protocols for the internet

Network information systems reached the public consciousness this year as a result of the phenomenal growth in the use of the Internet. In particular, the software constituting NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications) Mosaic and the World Wide Web have made global hypermedia a widespread reality for the first time. The technology underlying this software is described to explain the protocols behind information spaces. These include the historical predecessors, the current protocols with examples, future directions for the software, and discussion of research systems with different architectures. Reasons for its popularity are given, with the goal of illuminating successful services for the National Information Infrastructure.