This paper compares two approaches to meeting the data handling requirements of Intermedia, a hypermedia sysfem developed at fhe institute for Research in information and Scholarship at Brown Universify. Intermedia, though wriffen using an object-oriented programming language, relies on a traditional relafional database management system for data storage and retrieval. We examine the ramifications of replacing the relational database with an object-oriented database. We begin by describing the important characteristics each database system. We then describe Intermedia and give an overview of its architecture and its dafa handling requirements. We explain why and how we used a relational database management system and the problems that we encountered with this system. We then present the design of art objectodenfed database schema for Intermedia and compare the relational and object-oriented dafabase management system approaches. 1. lNTRODUCTlON The Institute for Research in Information and

A hypermedia system provides a tool for cooperative work by allowing writers and designers to share a network of linked documents where they can create documents, link their own and others' documents together, and leave notes for one another. This paper discusses issues that designers need to address in the development of hypermedia systems. Major issues involve what kind of linking, contexts, and visual modeling the system provides. The composite of the answers to these issues determines the nature of the hypermedia system and how useful it is to those using it as a tool for cooperative work. The following presents a variety of solutions including those that developers at the Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship implemented in the creation of Intermedia.