Peer-to-peer form based web information systems

The World Wide Web revolutionized the use of forms in everyday private and business life by allowing a move away from paper forms to easily accessible digital forms. Data captured using such HTML forms could be processed using relational databases or other applications that enforce and apply business logic. Lately XForms has been introduced, offering a logical evolution of digital data capture and dissemination using Internet and document technology. This paper introduces two important new ideas. The first one is the main focus of the paper: a novel type of peer-to-peer web information system where forms are first-class citizens containing extended access rules of very fine granularity which govern read and update rights to data objects associated to the forms. The second idea, which we explore in a preliminary section, forms a powerful motivation for the use of such systems: the automatic and dynamic derivation of workflow processes from the access rules contained in forms. As such, the proposed system leverages current forms and Internet technology to liberate the creation and use of forms and reports, facilitating the capture and dissemination of data, while allowing dynamic management of work flows within organizations