Struggling to manage the explosion of online information? This paper introduces XIB (eXtensible Information Brokers), a framework for building information agents that can autonomously search, gather, and integrate data on behalf of users. These brokers are designed to adapt to the ever-evolving landscape of internet services. The XIB framework takes a description of needed information services as input and interactively generates an integrated query interface. It also generates wrappers for each information service dynamically. Users can then specify a query and receive integrated data from all wrapped sources. Heavily reliant on XML-related techniques, XIB utilizes DTDs to model service inputs and outputs. This approach facilitates easy addition or removal of services, making information brokers more maintainable, customizable, and adaptable.
As a contribution to the International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools, this paper aligns with the journal's emphasis on innovative AI applications. By introducing XIB, a framework for building extensible information brokers, the research advances the field of intelligent agents and information integration, core areas of interest for the journal's readership.