Conclusion

The topic of the present thesis was the analysis of information intermediaries, particularly with regard to applications in open Wide Area Networks like the Internet. As a fact, information is gaining importance for today’s economies, but the increasing amount of available information and the decreasing density of information relevant to a particular task incident thereto call for possibilities to efficiently match information needs with available information. Intermediaries operating in physical distribution channels or in financial markets have demonstrated that the introduction of a specialized middleman in the relationship between opposite market sides can efficiently bridge incompatibilities between supply and demand. Information intermediaries can play a similar role in markets for information, in which information can be conceived as an economic commodity.