All speakers were necessarily concerned with some aspect of the transition from printed to electronic information. Some assumptions were explicit or implicit in most discussions. For example, the continued existence of a recognisable information chain was generally supposed. At least for the immediate future, this was seen - by most, but not all participants - as having a rather traditional structure. The chain starts with the author, who creates the information. It then passes via intermediaries (such as publishers, subscription agents and librarians) to the end-user. Another feature was the belief that electronic and printed material can be compared in a standard way. For example, a distinction can be drawn in both cases between content, presentation and handling. Moreover, these divisions apply not only to individual documents, but to the information system that provides them.