with increasing users, the Web has demonstrated its success in information sharing and exchange on the Internet. The Web also has a high potential as a platform for distributed groupware systems. However, cooperation among a smaller Workgroup members generally requires more powerful interaction than what the basic Web system can support now.

To support cooperative users in a Workgroup with an easy and objective working environment for document processing, we design a Document Collaboration and Retrieval System (DCRT) based on the XML technology which is an emerging technology for data presentation. The system can support users an environment to exchange and share documents and make annotations in an easy and effective way.

We propose the information object based on EMIL technology in the system design. The model can facilitate the system design and provide good extensibility for future development.