The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20160305020906/http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Uses.html

TimBL

Intended Uses

Here are some of the many areas in which hypertext is used. Each area has its specific requirements in the way of features required.

General reference data - encyclopaedia, etc.
Completely centralized publishing - online help, documentation, tutorial etc
More or less centralized dissemination of news which has a limited life
Collaborative authoring
Collaborative design of something other than the hypertext itself
Personal notebook

The CERN requirement has a mixture of many of these uses, except that there is not a requirement for distribution of fixed hypertext on hard media such as optical disk. Evidently, the system will have to be networked, though databases may start life at least as personal notebooks.

For looking up data bases, the user should be able to refer to already prepared complex queries by simple UDIs. A moe advanced user should also be able to prepare a complex query himself, store it (interpreted language!) in his local filing space, and use it through a simple UDI.

[The (paper) document "HyperText and CERN" describes the problem to be solved at CERN, and the requirements of a system which solves them. That information is not repeated here.]