The World Wide Web and the Virtual

The World Wide Web (WWW) has been expanding exponentially since it was launched. It provides a unifying way to navigate and present information around the world in seconds using the Internet computer network. Many types of organization have been caught up in the revolution and are struggling to cope with the e ects and keep pace with the development of the technology. One such community is that of museums. This paper presents the way museums are currently using the Web internationally, and how their use could develop in the future. Included is a description of the Virtual Library museums pages (VLmp), a leading directory of on-line museums, recently adopted by the International Council of Museums. Some of the `virtual' visitor statistics are also presented and discussed. Computing, by its very name, has traditionally been concerned with calculations and the processing of data. However the communication of that data is becoming increasingly important, and may ultimately have the most signi cant impact on society. Computer networks have existed for several decades, but have only recently become the subject of widespread public interest. Early networks tended to be funded by the military because only their large spending power could justify the expensive communication costs involved. For example, the Whirlwind computer of the 1940s and 50s, built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA, was used for air defence. The computer was connected via telephone lines and the telephone bill was a signi cant part of the budget.