The responses posted recently add yet more support for timely research on the
use of WWW sites by patrons of heritage institutions and other groups,
including the general public.

In cooperation with other museums, we have started collecting data on use of
WWW sites by our patrons.

Our first study, conducted over 8 days in October 1995, elicited 503 responses.
We were disappointed to find that only 27% of respondents had an Internet
connection either at home or at work. Of that fraction, 78% reported that they
did NOT visit museum sites on the WWW and only 4% (a disappointing 1% of the
total respondents) had "visited" the CMC WWW site before visiting. Only 1
respondent in 503 reported that the visit to the CMC WWW site had influenced
his decision to make a physical visit.

The population represented by this sample was quite unusual, being comprised
very largely of seniors, a group not noted as major users of informatics
services.

We will continue to ask the same questions over the coming year and will report
our findings on this list.

A copy of the study, of which the Internet-related questions was only one part,
is available.

Harry Needham
Canadian Museum of Civilization