The current discussion on commercial services versus Internet services
raises several issues that Smithsonian staff have pondered. Over the
past few years t he Institution has disseminated materials over various
networks: Internet, Com puServe, GEnie, and America Online.
 
For us, the Internet delivers our materials to one kind of audience, the
"boutique" (i.e., commercial) services to another kind of audience. In
fact, however, I think that we have found that audiences are not so
easily defined. The Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art, for
example, attracts a diverse audience to the services it offers over
America Online. (I prefer to let my colleagues at that museum describe
their own experience; they are quite articulate.)Serving as broad an
audience as possible in as many ways as possible appeals to us greatly.
 
An additional benefit of disseminating materials over a commercial
service is that it can provide a level of technical expertise and
support that my office, for example, could never furnish for itself. Our
anonymous ftp server contains our complete "Resource Guide for
Teachers." On America Online, we offer the same guide, but there as a
searchable database.
 
For us, using commercial services *and* the Internet makes the most
sense.
 
Tom Lowderbaugh Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
 
Arts and Industries Building, Room 1163
Mail Stop 402
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC 20560