While this thread has polarized the debate over new tools and museums around Disneyesque theme parks on the one hand and contemplative traditional museums on the other, I don't really think that such a dichotomy will be what describes museums and their use of technology in the future. Museums will, as many other institutions have already, eagerly absorb new technologies once they recognize that these tools can further their mission without sacrificing their standards of quality and scholarship. It will happen because intelligent people (for the most part!) run museums and will see that ignoring these opportunities would just be foolish. IP (internet protocol) intra, extra, and inter - net's can redefine how the information presently invested in catalogues and wall labels reaches the viewer, and allow the museum experience to resonate with other pieces of our cultural mosaic. In the process, the museum will become a somewhat differently shaped place than it is now. The silent and powerful painting by itself on a wall will never, I predict, be displaced. But visitors will leave the museum knowing a lot more about it than they do now. Just what shape this will take I'm not sure, but it will happen -- just a surely as these words are going to squeeze themselves instantly through thousands of miles of tiny hair-like fibers into 1500 colleague's virtual mailboxes. Just as soon as I click the Send butto... Stephen Nowlin Vice President Director, Williamson Gallery Producer, Art Center Online Art Center College of Design http://www.artcenter.edu