Museums and WWW-based Art Education

Many museums have their collections presented on the WWW. Many schools are connected to the Internet and have access to these collections. However, in spite of the abundance and accessibility of data in digital form, the impact on art education is minimal. The main premise of this paper is that although the information is made available and accessible it is (for the most part) still not useful for potential users. It is argued that the main problems are not technological in nature (narrow bandwidth, etc.) but rather are problems in the domain of interface conceptualization and design. Basic criteria for making educational WWW interfaces usable and useful are suggested.