Why Are We Here? Justifying Our Presence on the Internet

Museums and cultural organizations have tacitly and enthusiastically accepted their place in the tangle of the WWW. Few people question the value the WWW has for disseminating our valuable information and getting our important message out. What is the reality of the business case for the investment in this technology? What are the benefits, and, in the language of the technology, what is the Cost of Owernship, and Return on Investment? In 1996 the BC Museums Association did a survey looking for the answers to these questions. This year the survey will be updated to look for new examples of institutions obtaining tangible benefits from their involvement in the WWW in particular, and the Internet in general. This paper will present an analysis of the results of these surveys, along with the experience of the BC Museums Association on the 'Net. A bookmark list of sites that provide good and bad examples of use of the medium will be provided and used during this session.