Abstract: The World Wide Web, the University of California Museum of Paleontology and On-Line Paleontology Exhibits and Databases

Anthony R. Fiorillo, Jere H. Lipps

The World Wide Web (WWW) is a new medium available with the proper software over the Internet. WWW has multi-media capabilities and, by utilizing hypermedia links, it provides infinite hierarchical depth. Text, images, sounds and movies can be related to one another through these links. The entire system becomes interactive with the WWW user. With over 20 million users of the Internet, the power of the WWW has become an important tool for various organizations to make their information accessible to the general public and scientific community alike.

The University of California Museum of Paleontology has developed its WWW (accessed at http://ucmp1.berkeley.edu) to include paleontology exhibits on phylogeny, geologic time, evolution, and related topics, and access to its type specimen catalogs and images. As such, the exhibits and collections databases are both accessible to any user on line. In addition, the UCMP WWW has links to other WWW sites that provide yet additional information related to the exhibits at the UCMP site.

The UCMP World Wide Web server is designed to transcend the traditional museum dichotomy of separate exhibits and research programs by providing frequent link paths between these two areas. Because link paths are subject to the preferences of the user, an individual can move from introductory pages to research-grade catalog data, and back again.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90958©1995 AAPG Pacific Section Meeting, San Francisco, California