Computers, video, and interactive multimedia offer new options for representing, exploring, and interpreting museum collections. Museums are entering a new era of computer-based tools and techniques. This article examines the challenge of integrating the objects that visitors expect to see and touch, with media-based orientation and interpretation. Several examples of current uses of computers and media in museums are discussed. In addition, a proposal is made for employing hypermedia paradigms as the basis for using computers and media to integrate museum functions. Two scenarios illustrate the potential of such a system.
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