ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300028
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ARNESA HOWELL KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
On one side on the aisle is Kermit the Frog. Turn the other way and you see a glass case holding the bent trumpet once played by Dizzy Gillespie. Here and there are paintings by world-renowned artists. Over there are gowns worn by first ladies.
You could see all this by traipsing through the Smithsonian Institution's museums in Washington. Or you can get the feeling of being there when virtual reality comes to the Smithsonian's computer web site.
The three-dimensional technique will start next month and is a sign of the success of the web site, which opened last May. Since then, an increasing number of ``net surfers'' have clicked below the red stone castle that introduces the Smithsonian's home page.
``In May of 1995, there were 1.2 million hits,'' said Hamlet Paoletti, public affairs specialist for the Smithsonian. ``In October, there were 2.5 million hits. In February, it jumped to 4.36 million and it's still steadily growing.''
A ``hit'' means that someone is looking at the site. No one knows how many different people are involved.
The web site gives access to all of the Smithsonian's 16 museums and galleries, which draw about 25 million tourists a year.
``... Basically it's the same as going to the museum,'' said Peter House, the web master responsible for home-page programming.
The largest of the Smithsonian's on-line collections is that of the National Museum of American Art. Although the museum currently has only 700 of its own objects on line - out of 38,000 artworks - it is linked to a worldwide database containing 300,000 paintings.
Sometimes computer users ``have seen a digitized image that appealed to them and they want to download it,'' said Joan Stahl, coordinator of image collections for the museum.
That's what lured a resident of Charleston, S.C., Dr. Michael L. Vandiver, to the web site. He was seeking pictures to display at his church.
``... I have downloaded and printed out many of the pictures and accompanying narratives to place on the walls,'' he wrote in an electronic-mail message.
Stahl has the responsibility of answering the hundreds of questions that come to the art museum via e-mail.
``The information we supply is usually not published, and if it is, the libraries usually can't afford the books.'' she said. ``... And if you lived in Wyoming and needed a specific bureau to research information, you probably wouldn't even know where to start.''
Another new feature of the web site is Web Archive '96, developed by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. At any cruiser's fingertips will be documentation on the 1996 presidential election, including candidates' political strategies and poll results.
Smithsonian executives said they did not know how much running the web site costs, but said that many sponsors, including government agencies and corporations, have made donations. For instance, the White House Craft Show Virtual Tour, which includes interviews with the artists and follows the process of making a vase, received about $50,000 from MCI Corp.
Other contributors include Silicon Graphics Inc., which donated computer equipment, and the National Science Foundation, which provided some of the personnel.
With such help, said the museum's public-affairs specialist, Susan Foster, the Smithsonian can reach a broader audience. The reaction, officials say, has been good.
Teoh Jin-Jin of Malaysia, for example, sent an electronic fan message: ``This is my first time on the Internet and I simply love this page. I envy you Americans out there who get to view all this stuff in person.''
To visit the Smithsonian Institution's home page, use an Internet web browser to connect to the following address: http://www.si.edu
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