The Museum Network and on demand systems for school education based on XML

Much attention has been given worldwide to practical use of museum resources for school education through the Internet. We have developed a web-based system using XML (extensible markup language). The system helps us to use digital museum resources effectively among museums, schools, and research organizations on networks. The Museum Network, which we have defined, is a model to indicate how to deal with digital museum or school resources using metadata standards such as Dublin Core (DC)/XML. We used this model and developed several kinds of systems: "Online Teaching Material", "School Trip Guide", and "Museum Search System", and made clear the effects of the Museum Network. In this system, once we enter museum resources into a database, we can deal with these resources in each of our systems. Moreover, when a user selects his own interest or purpose, the system chooses the exact resources from the database by using metadata and makes personalized pages automatically. For that reason, the system offers the appropriate materials to schools; consequently we expect strong collaboration between museums and schools on the web through the Museum Network.