The World Wide Web: A Review of an Emerging Internet-based Technology for the Distribution of Biomedical Information
- Affiliation of the authors: Section of Medical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
- Correspondence and reprints: Henry J. Lowe MD, Section of Medical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, B50A Lothrop Hall,190 Lothrop Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261. e-mail: lowe{at}nes.nlm.nih.gov
Abstract
The Internet is rapidly evolving from a resource used primarily by the research community to a true global information network offering a wide range of databases and services. This evolution presents many opportunities for improved access to biomedical information, but Internet-based resources have often been difficult for the non-expert to develop and use. The World Wide Web (WWW) supports an inexpensive, easy-to-use, cross-platform, graphic interface to the Internet that may radically alter the way we retrieve and disseminate medical data. This paper summarizes the Internet and hypertext origins of the WWW, reviews WWW-specific technologies, and describes current and future applications of this technology in medicine and medical informatics. The paper also includes an appendix of useful biomedical WWW servers.
Footnotes
-
Dr. Lowe and Ms. Polonkey are supported by National Library of Medicine Biomedical Applications of High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Contract number NO1-LM-4-3507; Mr. Lomax is supported by National Library of Medicine Medical Informatics, Training Grant number 5-T15-LM070-59.
