Over the past several years, there has been exponential growth in the amount of web-based news and information about the arts and cultural sector. Dozens of organizations and individuals have put a great deal of work into improving management of and access to these resources - which include news, research reports, data sets, journal articles, bibliographies, citation indices, expert listings, commentary, education resources, conference postings, and other items. But despite the growth and development of independent web sites, little in the way of dynamic interconnection between these resources now exists.

Through the support of the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Bolz Center for Arts Administration -- in cooperation with the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies at Princeton University -- convened a group of arts information content providers and funders for a December 3 conversation to explore these issues. A key question was whether it is desirable to leverage individual resources and sites through increased interconnection and shared technology and protocols. This meeting focused primarily on news and information resources and not on art objects, events, digital collections, and the like.

By way of stimulating the conversation, the invitation packet included a short paper that explores one possibility for building such a loosely integrated network. The paper is available for download from this web site (Acrobat format, requires free reader software ).

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