| Title | The World Wide Web: A Review of an Emerging Internet-based Technology for the Distribution of Biomedical Information |
| Author(s) | Henry J. Lowe, MD, Edward C. Lomax, MLS, Stacey E. Polonkey |
| Source | Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Vol. 3, No. 1, Pages 1-14 |
| Publication Date | January/February 1996 |
| 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. |