Combining commerce with education-the UK Virtual Science City

The Internet-specifically, the World Wide Web-may be seen as a vehicle for the public understanding of science. A city was seen to be a suitable metaphor because: (i) the city is a familiar, yet flexible model to which a wide range of customers can relate, and which simplifies access to information; (ii) it can be made visually attractive, thus helping establish a market, and this attractiveness can be enhanced as Web graphics develop; and (iii) the city´s sites and buildings can represent different ways and levels of presenting SET (science, engineering and technology) information and different uses of SET. The UK Virtual Science City, which is now under construction as a technology demonstrator, is the result. Its virtual sites and buildings are taking shape as a cross-referenced visual index to three dimensions of UK science and technology-its technologies, its current issues and its key institutions