Putting the public first: the French experience

Linking applications that were initially conceived for very different audiences was the challenge facing the French authorities who wished to offer the public ‘a data system on French museums that was readily accessible and as comprehensive as possible’. Philippe Avenier is a research engineer at the Ministry of Culture and Communication. He has been engaged for a number of years in setting up and monitoring programmes on the application of new technologies in the cultural sphere, initially at the French Research and Technology Mission and thereafter at the French Directorate of Museums, where he is responsible for co‐ordinating computerization policy in his capacity as chief of the Information Technology and Research Bureau.