Online museum gets cash injection

The UK government announced yesterday that it is to inject an extra £60,000 into a museum Internet gateway project.

In May last year, Chris Smith, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport awarded the Campaign for Museums and the MDA - a museums, galleries and heritage information management body - £10,000 to initiate the project.

A spokesman for the Campaign for Museums welcomed the extra money and explained: "It's been going very well. We hope to see the project fully developed to go live in May."

System Simulation, a text and multimedia specialist, and Diverse Interactive, an interface and TV content designer have won contracts to develop the site. London's Natural History Museum is one of the many museums in the process of adapting its collection into a digital format for the gateway.

Speaking at the British Educational Technology Show in Olympia yesterday, Chris Smith said he was delighted to give the project the go-ahead. He promised the site would be an easy and entertaining museum portal for the public, as well as an innovative educational resource linked to the National Grid for Learning.

The launch of the http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk Web site will coincide with Museum Week which runs from 15 to 19 May.