Image delivery and the critical masses

This paper examines the current environment for image delivery in higher education by considering different ways the term “critical mass” has been used. This lexical exercise positions digital image delivery at a crucial point in public acceptance of new technology. The Web offers valuable lessons about how users behave now, how they are changing, and what they will expect from future image services. Strategies for successful image delivery include aggressive study of preferences among mainstream users, recognition of similarities in information-seeking techniques on the Web and general characteristics of picture searching, and an understanding of the profoundly decentralized nature of Internet image delivery and use. Human networking remains critical to our professional role in this new, fluid, complex, and decentered environment.