9602027 Sneed This Americas Program award will fund a cooperative research program and workshop between Joseph Sneed, Colorado School of Mines, and Frederick W. Lange, University of Colorado, Boulder, and Mario Molina-Carrillo, Instituto Nicaraguense de Cultura, Nicaragua, and Maria E. Murillo, Direccion General de Museos, Costa Rica. The objective is to establish the initial foundation for an internet based, multimedia information system for selected museum and university archaeology and cultural ecology collections in Central America. The focus of the project is the archaeological and ecological material in museum collections, and the closely allied concerns of cultural patrimony protection and intellectual property. In cooperation with Costa Rican and Nicaraguan cultural institutions, this system will serve educators and the general public. It would be used extensively by scholars and students in the U.S., especially in institutions that emphasize Latin American anthropology and will provide a paradigm for international cooperation in the production and maintenance of internet based information systems in other academic disciplines and regions. ***