Web-delivery of anatomy video clips using a CD-ROM.

Until recently, anatomists had no doubt that the teaching of anatomy had to include cadaver dissection. However, due to a changing academic environment as well as challenged financial institutional resources, computer-assisted instruction was introduced into medical curriculum in an attempt to reduce the cost and the time committed to cadaver dissection. Computer-assisted instruction included locally created or commercially available anatomy software, Internet sites, and databases of digital images of cadaveric structures such as the Virtual Human Project. However, until now, bandwidth limitations have not allowed effective visualization in real-time over the Internet of recorded videos or 3D animations reconstructed from a database. We describe how to successfully link and display large video clips stored on a CD-ROM in support of lectures saved in HTML format on the Internet. This process, described in its totality, allows students to access audiovisual files on a CD-ROM through the Internet, from any location, with either Macintosh or Windows computers, using the Netscape browser. This process allowed us to circumvent one of the most significant limitations of the computer-assisted instruction on the Internet by delivering full audio and visual information on demand, as it would happen in a traditional classroom.