Contextual Shopping Goes Highbrow

You're reading online about American architects, when suddenly a screen icon lights up with a link to a Frank Lloyd Wright framed print available at the museum shop of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. That's the kind of experience in store -- or to be precise, online -- for shoppers who download and use the Cultural Compass, a shopping tool released by MuseumShop.com and Lumapath, an Internet infrastructure company. The free, downloadable Compass, billed as an intelligent browser companion for Internet Explorer 4.0 or above, is shopper time-saver that "finds gifts matched to consumers' cultural interests as they surf the Internet," say officials at MuseumShop.com. The download uses search technology developed by Lumapath, a Maynard, Mass.-based provider of customized online branding solutions for on-and offline businesses. Based in Concord, Mass., MusuemShop.com offers the largest selection of museum-related products online through partnerships with more than 50 museums worldwide.