They may be trying to attract others to their place of learning, but most likely the research was funded through a grant, and it is one more place to encourage the sharing of ideas. Many such groups publish and distribute information, and the web allows a very inexpensive way of getting information to many people. This information, which used to be published on paper, is now put online to save money and reach more people. In addition, libraries fall into this category, providing information for others to use. Personal Home Pages - These pages are put up for a number of reasons.
Some people have pages up in order to meet others with similar interests.
The WWW has been compared to the printing press - it opens up publishing to a new portion of the population. Commercial pages - These pages are on the web to make money. Most of the time, they provide a service of some type. Most of the web databases talked about here are provided by services who make money off of the advertisements that appear on the screen. Other businesses use the web as an advertising medium, just providing information about their products and services.