Belgium was into the internet before it was cool. Way before. Myself, I'm still holding out for the vast network of pneumatic tubes I was promised in a thousand science fiction stories.
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I'm still holding out for the vast network of pneumatic tubes
According to an article I read in Monocle, your dream is becoming a reality in some parts of the world. Unfortunately the magazine doesn't put its articles online, but it was a fascinating article. It also said that while the backers of one system once had tax breaks, they then lost them, and yet they're still going through with the project. Some of the buyers seemed to be private corporations, which indicates that the project is legitimately viable, while others are municipalities and other governments, whose patronage does not actually prove that a technology is a good idea.
...and here is a Brijit summary of the article.
Also read NYT piece and was really interested because I too had never heard of Paut Otlet. Looking around I came upon this little video from 1998 when the Mundaneum Museum was first being conceived. Also posted on it at my given URL and the video should also be there.