referring first to fig1 there is shown a partial elevation of an emergency information apparatus of the type disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 521 , 812 and no . 5 , 668 , 954 . the external portion of the apparatus is comprised primarily of a casing 100 . the casing 100 is preferably of a rigid material , such as hard plastic , pvc , or the like . in addition , the casing and the items disposed in and within the casing 100 are , together , water resistant , such that water will not seep into the internal portion of the apparatus and induce electrical shorts or corrosion . this is beneficial so that the apparatus may be used , for example , in the rain , or during fire emergencies when water is being used to dowse the fire . the bottom of the casing 100 ( not shown ) preferably includes shock absorbing pads , such as rubber pads embedded within the casing 100 and exposed at the outer edge of the casing 100 to reduce shock and vibration when the apparatus is set down . on the left side of the apparatus there is a hinged compartment 180 . the compartment 180 is in a closed and locked position , as shown . the compartment 180 may be opened through a release ( not shown ), which may be on the side or top of the apparatus as known in the art . the compartment 180 is adapted for receiving a program medium such as a compact disc ( cd ) ( not shown ). when open , the compartment 180 may receive a cd , and when closed , the compartment 180 holds the cd within the apparatus . while a cd is one form of the program medium , other media are generally suitable . these media preferably are of a standard form and storage format , such as data play cd , micro cassette , floppy disk , dat , flash memory or roms on a pcmcia card . as shown in fig1 there are provided five rows of three program selectors 110 . the program selectors 110 are used for selecting and thereby starting the playback of programs stored therein . the number of program selectors 110 is not critical , although several should be provided so that several emergencies may be addressed . to further control playback , there are also provided several playback selectors 160 , including a pause key 160 h , a reverse key 160 r , a forward key 160 f and a continued play key 160 p . the program selectors 110 and the playback selectors 160 are preferably push buttons . the program selectors 110 and playback selectors 160 preferably are backlit . a nearly limitless number of programs may be used with the apparatus . to accommodate this flexibility , the program selectors 110 are preferably labeled with numbers 1 - 15 , and these numbers correspond to stored programs . programs may include instructions relating to aids / hiv , bloody nose , bumps and bruises , burns , choking , cpr , dental injuries , drowning , earthquakes , electric shock , external bleeding , eye injuries , fires , fractures and dislocations , frostbite and hypothermia , heart attack , heat emergencies , insect stings and bites , internal injuries , muscle cramps , poisoning , rescue breathing , seizures and shock , stroke , spinal injuries , sprains and strains , and emergency action principles . with each start program , there can be provided a removable overlay 115 . the overlay 115 is adapted to be placed over and around the program selectors 110 . the overlay 115 labels the program selectors 110 in accordance with the stored programs . thus , by scanning the overlay 115 , the user can determine which program selector 110 to press to begin a playback of a desired program . the overlay 115 is preferably a think piece of plastic , with the labels being resistant to erasure from typical use of the apparatus . the apparatus further includes a speaker 120 for playing back the audio portion of the programs stored . once a program selector 110 has been pressed and the selected program has begun to play , the number of the program as associated with the program selector 110 and the name of the program is displayed on a display 160 . in fig1 it is shown that the program number 5 related to “ bleeding ” has begun playback . the programs may be in multilingual audio . preferably there is a language selector 185 in the casing . turning now to fig2 there is shown a network data distribution system in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is implemented . the data distribution system includes a local device 600 , a data access network 620 , and a web server 650 . the local device 600 , the data access network 620 and the monitoring server 630 comprise the network data distribution system . the local device 600 preferably comprises a client computer which is configured to access the web server 650 via the local access network 120 . the client computer may be , for example , a pc running a microsoft windows operating system . the local device 600 preferably includes an output device , such as display 601 , and an input device , such as keyboard 602 and / or pointing device 603 ( e . g ., mouse , track ball , light pen , or data glove ). the local device 600 also includes a docking station 611 that allows a data access device , such as a pda to interface with the local device 600 and exchange data . furthermore , the local device 100 may be any device that provides some measure of individual user interactivity with a source of web pages . for example , the local device could be an internet appliance , network computer ( nc , or an appropriately internet - enabled device such as a pda , mobile phone , etc . the data access network 620 provides lower layer network support for the local device 100 to interact with the web server 650 . the data access network 620 preferably comprises a common or private bi - directional telecommunications network ( e . g ., a public switched telephone network ( pstn ), a cable - based telecommunication network , a lan , a wan , a wireless network ), coupled with or overlayed by a tcp / ip network ( e . g ., the internet or an intranet ). the web server 650 may be of the type known in the art and has the ability to serve web pages to the local device 600 , as requested in the manner known in the art . it should be appreciated that the web server 650 is generic for any source of web pages available to the local device 100 . thus , for example , the web server 650 could be accessible from the internet , or it could be a part of an intranet and represents any number of web servers . a browser application , such as , microsoft internet explorer or netscape navigator is preferably installed on the local device 600 . when the local device 100 is connected to the web server 650 through the data access network 620 , the user of the local device browses the web server 650 from the local device 600 using the browser application . the browser application itself need not be stored on the local device 600 . referring now to fig3 there is shown a browser window 700 generated by a browser application , here microsoft internet explorer . the browser window 700 is familiar to those skilled in the art , so the particulars are not described further herein . further information regarding the use of most browser applications and their technical specifications is abundantly available . several aspects of the browser window 700 are identified for further reference below . these aspects include a display pane 710 , an address bar 720 and a title bar 730 . the display pane 710 is a region of the browser window 700 wherein the browser application causes web pages received by the browser application to be displayed . the address bar 720 is another region of the browser window 700 and the browser application displays urls in the address bay 720 corresponding to the web page currently displayed in the display pane 710 . the user can also enter a url into the address bar 720 , and the browser application will attempt to load the web page or other object to which the entered url points . the primary feature of the title bar 730 is that it displays the title of the browser application . the web server 650 preferably includes a memory that includes one or more web pages that are associated with a virtual representation of the emergency information apparatus described above . the web server 650 downloads the web pages to the local device 600 so that a representation of the emergency information apparatus is displayed on the display device 601 within the browser display pane 710 . fig4 shows an embodiment of a web page that includes a representation of a virtual emergency information apparatus 800 . the virtual information apparatus 800 is preferably configured to simulate the operation of the physical apparatus described above with respect to fig1 . according , the web page includes several hypertext program keys 810 , wherein each program key 810 is associated with a program that is stored in the web server 650 . by clicking on any of the program keys 810 , a user of the local device 600 causes the web server to load and initiate a program associated with the particular key 810 . in a preferred embodiment , each program is associated with a set of instructions relating to an emergency medical scenario , although the programs could vary . the virtual information apparatus 800 also includes one or more operational keys 812 that allow a user using the local device 600 to perform functions relating to the program , such as start , stop , pause , etc . in addition , the apparatus 800 includes step indicator 814 that provide a representation of the status with respect to the number of completed steps in the program , and which are described in more detail later . with reference to fig4 the virtual information apparatus also includes a representation of one or more acknowledgement keys 816 that allow a user of the local device 600 to acknowledge the completion of steps associated with a program . fig5 shows a flow chart that describes process in web pages associated with the virtual emergency information apparatus are downloaded to the local device 600 . the process begins when a user accesses the web server 650 using the local device 600 ( step 910 ). in step 920 , the web server 650 downloads one or more web pages to the local device 600 . the web pages preferably include one or more introductory pages that allow a user to select a particular instructional template for the virtual information apparatus 800 from a list of options ( step 930 ). for example , the user could select an instructional template associated with the provision of emergency services or provision of some category of emergency services . the templates could also be associated with other subject matter . in any event , in step 940 , after the user selects the instructional template , the web server downloads a web page in which is displayed a representation of the information apparatus 800 configured in accordance with the selected instructional template . for example , fig8 shows the web page associated with the information apparatus 800 being configured to implement emergency medical instructions . the program keys 810 each include a label that indicates the particular instructional set that will be implemented when the respective key 810 is selected . in step 950 , the instruction program is initiated . the web server 650 preferably issues instructions that causes the local device 600 to play the particular program in the manner described above with respect to the physical emergency information apparatus . the user can pause , stop , play or interact with the program using the acknowledgement keys 812 and the operational keys 810 . each program preferably comprises plural audio instruction messages that relate to steps in a procedure . in one embodiment , the procedure relates to instructional steps for dealing with an emergency medical situation . however , the procedure could also relate to instructional steps for any other type of situations for which instructional steps are appropriate . the program further comprises playback control information for directing playback of the audio step message in a predefined pattern and in accordance with operation of the operational keys 810 and acknowledgement keys 812 . in a preferred embodiment , the acknowledgement keys 812 are used interactively in response to the audio instructional steps . the user preferably selects an appropriate acknowledgement key 812 to acknowledge an audio instruction . preferably , the program includes predetermined stop points where the program either pauses for a predetermined time or repeats an instruction until the user acknowledges completion of a step using one or more of the acknowledgement keys 812 . the apparatus is preferably configured to respond to voice acknowledgements . the apparatus could be equipped with voice activation software that recognizes and responds to the voice of a user . for example , in an emergency medical instruction program , the audio instruction may instruct the user to check a person &# 39 ; s breathing . the program could repeat the instruction or pause playing of the next instruction until the user acknowledges that this step has been completed . once an acknowledgment has been received , the program would then continue . the step indicators 814 preferably assist the user in determining progress with respect to completion of the instructional program . preferably , a separate indicator , such as a light , is provided for each step in the program . any given program ( e . g ., category of medical emergency , such as bleeding , burns , seizure , etc .). for example , a “ bleeding ” program may involve four steps , a “ seizure ” program eight steps , and the like . when one of the programs is selected , all of the lights can be illuminated , such as illuminated green , so that the operator can readily see that there are four , five , six or more steps as the case may be . as the steps are completed , the corresponding indicator light is either extinguished or illuminated , or illuminated in a different color , to provide the user an indication that the step has been completed . the indicator could also blink or flash during the pendency of a particular step . the step indicators 814 thus provide the user with a visual status and summary relating to the progress of the particular program that is being played . in a preferred embodiment , the docking station 611 can be used to transfer one or more programs and virtual representations of the information apparatus to a pda , such as a palm pilot . the pda may then be used to implement the instructional program . for example , the user could dock the pda to the docking station 611 and then download a virtual information apparatus into the memory of the pda . thereafter , the functionally provided in the web page representation of the virtual information apparatus would be available directly on the pda , preferably via a touch screen on the pda . preferably , audio files in the form of voice instructions are downloaded to the pda as part of the instructional program and virtual information apparatus . the pda is also configured to accept voice instructions from the user from a microphone positioned on the pda . alternatively , the programs can be stored or embedded in the computer ( e . g ., in the hard drive ) or pda memory and be accessible via an emergency icon . the virtual apparatus of the present invention as shown in fig4 also can be implemented in a physical device of the nature earlier described in connection with fig1 but further includes the step indicators 814 in the physical device operating in the same manner as described above and for the same purposes . thus , the concepts of the present invention can be implemented in the form of a virtual device through a network data distribution system and the internet , or via other communications systems , and can as well be implemented in a physical device like that shown in fig4 . this device typically is battery powered and includes a speaker 820 ( fig4 ) for providing audible instructions and includes an internal system as shown in fig6 with a microcontroller interconnected with the keypad 810 and the step indicators 812 to appropriately cause illumination or extinguishing of the lights ( e . g ., led &# 39 ; s ). the programs preferably are stored in a flash memory , and the other components of the system shown in fig6 provide the audio information . as noted earlier , the steps can be indicated via a display of numbers which are stepped through as program steps are completed , for either or both of the virtual system or portable device . while embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described , various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention , and all such modifications and equivalents are intended to be covered .