The Roles of Small Telescopes in a Virtual Observatory Environment

The advent of the Virtual Observatory (VO) concept signals a pradigm shift in the way astronomy will be done in the era of information abundance and ubiquitous networking. Small telescopes will be playing a number of essential roles in this new research environment, probably contributing a major portion of all data taken in astronomy, both as surveying instruments, and as follow-up facilities. In this review we describe the VO concept and its background, and how small telescopes will fit in this emergent way of doing astronomy in the 21st century.