Nolan says that his committee, which is expected to make a final report to the president in January, will study each school's level of computer use and then try to determine "where we are relative to the best of the best practices" at comparable institutions throughout the nation.

Setting Priorities

One of Harvard's first priorities is likely to be the installation of a network system or systems extending throughout the University, Nolan says.

Network technology, linking computers via fiber optic cables or satellite so that they can transmit and share data, has in recent years accounted for many of the most significant advances in academic computing.

"Networking comes first only because it enables a wholes bunch of things," says Armstrong, a vice-president of IBM. "It's a prerequisite for synergy between schools and departments."

One of the most important features of networks is that they allow individuals to participate in electronic mail systems. These systems allow students with personal computes to send messages directly to the computers of other students or professors in seconds.

Though many members of the Harvard community currently make use of such networks, the University does not provide widespread access to network services.

A networked University could mean a more efficient University in terms of communication. "It takes days to send campus mail and seconds to send e-mail," notes James C. Fitchett, director of information services at the Medical School.

And some say it is essential for Harvard students to have widespread access to networks as more and more universities go "online."

"Increasingly, information passed through this new technology that people don't publish in scholarly journals," says Arthur A. Hartman '47, a member of the Armstrong committee and chair of the Oveseers' committee on the Harvard College Library, which is itself undergoing further computerization.

In addition to e-mail, network systems allow students to access the on-line catalogs of libraries not only their own universities but of other universities on the network.

They also make it possible for students to share costly licensed software and to access "bulletin boards" and database offering information on a wide range of topics, form Supreme Court decisions to DNA sequences.

At Dartmouth College, where computer terminals in dorm rooms have been connected to all computers on the campus as well as to the worldwide "internet" system since 1985, computer use has saturated daily life.

Students and faculty send e-mail--called "Blitzmail" on the Hanover. N.H. campus--to each other very easily. In fact, the practice has become so popular that " 'Blitz' has become a verb at Dartmouth," says Lawrence M. Levine, director of Dartmouth's computing services.

Levine says that when members of the FAS computer committee visited Dartmouth earlier this year, "They seemed very positive."