Still, many are worried about the effect ofincreased network use. An official of onetechnology group on campus privately expressesfears that many users he knows are addicted to thenetwork and spend so much time with theircomputers that they become anti-social.

"I think we will see more [problems]," says Dr.Randolph Catlin Jr., chief of mental healthservices at University Health Services. "It willbe a problem in terms of people feeling moreisolated and people not feeling part of a groupbecause they spend all of their time talking to amachine."

The Cutting Edge

The University has always prided itself forbeing on the cutting edge of technology. Harvardstudents had telephones in their rooms in1877--just one year after Alexander Graham Bellinvented them.

But the generation of Harvard students weanedon video games, Macintoshes and cable TV hasn'tbeen so lucky. Network use at the University isnot nearly as sophisticated or as common as atDartmouth or MIT.

After years of dragging its feet, Harvardfinally began serious planning for expanding thenetwork three years ago. The move was prompted bythe realization among members of the Board ofOverseers and some professors that the Universitywas falling behind in computer services.

"The University as a whole likes to be thoughtof as playing a leadership role in [developing andusing] tools for readership," John A. Armstrong'56, chair of the Board of Overseers' ad hoccommittee on information technology, said in a1992 interview. "Harvard is not yet playing itsleadership role in the varied use of computers."

With Harvard's high speed data networkvirtually complete, the computer infrastructurethe University once lacked is now in place. Theproblem is that Harvard may lack the will and theresources to develop its program further.

At the top, there is precious little direction.President Neil L. Rudenstine has promised, but hasyet to deliver, a new vice president to shepherdthe University through changes in informationtechnology.

Arthur A. Hartman '47, a member of theArmstrong committee who took an important role inplanning the expansion of the network, now says itis up to computer users to determine what shouldhappen next.

"I think this has to be user driven, or wecould find ourselves wasting a lot of money,"Hartman says.

But the University has been reluctant to giveup the basic resources needed to expand networkservices. In fact the process of promoting andmaintaining Harvard's link to the Internet hasbeen a victim of such gross underfunding thatserious problems remain with services as basic ase-mail.

A 'Ship' Takes On Water

Two years ago, the acting director of theHarvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services,Richard S. Steen (no relation to Franklin),predicted the dire situation now facing theorganization, which is in charge of expanding andmaintaining the network.

In an April 1992 memo to the Faculty of Artsand Sciences (FAS) Committee on InformationTechnology, Steen wrote: "HASCS is in no positionto handle the extra user services and networkingload generated by such a dramatic increase ofusers."