The stage of Sanders Theatre, the usual venue for a capella concerts and lectures on Shakespeare or Introductory Economics, was transformed last week into a four-day display of the latest in computer technology.

Many giants of the computer industry delivered their visions on the future of the Internet as part of the Harvard Conference on the Internet and Society held in Sanders and the Science Center from May 28 to 31.

The conference was designed to present a multidisciplinary perspective on the Internet and to discuss its future implications and effects on society, according to chair of the conference H.T. Kung, who is the McKay professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the Division of Applied Sciences.

"Trying to understand the global picture of the Internet and not just a single perspective is very important," he said. "It is difficult without having a conference like this to understand the other viewpoints."

In addition to the physical conference on campus, there was a parallel virtual conference taking place on the World Wide Web (http://www.harvnet.harvard.edu) giving attendees and Web surfers the opportunity to read summaries of panel discussions and speeches.

The Web site will also provide attendees with the opportunity to continue discussion for weeks after the conference.

"The conference has made tremendous use of the technology it is talking about," said attendee Patricia C. Mitchell, director of corporate benefits at Aetna, Inc.

Kung began organizing the conference 14 months ago, and the Law, Business, and Public Health Schools participated in addition to the FAS.

The conference drew about 1,100 participants from 37 countries with expertise in areas such as business, law, medicine and public policy.

Attendees included registered participants from business, academia and government who paid $995 for the four-day events, as well as speakers selected for their expertise, sponsors, and also members of the Harvard community selected from a lottery.

A high percentage of the attendees, including many of the keynote speakers attended Harvard, according to Kung.

"Selecting Sanders and the Science Center as venues is definitely one of the right decisions we made," Kung said. "You can't buy Sanders and no hotel even comes close," he added, emphasizing that the idea of holding the conference on campus appealed to many alumni.

Many more people sought to register for the conference long after the registration over the Internet had closed and the conference had been filled to capacity, according to Kung.

Some conference attendees said that they valued the multi-disciplinary nature of the panels and discussions. "I think it's a great opportunity to hear diverse views of a lot of different people approaching the Internet from different perspectives and with different objectives," said Joy D. Covey, a conference attendee.

Rudenstine's Speech