Over the next five years, novel use of the Internet will play an increasingly integral role in teaching and research at the University, President Neil L. Rudenstine said Wednesday in an address.

"Fundamentally there is in fact a very close fit--a critical interlock--between the structures and processes of the Internet and the main structures and processes of university teaching and learning," Rudenstine told the Sanders Theatre audience.

He addressed the importance of the Internet in providing greater communication between professors and students through such novel concepts as on-line office hours and by providing added resources for both teaching and learning.

"The Internet virtually requires and even demands that the student be an engaged participant," Rudenstine said.

The last time such dramatic strides affected the University, Rudenstine said, was in the late 19th century when the modern research university and large library system emerged.

"The changes are more dynamic and pervasive than any other technological breakthrough in the 20th century," Rudenstine said.

Undergraduates here receive about 215,000 e-mail messages every day and the Harvard home page on the World Wide Web received 2.3 million hits in March alone, Rudenstine said.

The University will invest about $125 million over the next five years to expand its computer technology and more comprehensively incorporate the Internet into the curriculum, according to Rudenstine.

Rudenstine also addressed the societal dimension of the conference and said that the human aspects of change and development are equally important to progress.

"All the information in the world will be of no use to us, unless we can use it intelligently, wisely and humanely," Rudenstine said. "In the end education is a fundamentally human process; it is a matter of values and significant action, not simply information or even knowledge."  --By Amita M. Shukla

Gates Says Internet, PC Will Dominate Communications

The personal computer and the Internet will dominate communication in the future, according to William H. "Bill" Gates, chair and CEO of Microsoft, who spoke to a packed house in Sanders Theatre Wednesday.

"The key factor that arrived with the Internet is a low cost of communication," Gates said. "The overheads you can take out and the efficiency you can bring to it are dramatic."

Gates also mentioned technological innovations such as the increasing power of the chip, optical fibers connected to digital switches, larger storage, faster processors and high-speed connectivity which will improve the quality and expanse of communication over the 'Net.

"The machines involved here are going to continue to improve," Gates said. "The PC of the future will essentially be on all the time."

At the same time, Gates acknowledged that the Internet and personal computers have only made contact with a small segment of the U.S. and world populations.