"Sometimes I didn't get home until 1 a.m.," said Dorothy Flynn, a student who said she hopes to use her newfound HTML prowess to work on a Web site advocating the release of jailed South African poet Mzwakhe Mbuli.

Bressner and Rosenthal started working on InterCity last November. When Bressner decided he wanted to run a similar program after he graduated, he started CyberTrain so he could continue his work next year.

"You get pushed out the door when you graduate from Harvard," he said.

The classes, which are taught primarily by Hau S. Luc '00 and Michael Y. Saji '02, are held at the South End Technology Center at Tent City. The Technology Center, which boasts some 15 computers, as well as printers, projectors and other equipment, is open until midnight five days a week to anyone who wants to drop by.

"This place is owned by the people who use it," said Mel King, a former Boston mayoral candidate who runs the center. "We want people to participate in technology at all levels, to become producers and not just consumers of technology," he said.