"Inter- and intra-House communication is made easier by technology, so people stay in touch more--even with people who live in the Quad," adds Herschbach, who is also a former co-master of Currier House. "But I would like to think that the importance of the House community will live on."

Despite differing enthusiasm for the newest technology, digerati and administrators alike agree that technology can only serve to complement--and never replace--the "physical community" interaction of a House tea or dining hall meal.

Randomization and the popularization of e-mail don't inevitably make physical House communities irrelevant. If used within the House, e-mail promises just as easily to strengthen intra-House relationships.

Two years ago, Pforzheimer House initiated an e-mail discussion list--dubbed "PfoHo Open"--to which residents could send a wide range of e-mail inquiries. These mailing lists become a virtual common room, where residents hold near-real time conversations over e-mail. A resident might send out a message asking for last night's "ER" episode, a ride to the airport or lecture notes--and within the hour, there are often dozens of responses.

"PfoHo Open permeates all aspects of House life," e-mails resident Benjamin W. Dreyfus '01. "Even though I do not attend many House events, and indeed do not even spend many waking hours in the house...PfoHo Open follows me around everywhere there is telnet [for checking e-mail]."

In 1999, Adams initiated a similar list--dubbed "Adams Schmooze." Former House Committee Co-Chair Jennifer J. Hoffpauir '00 says that the list helped facilitate the widely celebrated spirit "war" between Adams and Pforzheimer Houses in November.

"Knowledge of the war would not have been as widespread without the Schmooze list," Hoffpauir says. "It helped to bridge the gap between the House committee and the rest of the House."

The high rate of correspondence on the lists is a drawback for some. "The level of usage during the [fall] book sale was so high that a lot of people got off of the list," Hoffpauir says, noting that in an average week she receives as many as 40 list-wide messages.

Dreyfus, however, is quick to point out that membership in any community involves disadvantages. He draws parallels to other kinships: "I find my younger brother annoying at times, yet I do not sever ties with him, because he will always be my brother," he says. "PfoHo open is like a member of the family."

But other Houses haven't yet established open e-mail lists--and also haven't developed the reputation for House spirit of the warring Adams and Pforzheimer Houses.

The Ultimate Network

If e-mail is more important than ever to the way students imagine their community of peers, it has also raised the rate of computer use generally--with students increasingly channeling their lives through the ultra-fast campus ethernet network.

According to an FAS Computer Services annual computer use survey, in 1997 only 74 percent of seniors had computers that were connected through their dorm room into the network. This year's survey didn't even bother to ask the question. The assumption was that nearly all of the 98 percent of students who have computers on campus also have them connected.

FAS Computer Services Director Franklin M. Steen and his staff have been instrumental in making this happen.

He started by building from the basics. When he arrived at Harvard from Yale in 1994, Steen quickly implemented a residential computing support system, House computer labs and general e-mail kiosks. "Unlike Yale's College system, Harvard equalizes things among Houses," Steen says. "Every House has a 10-base T network, seven computers in their labs...and up to three user assistants."

This coming fall, Steen is introducing roaming ethernet, switch technology and other network upgrades--all of which promise to make computing faster and more readily available across campus. And changes won't stop there. "It's entirely possible that the incoming class of 2004 will experience a campus that has full wireless connectivity by the time they graduate," predicts Rick Osterberg '96, database applications specialist for FAS Computer Services.