Chronicling his history with technology from 1982, when he learned to program in BASIC on a Tandy Model 80, to now, operating a PowerMac 6160, Chace used that illustration as a picture of the technological revolution and dramatic changes that have taken place in 13 short years. He said that the next year or two will bring about even more drastic changes, with more and better organized information available more immediately, than ever before in history; greater pressure to have the knowledge and to respond quickly; more visibility to each other with interactive technology creating an appearance of, but not the reality of, community; and that technically literate students coming to Emory will pressure the Unviersity to keep pace with new technologies.
"The University," said Chace, "will have to invest more resources, both human and capital, in technology. It is a revolution we cannot afford to be absent from."
Frye noted that the biggest impact of the technological revolution may be on traditional disciplinary boundaries as it causes "dramatic changes in the ways we teach, do research and even in the way we think."
Johnson chronicled the information revolution at Emory, and said that the work that has been done is now starting to bring results, but that the work at Emory on infrastructure would really pay off over the next 10 years. He defined 1994-95 as the "year of the internet," the beginning of a whole new revolution in which the defining use of the computer has become communication and not just improving personal productivity.
Johnson provided some statistics to demonstrate the scope of information technology at Emory. He said there were 1 million accesses to Emory's home web page in September 1995. There are now 16,000 e-mail accounts (up from 3,500 one year ago), and about 1,200 people a day go to the Cox Hall computer lab. ResNet, the project to provide ethernet connections to every residence hall room, is now virtually completed, and LearnLink is being used by many classes across campus.
The Information Technology Division (ITD), said Johnson, is an organization under duress, struggling to keep up with all the requests, but also an organization striving to respond to the needs of the campus. "Three years ago," he said, "you told us `we want to do business electronically, we want access to information for scholarly work and for university information, and we want computers for classroom and course work.'"
Johnson said that ITD has accomplished many of those things, with 95 percent of campus buildings now connected to the fiber optic network; with a data warehouse currently being created and undergoing a pilot program with 50 users; and with a project using Mandarian software that will provide access to student information scheduled to debut sometime next year.
"Technology," said Johnson, "turns the world topsy turvy. People are the capital; machines are the operating expenses." Emory staff, he said, have a responsibility to keep up with the necessary skills and to learn to operate in an age that calls for interdependence, rather than independence.
-- Jan Gleason