16. The University of the Future

In the near future, ordinary PCs will be able to vividly explain and show students the answer to a question in full-motion, talking, color videographics instead of simple written text. Personal digital assistants will become book-sized electronic companions for communicating, computing, and performing endless other tasks. Keyboards will be replaced with voice-recognition systems, and language translation will be computerized. Virtual reality will eventually allow one to enter any world imaginable. Screens won't be just the size of a desk, but an entire wall, so images will become life-size. Miniaturization of hardware will continue to reduce the size of information technology such that powerful systems will be cheap and small enough to put in a pocket. Already, one can buy a briefcase that incorporates a computer, printer, fax, copier, and telephone, permitting instantaneous contact from anywhere.

If we hope to accommodate this flood of information that is now beginning to pour forth, universities will be forced to become far more electronic than ever before. However, the emphasis will change: "A primary focus for information technology ... over the last decade was automating university administrative functions," said a 1992 report from the Higher Education Information Resources Alliance, a group of five professional university information associations. "The focus for the next decade will be on making strategic investments to improve academic productivity."

A major concern of the wired university should be electronic publication of scholarly journals, a cherished goal of researchers because it speeds the distribution of knowledge and reduces costs. Publishers, however, have been slow to embrace the concept because they are concerned that users would easily pirate copies of protected works using computer technology. But these issues will be resolved as methods are improved to protect information and to automatically charge users for their access to an electronic publication.

Journals are already being electronically transmitted to a limited extent, and this trend will continue. Harvard University has embarked on an eight-year, $20-million project to convert its books and journals to computerized storage. Elsevier Science Publishers is experimenting to make its journals available over computer networks. TULIP (The University Licensing Program) is believed to be the first attempt to provide published, copyrighted materials over the Internet. By roughly the year 2010, electronic scholarly journals are likely to be common, with hard copies being used for archival purposes.

As these trends reach a peak about the year 2005, universities may finally realize the enormous untapped potential of the information-technology revolution. Today's typical college classroom is archaic: The only thing that distinguishes it from the classroom of the medieval university is an overhead projector. In a decade or so, electronic, wired universities will likely be competing to tap the best minds around the world for ideas and knowledge, which will then be distributed to students, corporations, and other clients. Excellent professors might become international celebrities, sought after in a world that prizes understanding; conversely, students would have access to the wealth of knowledge growing exponentially as the Information Age gains speed.