most problems. When potential solutions were identified, there was much contention due to issues of compatibility, organizational control, and lack of shared priorities and vision. Arriving at consensus on an appropriate action was often difficult. This consensus building was further complicated by rapidly changing technology. After arriving at a consensus, another, perhaps more attractive, technological alternative would sometimes become available forcing the discussions back to square one. We now provide a description of the technological infrastructure of the IIC and the services that it provided.
The Technological Structure of the IIC
The IIC was located in the Humphrey Center which houses the Institute of Public Affairs and parts of the School of Management. At the beginning of the project, all faculty and staff members within SOM and IPA had personal computers. The deans' office, the Information and Decision Sciences Department, and the Operations and Management Sciences Department in SOM had a local area network in place. All other PCs in both schools were stand alone. Access to outside resources [such as LUMINA (University Libraries online catalog) and University mainframe computers] was accomplished through modem access. Word processing, spreadsheet, graphics, statistical software, and data base management systems were the dominant applications.
The IIC was equipped with a Macintosh II, a NeXt computer, and four IBM compatible 386/25 personal computers. Each of the IBM PCs was connected via a 3COM 10Base T network adaptor card to the IIC local area network that operated under the Novell Netware 3.11 software. The computers all had a CD-ROM drive connected directly, as well as access to the CD-ROM's provided through the local area network. Two Sony CDU-7211