Technology has revolutionized scholarly communication, changing the way we study everything from Egyptian papyri to the human genome to musical composition. Using computers and the Internet, scholars have created new research tools and methods; in some cases, the innovations amount to entirely new modes of enquiry. Computers' capacity for storing vast amounts of data and manipulating them at extraordinary speeds has enlarged the scope of manageable research, and the Internet has admitted new minds and voices into scholarly discussions. Access to scientific data, archival material, and both established and recent scholarship has been expanded and accelerated. Ideas can be developed, tested, refined, or abandoned with the help of invisible colleagues around the world. Collaborative scholarship is taking hold in disciplines where it was rare or unknown.

Communication between faculty and students has changed, too. Many faculty members teach unseen students via the Web. Others enhance their on-campus courses with elaborate Web sites that provide access to readings, images, lectures, and laboratory demonstrations. Course sites are typically linked to other sites that provide opportunities for students to expand their reading, listening, viewing, and thinking. At least one major research university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is offering all of the course material on its Web site free to anyone who wishes to use it.