This morning's batch--data from an off-campus collaborator about their research on cancer treatment cost effectiveness, a citation Fryback had requested from an editor in Michigan, and a query from a colleague in Turkey about some classroom materials that Fryback created--arrived electronically. And that's exactly how Fryback--in less than an hour--answers it.
Scientists like Fryback increasingly are logging onto computer networks to do their work. The networks help them avoid telephone tag, make it easier to swap files, and provide access to supercomputers, instruments, and databases thousands of miles away.
But Fryback wants to do more than simply use the new technology. He also wants to understand how it affects his life and the lives of his colleagues. And a new study that he helped to bring about may provide some answers.
As head of a university committee that earmarks money donated by Ameritech, the Chicago-based parent corporation of several regional ...
