Chronicling 75 years of Bulletin coverage of technology highlights the drama and accelerating pace of change that advancements in this area have inspired. Prior to the development of computers, Bulletin coverage of technology centered on areas such as aviation, energy, and automation. A 1928 article on radio, for example, noted that "with the exception of aviation, no other industry has so swiftly passed from the stage of obscurity and of experimentation to become an indispensable part of our modern life."

As computer technology emerged in the 1950s, initial reactions in the Bulletin were mixed. "One of the most dramatic developments in the business world is the growth of automatic data processing," wrote a faculty member in 1955, who also predicted that "the impression of growth is all out of proportion with the real facts." Penning a 1957 cover story titled "These Machines Are Morons," an AMP graduate highlighted the difficulties of the ten-year process of converting from punch cards to the latest technology - the Univac.

By the early 1960s there was less skepticism and more support for technological innovation. A 1961 article covering a conference on "Technological Planning on the Corporate Level" asserted that "the accelerating rate of change - our expanding technology - is the single most important factor with which business managers must be concerned at present or in the future." Two years later, an article charting the history of computerization and noting that the School had recently purchased its own data-processing equipment concluded with a prophetic question, "Is individual privacy to become the world's rarest commodity and costliest luxury?" The Bulletin's second full-color cover donned the announcement that in 1964 the School became the proud owner of an IBM 1401 computer.

During the 1970s, Bulletin articles reported the automation of Baker Library's holdings, the inclusion of cases on computer technology in the curriculum, the popularity of a student computer club, and the use of an interactive computer system to help place students in jobs. A 1979 article announced two new elective courses: Introduction to Computing for Managers and Management in a Computerized Environment.

Personal computers made their debut at HBS in 1982 when the School rented 75 PCs for participants in the Program for Management Development. The Bulletin noted that the new technology enabled "a quick consensus on the numbers and allow[ed] a focus on the real issues of a case." In 1985, a Bulletin cover story reported on personal computer use as a requirement of the MBA Program, one small but important sign, the piece declared, that the PC had "come of age."

Over the past decade, the magazine has covered the School's frequent technology conferences, campus upgrades, curriculum adaptations (such as multimedia cases), teleseminars, and student events (such as the annual Cyberposium). Recent Bulletins have profiled the vast array of alumni who are involved in high technology - from those working with Internet startups, to those working against the Y2K problem. Advances in technology "bring the world into the classroom in even more powerful ways," noted Dean Kim B. Clark in the Bulletin in 1997. "The future holds enormous promise."

- Susan Young