Reports that information technology support services are in crisis, owing to dramatically increased expectations and stable or dwindling funding. Examines the root causes and suggests actions which may help resolve the situation by reducing expectations, increasing effectiveness and building partnerships.

Lincoln nternational research partnerships have played a critical role in increasing food availability in many developing countries. Among the most successful examples of such partnerships is the Green Revolution, which had significant impact upon developing nations like Mexico and India. During the early 1940s, Mexico imported half of its wheat; India experienced widespread famine during 1963. But as a result of the Green Revolution, Mexico became self-sufficient in terms of crop production by 1956 and was exporting half a million tons of wheat by 1964. Similarly, India became self-sufficient with the assistance of the international research community and funding from the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations. Today, India annually exports 4.5 million tons of rice. Irrigation, fertilizer, and seed technologies were keys to these international successes.

The World Wide Web (WWW) can be used to help build mutually supportive coalitions between colleges and universities and the larger communities in which they are located. Academic institutions are ideal partners in establishing community information systems, helping foster the use of technology in the primary and secondary schools, and building regional networks of people as well as computers. Members of the larger community, in return, can offer additional breadth and depth of experience and a "real world" perspective on technology.At the same time, these partnerships raise significant management issues, including funding of hardware and network connections; equal access for all citizens; handling concerns about socially unacceptable, unethical, or criminal activity; bandwidth issues; and administering World Wide Web spaces in the community context. We examine these issues and offer suggestions from the point of view of the University of Northern Iowa's involvement with the local metropolitan area and the Iowa Research and Education Network's Rural Datafication and K-12 initiatives.

One of the greatest challenges we can face is repairing a bad organizational reputation (deserved or not). Our experience makes it clear that it's not enough to do things the right way. Whether we know it or not, and whether we like it or not, customer service is not about technology; that's an unwelcome surprise for those of us who came up through the technological ranks. We consider some of the factors that can cause a bad reputation, and discuss techniques we've used to address the problem and how well they've worked for us.

Some of us are still wrestling with the question of how we can encourage and support faculty in the use of instructional technology. Faculty members are individuals with varying needs and desires, but they often resist becoming involved in situations that might reveal gaps in their knowledge or make them seem dependent on less-credentialed people. We examine several different faculty profiles in the context of their own expectations of those of students, and suggest ways of providing motivation and support in a nonthreatening manner.