The Best of CAUSE/EFFECT: 1978-1991.

This issue of the higher education information technology magazine, CAUSE/EFFECT, presents in six articles six summaries of the best from this journal since 1978. The articles each summarize the writing done over the years in one of six key areas. The articles are as follows: (1) "Rise of Infrastructure" by Kenneth J. Klingenstein and Mark A. Olson (changes in computing and the resulting impact on applications architecture and technological and economic imperatives); (2) "Information Systems Development and Management" by Sandra T. Dennhardt (approaches to development, systems to support administrators, academics, management and decision-making); (3) "Organizational Structure for Managing Information Technology" by Robert R. Blackmun (centralization of decentralization and Chief Information Officers); (4) "Personnel and Operational Management Issues" by Albert L. LeDuc (including communication and cooperation, management roles, and entrepreneurship and marketing); (5) User Computing and Information Access" by Lore A. Balkan, Patricia S. Ernest, and Gerald W. McLaughlin (user support, library automation and access, administrative data access and security, and data standards and coordination); and (6) "Strategic Planning and Information Technology: Beyond Missions and Machines" by Sue A. Hodges and Ronald L. Moore (chronicles the linkages of planning concepts to technology). Included is a profile of the corporate sponsor and a list of CAUSE/EFFECT contributors of the year since 1981. Extensive references accompany most articles. (JB)