This volume records the processings of the Fulbright Colloquium on Information Technology: The Public Issues which was held at the University of Sout hampton from Tuesday 16 September to Friday 29 September 1986. The Fulbright Commission in London felt that an Anglo-American conference on this subject was particularly appropriate at this time. Information technology (IT) has been at the forefront of informed debate on both sides of the Atlantic for a number of years and has been recognised as an issue of major importance in both countries, affecting all strands of society.