On March 1989, the Aspen Institute convened a group of experts to assess Soviet progress in computer and information technologies, their current and likely impact on Soviet society, and appropriate ways for U.S. policymakers to respond. Major issues addressed by conference participants included: Will new information technologies encourage a decentralization of authority in Soviet society? How will the new technologies affect human rights, if at all? How will they affect the Soviet Union's economic prospects? and Can the United States influence any of these computer-related trends through its foreign policies or trade policies? The conference consisted of seven sessions, each of which was devoted to a specific issue. Session titles were: (1) The Social Impact of Computer Use; (2) Computers as Decentralizing Forces? (3) A Portrait of Soviet Computer and Information Technologies; (4) Does Computerization Require an Open Society? (5) Soviet Computer Culture as a Reformist Vanguard? (6) Should "the West" Encourage Soviet Computerization? and (7) What Next? Proposals for Research and Action. A list of conference participants is included. (GL)