science

Information superhighway

Information superhighway is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Information superhighway rather than just read about it. In short: The information superhighway is a late-20th-century descriptive phrase that aspirationally referred to the increasingly mainstream availability of digital communication systems (and ultimately the Internet and its World Wide Web). To some extent, it is associated with United States Senator and later Vice President Al Gore.

Key takeaways

Information superhighway belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Information superhighway to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Information superhighway from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The information superhighway is a late-20th-century descriptive phrase that aspirationally referred to the increasingly mainstream availability of digital communication systems (and ultimately the Internet and its World Wide Web). To some extent, it is associated with United States Senator and later Vice President Al Gore.

Definitions There are a number of definitions of this term. The 1996 publication Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age defines the term as "the whole digital enchilada - interactive, cable, broadband, 500-channel [...] then-Senator Al Gore Jr. introduced it at a 1978 meeting of computer industry folk, in homage to his father, Senator Albert Gore Sr." The McGraw-Hill Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, published in 2001, defines the term as "a proposed high-speed communications system that was touted by the Clinton/Gore administration to enhance education in America in the 21st century. Its purpose was to help all citizens regardless of their income level. The Internet was originally cited as a model for this superhighway; however, with the explosion of the World Wide Web, the Internet became the information superhighway". The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines the term as "a route or network for the high-speed transfer of information; esp. (a) a proposed national fiber-optic network in the United States; (b) the Internet." The OED also cites usage of this term in three periodicals:

the January 3, 1983 issue of Newsweek: "...information superhighways being built of fiber-optic cable will link Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D. C. in a 776-mile system on the East Coast." the December 19, 1991 issue of the Christian Science Monitor: "Senator Gore calls NREN the "information superhighway" - a catalyst for what he hopes will become one day a national fiber-optic network." the October 26, 1993 issue of the New York Times: "One of the technologies Vice President Al Gore is pushing is the information superhighway, which will link everyone at home or office to everything else—movies and television shows, shopping services, electronic mail and huge collections of data." The working paper No.179, 1994, of the Center for Coordination Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology describes the concept as follows: "The information superhighway directly connects millions of people, each both a consumer of information and a potential provider. (...) Most predictions about commercial opportunities on the information superhighway focus on the provision of information products, such as video on demand, and on new sales outlets for physical products, as with home shopping. (...) The information superhighway brings together millions of individuals who could exchange information with one another. Any conception of a traditional market for making beneficial exchanges, such as an agricultural market or trading pit, or any system where individuals respond to posted prices on a computer screen is woefully inadequate for the extremely large number of often complex trades that will be required."

Earlier similar phrases Some other people used the term "superhighway" in application to telecommunications even earlier. In 1964, M. Brotherton in his book "Masers and Lasers; How They Work, What They Do" on p. 5, wrote about laser beams and used the term "superhighways" for communication. The term "electronic super highway" was used by RCA engineer James Hillier in 1971 to describe the future evolution of cable television and home communications

In addition, this cable will run past every bank, school, store, and place of business. It will be an electronic super highway carrying entertainment, education, and informational commerce, making possible a new and closer coupling of the citizen to his society and culture, but from the retained privacy and convenience of his own home.

In 1974, Nam June Paik also used the term "super highway" in application to telecommunications, which gave rise to the mistaken opinion that he may have been the author of the term "information superhighway". In 1972, Andrzej Targowski presented the Polish National Development Program at the State Council for Informatics, which included the plan of developing the public computer network INFOSTRADA (INFO-STRADA), with autostrada meaning motorway in Polish. Later this plan and its topology were published in his book INFORMATYKA modele rozwoju i systemów (INFORMATICS, models of development and systems)

The building of new electronic super highways will become an even huger enterprise. Assuming we connect New York with Los Angeles by means of an electronic telecommunication network that operates in strong transmission ranges, as well as with continental satellites, wave guides, bundled coaxial cable, and later also via laser beam fiber optics: the expenditure would be about the same as for a Moon landing, except that the benefits in term of by-products would be greater.

Decline in usage The expression "information superhighway" was widely used in the early and mid-1990s, but it appeared less often in major newspapers by the end of the decade. A review of U.S. press coverage by the media-analysis group Free Press shows a marked drop in references after 1995, as journalists increasingly used terms such as "the Internet" and "the Web". The technology site Spiegato wrote that the development of the Internet did not match the image of a single, unified "high-speed highway", and pointed to the growth of decentralized, mobile, and wireless networks as a contrast to that metaphor. In The Independent, columnist Miles Kington argued that the metaphor overstated the coherence of the emerging communications system and did not reflect how people were actually connecting online. The publication Entrepreneur characterized the term as dated by the mid-2000s, advising writers to use more precise language in technical and commercial contexts. A Newsweek piece noted that plans for large-scale fiber-optic deployment in the United States were more expensive and slower than early proponents had projected, reducing the relevance of the "information superhighway" rhetoric in later discussions.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Information superhighway

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Information superhighway claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Information superhighway before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Information superhighway ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Information superhighway

In research: Information superhighway appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Information superhighway in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Information superhighway is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1970s neologisms, 1990s fads and trends, 1990s in technology, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Information superhighway outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Information superhighway in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Information superhighway means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Information superhighway out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Information superhighway in simple terms?

Why does Information superhighway matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Information superhighway?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Information superhighway.