engineering

National Information Infrastructure

National Information Infrastructure is a engineering 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 National Information Infrastructure rather than just read about it. In short: The National Information Infrastructure (NII) was the product of the High Performance Computing Act of 1991. It was a telecommunications policy buzzword, which was popularized during the Clinton Administration under the leadership of Vice-President Al Gore.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The National Information Infrastructure (NII) was the product of the High Performance Computing Act of 1991. It was a telecommunications policy buzzword, which was popularized during the Clinton Administration under the leadership of Vice-President Al Gore.

Proposal It proposed to build communications networks, interactive services, interoperable computer hardware and software, computers, databases, and consumer electronics in order to put vast amounts of information available to both public and private sectors. NII was to have included more than just the physical facilities (more than the cameras, scanners, keyboards, telephones, fax machines, computers, switches, compact disks, video and audio tape, cable, wire, satellites, optical fiber transmission lines, microwave nets, switches, televisions, monitors, and printers) used to transmit, store, process, and display voice, data, and images; it was also to encompass a wide range of interactive functions, user-tailored services, and multimedia databases that were interconnected in a technology-neutral manner that will favor no one industry over any other.

See also Al Gore and information technology High Performance Computing Act of 1991 Information superhighway History of the Internet NII Awards

References

This article incorporates public domain material from Federal Standard 1037C. General Services Administration. Archived from the original on 2022-01-22. Chapman, Gary and Marc Rotenberg. "The National Information Infrastructure: A Public Interest Opportunity." Summer, 1993. Gore, Al. Remarks on the National Information Infrastructure by Vice President Al Gore at the National Press club, December 21, 1993.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with National Information Infrastructure

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what National Information Infrastructure claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, 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 National Information Infrastructure 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 National Information Infrastructure 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 National Information Infrastructure

In research: National Information Infrastructure appears in engineering 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 National Information Infrastructure 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: National Information Infrastructure is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Al Gore, Computer-related introductions in 1991, History of the Internet, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for National Information Infrastructure 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 National Information Infrastructure in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what National Information Infrastructure 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 National Information Infrastructure out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is National Information Infrastructure in simple terms?

Why does National Information Infrastructure matter?

Because it connects several engineering 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 National Information Infrastructure?

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 National Information Infrastructure.