astronomy

Superhighway Summit

Superhighway Summit is a astronomy 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 Superhighway Summit rather than just read about it. In short: The Superhighway Summit was held at the University of California, Los Angeles's Royce Hall on 11 January 1994. It was the first public conference bringing together all of the major industry, government and academic leaders in the field.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The Superhighway Summit was held at the University of California, Los Angeles's Royce Hall on 11 January 1994. It was the first public conference bringing together all of the major industry, government and academic leaders in the field. It began the national dialogue about the information superhighway and its implications. The conference was organized by Richard Frank of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and Jeffrey Cole and Geoffrey Cowan, the former co-directors of UCLA's Center for Communication Policy. It was introduced by former UCLA Chancellor Andrea L. Rich. The keynote speaker was Vice President Al Gore.

Background Thirty leaders in the area of communications presided over the event, which had an attendance of over 1800 people. It was broadcast live on C-SPAN, E! Entertainment, and on the UCLA campus.

Partial list of participants Barry Diller - chairman and CEO of QVC Michael Eisner - then chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Co. Ernestine, the telephone operator (a fictional character created by the actress Lily Tomlin for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In) Al Gore - then Vice President of the United States Reed Hundt - FCC Chairman Robert Iger -president of the ABC Television Group Jeffrey Katzenberg - then chairman of Walt Disney Studios John C. Malone - president of Telecommunications, Inc. Rupert Murdoch - NewsCorp Raymond W. Smith - CEO, Bell Atlantic

Highlights The conference was given extensive coverage by Cynthia Lee and Linda Steiner Lee over two issues of UCLA TODAY (January 13 and 27, 1994). In the article "Gore Details Telecommunications Ideas," Lee and Lee gave an overview of the opening speech given by Vice President Gore. They commented that "Vice President Al Gore outlined the Clinton Administration's proposals to reform the communications marketplace and challenged his audience to provide links from the so-called information superhighway to every classroom, library, hospital, and clinic in the country by the year 2000 [...] 'We have a dream for...an information superhighway that can save lives, create jobs and give every American, young and old, the chance for the best education available to anyone, anywhere,' Gore said." During his talk, "Ernestine" (the fictional telephone operator created by Lily Tomlin for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In) made a surprise appearance. She complained "about the confusing and rapid transformation of communications technology. The Vice president laughingly assured Ernestine that the new technology would be simple to understand and available to all Americans." In the follow-up article, "CEOs Ponder Direction of Information Superhighway", Cynthia Lee stated that leaders at the conference noted that the future of the information superhighway was still uncertain. " 'Here we are, all ready to go cruising off down this new information superhighway,' said Jeffrey Katzenberg, Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, during one of the panel discussions, 'and we really don't know where we are going. It's the first time we will be moving in a certain direction when we don't even know our final destination.' " Geoffrey Cowan, the former co-director of UCLA's Center for Communication Policy, indicated that the key concept of the Information Superhighway was interactivity, or "the ability for the consumer to control it, to decide what they want to receive, and the ability of the technology to respond to highly sophisticated consumer demands." The participants underscored the point that the major challenge of the information superhighway would lie in access, or the "gap between those who will have access to it because they can afford to equip themselves with the latest electronic devices and those who can't."

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Superhighway Summit

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Superhighway Summit claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, 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 Superhighway Summit 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 Superhighway Summit 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 Superhighway Summit

In research: Superhighway Summit appears in astronomy 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 Superhighway Summit 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: Superhighway Summit is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1994 conferences, 1994 in California, 1994 in computing, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Superhighway Summit 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 Superhighway Summit in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Superhighway Summit in simple terms?

Why does Superhighway Summit matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 Superhighway Summit?

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 Superhighway Summit.