Information Highway

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Recommended: Brief Introduction to the Development History of the Internet

What exactly is this “information highway”? “Think of the information highway as a library that's so new it doesn't have any shelves yet or a card catalogue to find what you need or a road you can take with information on all kinds of subjects” (The Information Highway).
The ”information highway” or “information superhighway” is a term that became popularized in 1990 and is now regarded as information and communication technologies (ICTs) as a basic human need.
The official project behind the information highway was the National Information Infrastructure. This went beyond the “interconnectivity of just computers; the scope broadened to include all types of data transmissions between a plethora of places, people, and devices” (Wikipedia). This project was expected to provide for the “integration of hardware, software, and skills that make it easy and affordable to connect people with each other, each other, with computers, and with a vast array of services and information resources” (Information Infrastructure Executive Order, 1993.).
It is also often associated with Al Gore, who “promoted funding for programmers that led to aspects of the development of the Internet” (Wikipedia). In 1969, he created the first working prototype for his Internet invention. During this time, the Department of Defense Advanced Research Project Association (ARPA) began work on ARPANET. The purpose of ARPANET was to “promote the sharing of supercomputers amongst researchers in the United States” (Bellis). Al Gore described his idea of the invention of the Internet to the ARPA researchers: “In the Industrial Age, steam locomotives didn’t do much good until the railroad tracks were laid down across the nation. Similarly, we now have supercomputers… but we don’t have the interstate highways that we need to connect them” (Bellis). That was all the ARPA researchers needed to hear, and by 1969, the ARPANET was first demonstrated. The term “information superhighway” is a trademark of Al Gore’s Internet.
The information highway is developing rapidly. “According to a report from the US Department of Commerce last year, it took 38 years for the radio to claim 50 million users in the US, 13 years for TV to gain the same numbers but only four years for the Internet” (Perry). “In 1994, there were 4 million users of the Internet w...

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... though useful and apt, has perhaps served its purpose” (Wikipedia). “The information highway is exactly what its name says—a road you can take filled with information on all kinds of subjects that includes community networks, thousands of interest groups, databases and on-line news services” (The Information Highway). As we move towards the future, this highway is growing so fast that experts are having a hard time keeping up. Users are coming online by the millions worldwide, and the information available is expanding at an incredibly rapid rate. “From this point, where you head on the highway is up to you. As you are cruising on the highway it is up to you to find out what is useful. There are no road guides or maps, just your own curiosity and ingenuity” (The Information Highway).

Bellis, Mary. “Al Gore and the Information Superhighway.” About.com. 13 May 2005. http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa040100a.htm

Perry, Brian J. “Society on the Superhighway.” Kaken. 1995.

“The Information Highway.” Canada Prospects. 1995. http://www.semainedelorientation.com/products/cp_95-96/work/info-high.html.

Wikipedia. 11 May 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_highway.

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