information superhighway

[ in-fer-mey-shuhn soo-per-hahy-wey ]

1. a large-scale communications network providing a variety of often interactive services, as text databases, email, and audio and video materials, accessed through computers, television sets, etc.

information superhighway

noun

1. the concept of a worldwide network of computers capable of transferring all types of digital information at high speed
2. another name for the internet

information superhighway

1. A term that describes all of the infrastructure, including cable, satellites, and assorted hardware , that allows information to be transferred at great speed over large distances to all people.

Notes

The term implies an analogy between the construction of an information infrastructure in the Internet age with the construction of the interstate highway system constructed in the last half of the twentieth century.

Word History and Origins

Origin of information superhighway¹

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

This was the so-called “information superhighway,” which Levin called the Full Service Network.

From Seattle Times

Computers across the country needed to be able to communicate, transmitting data on a high-speed network that Al Gore liked to call the “information superhighway.”

From New York Times

When the tantalizing concept of an “information superhighway” first appeared in 1993, it was held out as rivaling the railroads and airlines in revolutionizing and connecting the world.

From Washington Post

For those reasons, the vagus nerve — the longest of the 12 cranial nerves — is sometimes referred to as an “information superhighway.”

From New York Times

You point to moments in the history of internet privatization where there were intervention points, like proposals for a “public lane in the information superhighway.”

From The Verge