Information highway
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PopularMechanics_InformationSuperhighway.jpg
The information highway is a term used, especially in the 1990s to describe the Internet. The official project was dubbed the National Information Infrastructure (NII) and went beyond the interconnectivity of just computers; the scope broadened to include all types of data transmissions beetween a plethora of places, people, and devices. It is often associated with the US politician and former vice president, Al Gore, who promoted funding for programmes that led to aspects of the development of the Internet, although its currency was wider than merely Gore — many policy organisations made pronouncements about the so-called information highway or the variant information superhighway. Both terms are used less frequently now that for many people the Internet has become a less abstract and more concrete thing; the highway analogy, though useful and apt, has perhaps served its purpose.
It is used in early editions of Wired Magazine as well as Popular Mechanics.
Internet denizens sometimes use these terms in reference to the terms' overuse by traditional popular media (and consequently by non-Internet-users) while the Internet was still becoming mainstream. Compare with the term Interweb. Many geeks often use it in a mocking tone, poking fun at the press for always being hopelessly behind in their description of technical matters.