Cruisin' the Information Superhighway In My '57 Chevy

Farewell To Rte. 66?

Abstract

Keynote Address
CALICO 1994 Annual Symposium
Flagstaff, Arizona, 16 March 1994

Much has been written about the "information superhighway' of late, but few of us have more than a superficial sense of what it is all about. This paper attempts to present the information superhighway — more properly, the "National Information Infrastructure' — as a graspable whole, beginning with its improved human factors (ease of use, or ergonomics), increases in the extent of its offerings and number of users, and its advancing technology that is growing ever faster, better, and cheaper. The information superhighway is described as having four principal functions: information, communication, services, and entertainment. Finally, this paper suggests some of the challenges that the information superhighway presents to the foreign language teaching profession.