The National Information Infrastructure

7/31/2019 The National Information Infrastructure

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The national information infrastructure : myths,

metaphors and realities

Abdullah Al-Shehri & Jeff J. Jones

Abstract

In recent years the subject of the National Information Infrastructure (NII) has been receivinggreater attention in both scholarly and trade publications. The issue is expected to havesignificant implications for the use of electronic communication in education, business,industry and government. Interestingly, the origins of NII were in the sector of highereducation. Despite the significantly broader applications of the NII that have been legislatedover the last few years, there is scarcity of research that has attempted to integratively reviewthe key issues and principles that underlie the concept of the NII, the primary stakeholders

participating in its implementation, the current status of these issues and the futureimplications for education, business, industry and government. By providing an integrativeperspective of the issues discussed above, such research is expected to inform the study ofelectronic communication and information exchange. This article based on an exhaustivereview of the printed and on-line literature on the NII is expected to fulfill this objective.

Keywords: history of NII, GII, national information infrastructure, global informationinfrastructure, deregulation, information superhighway, data highway, digital highway,information policy,information society, NII task force, personal privacy issues, privacyrights, privacy guidelines, information security issues, computer security, stakeholders of NII,consumer protection groups, government agencies, internet content, censorship, internet

activism, government resources, legal aspects of NII, articles, reports, publications, speeches,USA, United States.

INTRODUCTION

In a global economy that is increasingly information intensive, almost everyone agrees thatan advanced information infrastructure is the key to economic growth and value creation(Egan, 1994). U.S. economy is increasingly dependent upon the capture, manipulation,transmission and consumption of information. The ongoing information revolution isexpected to influence every facet of American life, be it work or leisure (Verity, 1994).Companies in all industries are using information technology to re-engineer themselves and

to become globally competitive. Businesses are gearing up to be a part of today's globalinformation economy and tomorrow's world knowledge economy. Customers of tomorroware expected to buy knowledge-based products with more intelligence built into them.Businesses are expected to build knowledge bases that will grow and evolve organically andhelp managers understand existing usage trends and plan new opportunities (Seybold, 1995).The impact of the information revolution has been so significant that it has been suggestedthat some of the key US Government economic indicators may not reflect the reality of theinformation-based economy (Mandel, 1994).

Various estimates suggest that between one-half and two-third of the American workforce isemployed directly or indirectly in the information sector of the economy. A recent reportreleased by the White House underscores the "critical" role of information in the nationaleconomy (Clinton, 1993). Furthermore, the strategic and global implications of the


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information-based national economy are highlighted in the following extract from the Title47 Chapter 8 of the US Code.

Telecommunications and information are vital to the public welfare, national security, andcompetitiveness of the United States. Rapid technological advances being made in the

telecommunications and information fields make it imperative that the United States maintaineffective national and international policies and programs capable of taking advantage ofcontinued advancements. Telecommunications and information policies andrecommendations advancing the strategic interests and the international competitiveness ofthe United States are essential aspects of the Nation's involvement in international commerce.

There is a critical need for competent and effective telecommunications and informationresearch and analysis and national and international policy development, advice, andadvocacy by the executive branch of the Federal Government. As one of the largest users ofthe Nation's telecommunications facilities and resources, the Federal Government mustmanage its radio spectrum use and other internal communications operations in the most

efficient and effective manner possible.

Considering the vital role of the information and communication infrastructure, and realizingthat the national telecommunications and information policy had not kept pace with the latestdevelopments in telecommunications and computer technology, the US Administrationdetermined that there was a need for accelerated deployment of a National InformationInfrastructure (NII). The primary objective of this initiative was to facilitate development of anational policy that would encourage competition and rapid deployment of new technology.This was expected to provide a regulatory environment in which the private sector would feelencouraged to make the investments necessary to build the national information network thatthe country needs for competing successfully in the next century (Clinton, 1993).

Background of the NII Concept

The concept of a national data superhighway was first suggested in the initial draft of theHigh Performance Computing Act (HPCA) of 1991 by Al Gore, then a U.S. senator (Moeller,1993). This legislation outlined a plan to link US supercomputing research centers togetheron a high-speed network and support other work into high-performance computing. Thenotion of building a data superhighway to stimulate the U.S. economy was expounded in theDemocratic presidential campaign and later became a key component of the DemocraticAdministration's economic reconstruction policy.

Although, it is generally recognized that the U.S. Government was the initiator of the NII, theprivate industry also played an active role in this process. In the beginning of 1993 the CEOsof thirteen major U.S. computer companies lobbied for legislation that would extend theGovernment's existing high-performance computing and communications program, theNational Research and Education Network, beyond the realm of Government and universitylaboratories into offices and homes across the US. These CEOs, who are members of theComputer Systems Policy Project (CSPP) proposed building a National InformationInfrastructure, a broadband digital network. They further recommended that the Governmentdevelop a public information program for the NII and make Government data moreaccessible to the public (Anthes, 1993).


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The NII must be ubiquitous and affordable enabling all individuals to be both consumers andproducers of information in all forms. The NII must be capable of adapting to changing socialand market needs.

The NII must be driven by its users - both information consumers and producers . It must

offer the users convenient access and the initiative to learn and use NII. Further, usabilitymust be provided for any disabled persons.

The private sector must have primary responsibility for the design, deployment, and operationof the NII. However, all the levels of Government will have the roles to play in ensuring theeffective development and deployment of the NII.

The NII must be an integral part of the Global Information Infrastructure (GII). In theglobalization of markets, resources, and economics, global accessibility and use ofinformation is very critical.

For operationalizing these specifications, the NIIAC defined the scope of the NII in terms ofsome fundamental principles. These principles have been discussed in the first report of theNIIAC (1995). In this report, NIIAC has delineated a framework which specifies thefundamental principles in five key areas.

Universal Access and Services

Privacy and Security

Intellectual Property

Education for Lifelong Learning, and

Electronic Commerce.

Universal Access and Services Principles: The NIIAC (1995) has proposed a set ofuniversal access and services principles. Over the next decade, the goal is to enable everyindividual to have access to the NII, with basic level of access and services capabilities andthe deployment of an interactive, multimedia infrastructure. By the end of this century, thegoal is to have the deployment of the NII access and services capabilities to all community-based institutions serving public, such as schools and libraries. All Americans would be able

to act both as consumer as well as producers of information and services on the NII. Disabledwould be able to access the NII without much inconvenience or expense. All publicinformation from all levels of Government will be readily accessible to all individuals.Wherever necessary, Government incentives and subsidies will be provided foraccomplishing these goals.

Privacy and Security Principles: One of the major concerns of the NII is to ensure"information privacy" of individuals, i.e. their claim to control access or disclosure ofinformation of personal nature. The IITF has suggested a set of general and specificprinciples that address the issues of privacy, integrity, and quality of the personal informationon the NII. These principles can be categorized into four major classes:

General Principles


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understand the consequences of providing personal information to others. Therefore,individuals should obtain adequate, relevant information about the purpose for which theinformation shall be used, the safeguards for avoiding its misuse, their rights to withhold theinformation and any rights to redressal.

Redress Principle: Individuals should be protected from harm caused by the improperdisclosure or use of personal information. They should also be protected from harm causedby decisions based on personal information that is not accurate, timely, complete, or relevantfor the purpose for which it is used.

Security Principles: NII participants must have confidence that the NII is a trustworthy,reliable system, or they will not use it. The security aspects of NII include integrity,confidentiality, and privacy of the information in the NII. In general, people who use NIIwant to ensure that their information goes where and when they want it, and not elsewhere.

Intellectual Property Principles: These principles suggest changes to the existing copyright

law to provide the necessary protection for copyrighted works and to place appropriatelimitations on those rights. They are expected to influence the distribution, publication, firstsale, technological protection, copyright management, public performance, fair use andlicensing of works of information. Electronic distribution of copyrighted works forreproduction and display or performance needs to be taken into consideration for definingnew legislation. Similarly, the first sales doctrine needs to take into consideration duplicationwithout loss of original copy.

Education and Lifelong Learning Principles: The NII can enhance the quality of educationprovided through educational institutions and libraries by facilitating participation ofindividuals in electronic communities of learning. Also, by the end of the century, allindividuals should be able to conveniently access through NII information and learningresources available in their schools, colleges, universities, libraries, and other communities-centered institutions. Of course, there is a related need for ensuring the high quality anddiversity of these resources provided to cater to society's needs at large. The individuals invarious communities should be empowered to participate in shaping the evolution of the NII.Most importantly, the learning resources available thru NII should equip individuals of allages with the required skills to participate in the new information society.

Electronic Commerce Principles: National and international commerce is increasinglydependent on the information highways. The NII, and ultimately the GII, is expected to

dramatically enhance the frequency, facility and accuracy of electronic commerce. Thecompetitive environment created by the NII is expected to accelerate the deployment of theNII, and the development of a wide range of products and services for electronic commerce.The process can be encouraged by Government's procurement of goods and services throughelectronic means and its offering services electronically. All these future expectations are ofcourse dependent upon the developments in ensuring the privacy and security of information.

II. KEY ISSUES OF THE NII

The key issues that are essential for the implementation of the NII have been discussed indetail in the Issue Paper released by the Committee on Applications and Technology of the

Information Infrastructure Task Force (1994b).


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According to this report, the development of the NII has been evolving since postal servicesand semaphore were established. The need for a formal NII initiative was spurred by anincreasing pace and scope of changes due to the convergence of various digital technologies.The private industry will be primarily responsible for creating and managing the networks,the information tools and applications, and most of the information traversing the NII. Yet,

U.S. Government is a major participant by virtue of its national information policydevelopment function. As Vice President Gore has observed, "Our goal is not to design the[information] market of the future. It is to provide the principles that shape that market. Andit is to provide the rules governing this difficult transition to an open market for information.We are committed in that transition to protecting the availability, affordability and diversityof information and information technology as market forces replace regulations and judicialmodels that are simply no longer appropriate."

Key Issues Identified

Within this perspective, IITF had identified some key issue areas that need to be addressed

for the implementation of the NII. These areas have been categorized into:

People Issues, concerned with the users of the NII;

Information Issues, concerned with the commodity of the NII;

Software, hardware, and network Issues, concerned with the media of the NII; and

Finance Issues, those concerned with financing the NII.

The specific issues under each of these categories is listed below.

People issues

Providing equitable access to the NII

User acceptance of NII applications

Privacy safeguards for individuals and organizations

User training

Organizational learning

Private sector acceptance of Government-developed applications technology.

Information issues:

Intellectual property rights

Information security, including confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity

Information access, storage, and retrieval


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Information and data standards

Information conversion from "old" storage to NII media.

Software, hardware, and network issues:

User friendly hardware and software that maintain accuracy and reliability of the systems

Interoperability standards that preserve the system security, accuracy, and reliability

Scalability from small pilot projects to widespread use.

Finance issues:

Cost and pricing of the applications and uses, who will pay, and how that can beeconomically efficient and socially beneficial

Public funding, how it will be used for development and deployment of the applications.

Discussion of the Key Issues

People issues

Providing equitable access to the NIIThis includes access to information as well as accessthrough the NII to other individuals and citizen groups. For instance, health-care providersneed access to health care information as well as to other health care affiliates via the NII.

Teachers and students need access to the educational and library services carried on the NII.Commercial establishments and workers need equal access to opportunities for electroniccommerce and telecommuting provided by the NII. Citizens must have equal access toGovernment services provided over the NII.

User AcceptanceUser acceptance will be an important issue in NII, particularly inapplications areas that have not been exposed to the information technology applications sofar.

User Training This issue is related to the last issue since user acceptance may, to a greatextent, depend upon the capacity to train the users. Learning how to use new technologies

and applications -- will require new approaches in the workplace.

Organizational Learning Organizational learning closely parallels user acceptance andtraining. Several application areas will see the development of new paradigms for doing the

job that may involve redefinition of work and the roles of individuals doing that work.Examples include the role of students and teachers in the virtual classrooms, the role ofbuyers and sellers in electronic commerce, etc.

Private-Sector Acceptance of Government Technology Needs of the private sector need tobe integrated in the developmental stage so that most of the NII technology developed as aresult of Government-sponsored efforts could later be adopted easily. The involvement of the

private industries is thus essential in planning, decision-making and developing newtechnologies to ensure compatibility, interoperability, and usability.


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Information issues:

Intellectual Property Rights Ensuring that the creators of information works can becompensated for their work while providing for public "fair use" under the propercircumstances will be a key determinant of the quality and availability of informational goods

and materials through the NII.

Information Security Given the possibility of potential threats to the security of inter-linkedinformation systems by cyberpunks and computer criminals, this is a significant issue forgaining the confidence of the sellers as well as the buyers to conduct transactions thru theNII. Information security may be broadly classified into three areas - confidentiality,information integrity, and information authenticity. For instance, patients would not like theinformation in their medical records to be maliciously misused against them. Electroniccommerce depends upon the viability of the electronic payment systems used on the NII.Companies using the NII for storage, transmission, dissemination or retrieval of informationwant adequate protection of their proprietary secrets.

Information Access, Storage, and RetrievalFlexible and timely access, of course authorizedaccess, to all information resources on the NII is important. Users need to know whatinformation is available, where it is, and how to get it in a timely fashion and in a usefulform.

Information and Data Standards Commonly accepted standards for information and dataare essential to ensure that information transmitted over NII is complete, unambiguous, and,most importantly, usable. While data standards are critical for assuring technical connectivity,information standards are necessary for companies to exchange information in a usefulmanner.

Conversion of Information Conversion of information stored on traditional storage media,such as books, blueprints, paper, etc., to NII electronic storage media will be essential beforethat information can be accessed or transmitted. Examples include digitizing of books storedin libraries, medical records and patient information stored in the hospital files.

Software, hardware, and network issues:

User-Friendly Hardware and Software These are essential for mass applications of NII,especially given the mandate to make NII useful for the general populace of the country.

User-oriented hardware and software interfaces that ensure convenient access to accurate andreliable information are necessary for the acceptance of the NII.

Interoperability Standards Interoperability standards are needed to ensure secure anduncorrupted transmission of information across different networks, or varying hardware andsoftware platforms. Adobe's Acrobat is one instance of such a standard - anyone with anAcrobat reader can read almost any document created in any format on any type of hardware.New standards need to be compatible with the existing base of installed systems as well asflexible enough to adapt to future changes and permit affordable upgradability.

Scalability Scalability would be an important issue for pilot projects developed initially as

small prototypes that are later extended to widespread full-scale usage. Prototypes that aredeveloped using skilled people and special funding should be scalable to sites with lesser


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resources and funds. This issue is particularly relevant for wide-spread application areas suchas education, libraries, health care and manufacturing.

Finance issues:

Cost and Pricing This includes issues such as how much a new application costs, how muchthe user is charged for the service, and how the difference between the price and the cost ismade up. Given the high initial development costs and low replication or usage costs ofseveral information products, it will be economically efficient as well as socially beneficial tomaintain low prices for applications to stimulate their use, so long as the operating costs foreach new user are recovered.

Public Funding The issue of public funding is related to that of cost and pricing, sinceGovernment assistance might be required to develop technological infrastructure in someapplication areas (such as K-12 schools). Similarly, how other developments of public[taxpayers'] significance need to subsidized would also need to be determined.

For some application areas, some issues are more critical than for other application areas. Forinstance, in the health-care system in which insurance companies as well as medicalresearchers need to access portions of patient data, ensuring privacy of data is crucial. In theapplication areas of education and commerce in particular, organizational learning will becrucial because of the fundamental restructuring of work and the corresponding rolemodifications of the workers. Similarly, manufacturing applications, such as concurrentengineering and agile manufacturing are not feasible without the ability to exchangemanufacturing information and data across activities inside and outside an organization in atimely and useful manner. Conversion of information to digital media is a very crucial issuefor the nation's libraries. Although technology for doing that is widely available, yet large-scale conversion is not yet economically affordable. IITF has already done preliminary workon some of the issues, while considerable progress is yet to be made in most areas. IITFCommittee on Applications of Technology has formed a Technology Policy Working Groupto address the issues of interoperability and scalability. Working groups have also beenformed as part of the Information Policy Committee and the Telecommunications PolicyCommittee to address intellectual property rights, privacy, and universal access. A workinggroup of the Committee on Applications and Technology had been formed to addresstechnology policy issues, and the Committee had instituted a public issues discussionprogram as part of its regular meetings to facilitate a dialog on the issues outlined in thisdiscussion.

III. STAKEHOLDERS OF THE NII

The stakeholders of the NII include all parties involved in the various aspects of itsimplementation. Since it has been a U.S. Government initiative, the Administration is a keystakeholder. While the Government is primary playing its rule- making role, its variousagencies are instrumental in shaping the policies that are amenable to the success of theinitiative. Yet, without the private sector, NII would not be possible. The various companiesinvolved in the creation, publication, transmission, storage, organization, dissemination,recycling or processing of information, or in providing the facilitating hardware or software,would be primarily instrumental in constructing the NII. Most of these companies would do

so to satisfy their own strategic or competitive objectives - in most cases related to sustainingexisting customers and securing new markets. In other words, all companies involved in one


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way or another in providing information products or services would need customers whohave the willingness and capability to buy those. Hence, to ensure the long-term viability ofthe NII, customers should be sufficiently motivated to buy the information products andservices available on the NII. In case of the U.S. Government, the information services andproducts will be accessible at negligible cost to the taxpayers. Various kinds of consumer

groups would be involved in ensuring that the interests of the customers using the NII areadequately safeguarded. Due to the key role of information in education and learning,educational institutions, academia and libraries would be involved in the creation as well asusage and dissemination of various kinds of information. The NII has received wide coverage[by the mass media] as a broad-based multimedia national resource accessible to all U.S.citizens. The major players attempting to influence the NII's creation include the WhiteHouse, the Congress, federal courts, federal departments and agencies, state regulators,industry participants and the public (Pearce, 1994). Figure 1 depicts the roles that variousFederal Government Agencies are playing in the NII initiative.

The various stakeholders can be divided into four broad categories :

. those who will own the information networks, primarily the private sector firms;

. those who will create user-end information processing devices such as TVs, telephones,computers, and their composites, etc.;

. information providers such as local broadcasters, digital libraries, information serviceproviders, and individuals who want to sell or share information; and most importantly,

. information customers, who would demand quality products at affordable prices. The usersand providers of information would have different, though, overlapping needs for the NIIservices. The information users would have the following types of needs (GITS, 1994):

searching, discovering, updating, transforming, and retrieving useful information;

building and maintaining electronic repositories of information;

creating and distributing information electronically;

executing and recording commercial, legal, financial, and other business transactions; and,

supporting collaborative work efforts among collocated or remote individuals.

The suppliers would have a differing, but overlapping, set of needs. They would need the NIIto:

enable new application product offerings without requiring the creation of all of thesupporting software;

facilitate the encoding and transport of data between locations and between networks;

translate data from one language representation to another; and


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support the migration of existing data files, data bases and programs from older legacysystems to more modern systems.

If, and whether, suppliers and users start availing the services of the NII, would be dependentupon a conducive infrastructure. Government, by its regulatory and policy-making function,

can facilitate creation of such an infrastructure.

U.S. Government

No single authority, including the U.S. Government, has the capability to develop, mandateor legislate a coherent services framework within which individual commercial competitivesolutions can coexist and interact. Nevertheless, Government would provide the leadershipand vision to guide this process, to balance the interests of the many NII stakeholders, and toinfluence the shape of the information infrastructure. The Administration has clearlyindicated that the construction of the NII will be undertaken by the private sector. Businesses,on the other hand, are primarily motivated by pursuit of profits and competitive advantage.

Paradoxically, the established regulatory processes tend to constrain earnings and marketpower, and hence represent a formidable roadblock to private investment (Egan, 1994). Inthis scenario, the primary role of the Government is to prevent the over-regulation ofcompetitive entries into the information service markets. Although the Government will notbuild the NII, it will coordinate standards and provide monetary support to ensure that lowincome areas and non-profit organizations are included (Lou, 1994). Its major issues involveuniversal access. All the levels of Government will have the roles to play in ensuring theeffective development and deployment of the NII. The Government will ensure vigorouscompetition, fair access, basic levels of services, and interoperability , and provide privacyand security protection for all NII's users.Government's main role is in ensuring thecoordination of regulatory and policy-making efforts at Federal, state and local levels tocomplement the NII vision.

The Administration, through the formulation of various coordinating agencies for NII andthrough its rounds of speeches and meetings is following an ongoing political/policy makingprocess that is designed to establish some coordination and cooperation, as opposed to havingthe different Government and private sector bodies going in different directions (Stewart andPearce, 1994).

The role of the Government as the country's largest user of information technologyshouldnot be overlooked. In this role, the Government can develop NII applications to speed and

improve the delivery of services.

Federal Agencies

A number of federal agencies are involved in the commercial development of the NII.Several of them are working together closely to develop, coordinate, and implement R&Dstrategies and policies in support of the NII initiative. A brief review of some of the keyagencies is given here. For more detailed information, please refer Appendix 3.

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) is a permanent, cabinet-level body,chaired by the President of the United States, which prepares R&D strategies that are

coordinated across Federal agencies. NSTC, operating through the Committee on Informationand Communications (CIC), is responsible for R&D technology policy, strategic planning,


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and interagency coordination related to information and communications technologies. Itleads the Federal R&D community in its support for National and Global InformationInfrastructure technology developments. The CIC oversees the Federal High PerformanceComputing and Communications and Information Technology (HPCCIT) initiative, which isdeveloping the technologies needed for dramatic improvements in information services for

the future NII. The goal of the Federal High Performance Computing and Communications(HPCC) Program is to accelerate the development of future generations of high performancecomputers and networks and the use of these resources in the Federal Government andthroughout the American economy. Scalable high performance computers, advanced highspeed computer communications networks, and advanced software are critical components ofa new NII.

The Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF), chaired by the Secretary of Commerce,was created by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the NationalEconomic Council (NEC) to ensure that the entire Federal Government acts in concert toaccelerate deployment and use of the NII. The White House formed the IITF to articulate and

implement the Administration's vision for the NII. Working together with the private sector,the participating agencies will develop comprehensive technology, telecommunications, andinformation policies and promote applications that best meet the needs of both the agenciesand the country. By helping build consensus on difficult policy issues, the IITF will enableagencies to make and implement policy more quickly and effectively. Three IITFCommittees have been established: Telecommunications Policy, Information Policy, andApplications and Technology. The Technology Policy Working Group (TPWG) of theCommittee on Applications and Technology (CAT) is designated to work with thetechnology development community to serve as a catalyst to promote technologicalinnovation, to stimulate the private sector to develop and adopt technologies for a highlycapable NII, and to identify and reduce barriers to implementation. Figure 2 illustrates thepresent organizational structure of the NII.

The National Performance Review (NPR) Report and its accompanying report onReengineering Through Information Technology (NPR IT), recommended the establishmentof a Government Information Technology Services (GITS) Working Group. That group,established formally under the IITF's Committee on Applications and Technology, has beenempowered to facilitate the implementation of the NPR IT report and act as a focal point forimprovements in the way Government uses information technology and the NII to deliverinformation and services.

The National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIIAC) was created by anexecutive order at the end of 1993. The NIIAC represents many of the key constituencieswith a stake in the NII, including private industry; state and local governments; community,public interest, education, and labor groups; creators and distributors of content; privacy andsecurity advocates; and leading experts in NII-related fields. The NIIAC has specificallyfocused on: defining the roles of the public and private sectors; maintaining the balance ofprotection of intellectual property rights of creators and copyright owners with the needs ofusers; generating national strategies for developing applications in electronic commerce,manufacturing, education and lifelong learning, health care, Government information andservices, and public safety; conceiving approaches to maximize interconnection andinteroperability of networks; and addressing the important issues of privacy and security.


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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) contributes to the NII by fundinghigh-risk industrial ventures, performing laboratory research, and participating in policy andstandards formation to ensure that the technologies are available for real-life applications ofthe NII. As part of the Government's multi-agency initiative to formulate a vision andstrategy for the NII, the NIST Director chairs the Committee on Applications and Technology

of the Information Infrastructure Task Force, which is studying how innovative technologieswill help people do their jobs in new and different ways. The committee coordinatesGovernment- wide efforts to develop information technology applications and recommendtechnology policy.

The Private Sector

The private sector must have primary responsibility for the design, deployment, and operationof the NII. The private sector, in collaboration with a variety of user groups, should continueto design the NII, and develop the high quality products and innovative services. The NII willnot be built by a single entity, but by numerous existing institutions that can provide content

or the ability for end-users to communicate with one another. The main players will be thetelcos, Internet, and the cable companies (Chan, 1994). Private industry will be responsiblefor virtually every major facet of the NII and the information marketplace it creates. Privateindustry will build and manage the networks, provide the information tools and much of theinformation that travels the networks, and develop the many of the applications that use thenetworks. According to some estimates, the private investment on the NII will be of the orderof $2 trillion to $3 trillion, while Government's share will be around $100 billion (Hoving,1994).

An essential step in the evolution of the NII is the convergence of a host of discreteinformation industries into one. Most important among these is the integration of thetelephony and CATV networks. This convergence is occurring primarily because of changingtechnological and competitive forces. The integration of these networks is not only inevitablebut will provide significant benefits in the area of economics, education and the environment(Oliver, 1995). The NII debate has focused too much on the Federal Government's role inbuilding the fiber optic highway. Private providers such as AT&T, NYNEX, Time-Warner,TCI, and Teleport are now building and will continue to build the vast majority of suchhighways in the U.S. (Hargadon, 1993).

Companies such as AT&T, MCI Communications and Sprint Corp are preparing their long-distance networks to provide the bandwidth that will be required by the NII. While cable

companies and Baby Bells are establishing broadband on-ramp connections to the NII, thelong distance carriers are upgrading their national networks which are to serve as the long-term backbones of the NII. The telecommunications carriers are working to provide sufficientbandwidth for interactive, multimedia services and to make it easier for wide area networkusers to exchange data at high speed. Sprint and MCI are also quietly participating in testprojects and talking with information providers. AT&T is engaging in more aggressiveplanning and is looking for new opportunities that make use of its telecommunications andcomputer businesses (Smally and Patch, 1993).

The so-called 'information highway,' better referred to as the convergence of computing andtelephony, will be centered around the microcomputer and will use PCs to bring new

entertainment services at home. Cable TV and telephone companies are betting thatconsumers will want new interactive and pay- per-view services. Some argue that only the


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PC has enough power, flexibility and control to achieve true convergence, while others saythat a television equipped with an intelligent cable box will be the primary information-highway interface. Intel is working with General instruments and Zenith Electronics toprepare devices that will link cable services and PCs. Silicon Graphics Inc has associatedwith Scientific- Atlanta and Time Warner to deliver on-demand video; Scientific-Atlanta,

Kalieda and Motorola are developing a new Malibu Graphics Controller chip for set-topboxes that will act as a 'convergence builder.' The average PC is not yet ready to become aconvergence device; 64-bit data paths, a multitasking operating system, fast video and largeamounts of storage are needed for PCs to handle video (Derfler, 1994).

Various types of collaborations and partnerships will help promote the NII. TheCollaboratory on Information Infrastructure will try to make prototypes based on NIItechnologies. The Collaboratory is promoted by Bellcore along with the Regional BellOperating Companies and eight companies in other fields. The Cross Industry Working Team(XIWT) will attempt to standardize NII architectures across industries. The XIWT is a groupof 28 companies from the computer, telecommunications, cable and information industries.

The American Public Information Coalition (APIC) will try to provide access to the NII viameans other than cable and telecommunications. The APIC is a collection of public powercompanies. Analysts say that the alliances show that companies cannot fulfill the NII's vastpotential by themselves (Patch, 1993).

The development of the NII will also unravel the emergence of new types of serviceproviders that compete with traditional institutions for customers. For instance, high-poweredtelecommunications and cable giants, such as AT&T, may seek to become the carriers forfinancial services as well as other products that move along the network and elbow banks outof this loop. Every time consumers perform banking by phone, the telecommunicationscompanies can monitor their transactions and then market directly to them based on theinformation (Iacobuzio, 1993). The growth of the NII may thus result in redefinition of theroles played by organizations in different industries. In almost all such situations, the battlewill be primarily for winning the consumers dollar votes.

The Consumers

The most significant Internet development of 1993 was the sudden growth of mainstreamawareness of the Internet. This represents a dramatic crossover into popular culture for amedium that until very recently was the obscure and private enclave of a technical elite, andportends new Internet demographics that will change the state of the Internet more

profoundly than growth, new services, or new technology (Chapin, 1994). The vision of thefuture looks something like this. By harnessing the National Information Infrastructure (NII),factory workers, teachers, physicians, children, and civil servants will spur growth in the USeconomy and increase national competitiveness. Information will become an acceptedcurrency in our society (Benhamou, 1994). Yet, a prerequisite for the realization of thisvision of the future is the competitiveness of the market for the various information productsand services.

The experience of the competitive consumer-electronics market suggests that whenconsumers have access to commercially available equipment, the quality, style, and featuresof products increase and the prices decrease. The essence of this argument can be grasped by

contrasting the highly competitive telephone- equipment and personal-computer markets withthe current cable industry. Because of the virtual non-competitiveness of the cable industry,


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many customers are stuck with unattractive set-top cable boxes, which also disable manyfeatures of their TVs and VCRs.

Despite the mainstream awareness about Information Superhighway, most organizations haveyet to realize any tangible applications on the NII. This is evident from a recent survey of IS

executives conducted by the CIO magazine (Buchanan, 1994). The survey revealed that aboutfifty percent of the respondents believe that the information highway would prove useful orcritical to their organizations, yet less than 5% of their businesses are currently using theInternet in any formal or systematic way. Nearly seventy-five percent respondents rarely ornever used Internet for their own jobs. Most had trouble envisioning applications that NIImight eventually generate, although a few are already making strategic progress from theInternet or at least making serious preparations for it (Buchanan, 1994).

Another perspective of analyzing the users stakeholders could be the key application areasidentified by IITF. The report (IITF Committee on Applications and Technology, 1994a)issued by IITF identified eight potential applications for the NII. The report describes the

existing activities in the areas, the goals for future applications and how those goals can bereached.

The first application deals with providing access to the Information Superhighway for peoplewith disabilities. The report highlights "full participation by citizens with disabilities in thedesign, pilot demonstrations and implementation of NII applications is a national priority."The second application identified by the report is electric power, which outlines howcommunications and computing technologies can improve the production, consumption andmanagement of electric power. The third application, "Intelligent Transportation Systems,"delineates how to increase the safety and efficiency of the nation's transportation system bymonitoring traffic situations and by providing travel information such as weather, accidents,detours and alternative routes. The fourth application discusses the benefits of speedyinformation access for telecommuting. The fifth application deals with disaster andemergency management. The seventh application deals with maintenance of non-profitcultural institutions. The final paper deals with the deterrence of violent crime by using theapplications from NII in security, law enforcement and criminal justice. The users in thesekey application areas would also be the stakeholders in the sense that the benefits of the NIIare targeted towards them.

Consumer Protection Groups

Groups like CPSR (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility), EFF (ElectronicFrontier Foundation), COCA (Clearinghouse on Computer Accommodation), AmericanLibrary Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee, etc. would be serving the purpose ofprotecting the rights of various groups of users of information. Such groups are important forensuring that consumers rights, such as privacy, security, rights to intellectual property, arenot transgressed by overzealous regulators or profit-motivated providers of the networks andthe services.

Preceding discussion provided a quick perspective of the major stakeholders of the NII - theGovernment, the federal agencies, the private sector, and the final customers of information.Although, specific stakeholder subgroups have not been identified, previously mentioned

groups would include sub-categories such as educational institutions, libraries, various non-profit agencies, etc.


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IV. CONCLUDING DISCUSSION: MYTHS, METAPHORS AND REALITIES OF

THE NII

As suggested earlier, the NII has been mentioned in terms of several metaphors. To whatextent does these methaphors hold? What alternative perspectives are suggested by some

other metaphors? The following discussion elaborates on alternative interpretations of the NIIconcept.

The key principle of the NII initiative is the provision of Universal Access. Theimplementation of this principle may determine whether the utopian goal of the betterment of"all Americans" turns out to be a myth or a reality. The concluding discussion of this sectionexplores this specific issue, which might be treated as the touchstone of the reality of the NII.

Although, the NII has been often described as a data superhighway, the caveats in thisanalogy need to be noted for the sake of avoiding misinterpretation. For example, the NII willnot be built. It will evolve through the practical merging of the computer, communications,

software, and information industries. While the highway system was largely developed withGovernment funds, the NII will be created through the traditional forces of the free marketsystem and industrial competitiveness. This approach requires that the federal government bea partner, working with industry to transform the vision for an NII into reality (Kay, 1994).Kinney (1994) suggests that most of tomorrow's information services will evolve from thevariety of new digital entertainment technologies. He argues that the new entertainmenttechnologies would influence the shape of the emerging digital markets. Considering thesignificant role of technology in entertainment industry, he contends that the term NIIdisregards the significance of this industry. In his opinion, "national digital environment" is abetter descriptor of "the sum total of U.S. digital networks, devices, data stores, etc." Hesuggests the ongoing transition of computers from "manipulating numbers and text" to"manipulating images and sound" portends a radical change in the nature of computing. Thisperspective called "entertainment, than information" suggests the leading role ofentertainment technologies in driving the progress of future information services. Mekelburg(1994) suggests the significance of the "towns, communities and applications we connect to"over the highway - essentially suggesting that the more relevant question is "where youconnect" rather than "how you connect."

Despite several comparisons that have been made between [especially for universal accesson] the NII and the telephone service, such analogies break down on further scrutiny (Wolff,1994):

"The Internet is different from the other communication technologies that have caused greatsocial upheaval: telegraph and telephone, radio and television. The telephone company offersa variety of telephone-related services to its customers - but they are their services, not thecustomers."

The essential difference is that telephone service is defined by the telephone company and theTV's content is defined by the network. In contrast, the NII would be participative in nature -where "every client is a server." It treats its users not as consumers of a product or service,but as contributions, as colleagues.

One interpretation of the NII as a "convergence of technologies and of cultures" depicts it asan "electronic market" and an "electronic townhall" (Perritt, 1994):


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"The National Information Infrastructure ("NII") -- today represented by the universallyaccessible telephone system, broadcast and cable television, libraries, bookstores, remotelyaccessible databases, and the Internet, and ultimately supplemented by broadband switchednetworks with digital connections to homes and public facilities -- can be an electronicmarket for information, and an electronic townhall."

Another interpretation of the NII considers it to be a convergence of different culturesrepresenting different segments of users such as broadcasters, telephone companies, andInternet users (Perritt, 1994) . Three desirable attributes of a practical (rather than ideal)information infrastructure are that it 1) be capable of evolution, 2) build upon current andexisting capabilities in a cost-effective manner, and 3) support the ability of the user to gainaccess rights to critical information through online interactive methods (Kahn, 1992).Flexible and effective evolution of the infrastructure must occur in order to support theincreasing size of its user community and to dynamically add functionality as user needsgrow. By building on the extant collection of systems and databases, the informationinfrastructure will maximize the likelihood that active users in the field will be comfortable

using the resulting system.

The conclusion is that the concept of the NII is a somewhat unique concept, although there iscontroversy regarding its literal interpretation. It is much different than the concept of ahighway, or of that of telephone service, because of the increased participation of the users inthe creation or manipulation of content. The exact nature of information sought ["to inform"or "to entertain"] may vary from situation to situation, although the interaction of the userwith the digital domain will be analogous in most situations. Given that some of the mostrenowned corporate alliances have been in areas related to entertainment, we need to considerthe concept "entertainment, then education" with less skepticism. Most private companieswho are investing heavily into the infrastructure of the NII are looking forward to reaping thereturns. In most cases, the immediate returns will be from the entertainment-orientedapplications. This argument can be supported with the current statistics on telephone andcable TV. A certain percentage of U.S. homes do not have a telephone connection, yet manyof such homes have a cable TV. This might suggest that customers are more willing to spendon entertainment than on other communication needs. Although there is broad agreementover the concept of the NII, yet how the concept will be structured and deployed is notevident at present. For instance, one of the key principles is to provide universal access toeveryone. Yet, we still do not know how the cable-TV and telephone companies will bedissuaded from not catering only to the rich neighborhoods to derive the fattest profits fromthe customers. Unless such practices could be avoided, there is possibility of increasing

disparity between the "haves" and the "have nots" (Elmer-Dewitt, 1995). The endorsement ofequal access implies that a broader reach would benefit everyone, but policy-makers need topay attention to the hard facts about poverty and communications in the US today. Poorhouseholds are already spending too much on basic communication services, such as long-distance phone calls. Choosing fiber optics as the primary technology for building thesuperhighway will be very expensive, for both middle and lower classes. The poor may bealready taking in more bandwidth than the rich, but it is in the form of low-grade informationvia television, rather than the high-grade information available on Internet (Huber, 1994).

Although, in 1994 consumers bought $8 billion worth of PCs - almost the same amount asspent on TVs - yet the disparities between the haves and have-nots are becoming increasingly

distinct. Wealthy and upper middle-class families form the majority of the 30% of Americanhouseholds that have computers. Similarly, wealthier school districts have access to more and


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better resources. Given the increasingly significant role of information technology in theelectronic democracy, the access to the information highway may determine the quality ofeducation, the access to various information sources, and the overall quality of living. Thereis strong apprehension that the NII initiative might, in the longer run, increase the gapbetween the rich and the poor (Ratan, 1995). The concept of universal access is ill-defined for

operationalization at the grass-roots level. For instance, the primary problem is not if thereare enough computers to go around, but what they are used for (Hancock et al., 1995).

The following questions provide some perspective of the fuzziness of the issue of universalaccess:

"Does the desired notion ofuniversal access imply a connection, a terminal, and knowledgeof how to access the NII? Should the Government enforce fair access? Should providers berequired to subsidize those who cannot afford it? Who determines what should be theminimum service? How can the NII be affordable and easily usable, especially for theunderprivileged and disadvantaged? How can social risks be dealt with, including sexual

harassment and character defamation? Should resources be devoted to ensuring that the NIIaddress the entire spectrum of citizens and decrease the current cultural and gender gaps intechnologically oriented services?..." (Simons, 1994).

Some policy-makers have suggested that the issue of access could be thought of as havingthree dimensions (Weingarten, 1994):

physical access to the NII: something like the "universal service" goal in telephoneregulation;

access to resources and services over the NII stemming from the separation between thephysical transport system and the application for which it is deployed; and

provider access: implying anyone is free to provide an information service on the NII.

But, the issue is far from resolved.The bottomline of the whole argument of the NII initiativecan be summed up in the following quote by George Heilmeier, president of Bellcore:

"The greatest challenge we have to the implementation of the NII is the need to balance theincentives necessary for private investment against the need to meet urgent societal needs.This trade-off is likely to be complicated by the need for simultaneous competition and

cooperation among the many firms that will invest in the NII..." (Pelton, 1994).

That will indeed be a tough challenge for the policy-making process of the presentAdministration. The results of this policy-making process will determine if the utopian goalof NII is a myth or a reality. Regardless of the results, the future of electronic communicationin the spheres of education, business, industry and government will hardly be same as that inthe past.


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WIKIPEDIA

The National Information Infrastructure (NII) was the product of the High PerformanceComputing and Communication Act of 1991. It was a telecommunications policy buzzword,which was popularized during the Clinton Administration under the leadership of Vice-President Al Gore. It was a proposed, advanced, seamless web of public and privatecommunications networks, interactive services, interoperable hardware and software,computers, databases, and consumer electronics to put vast amounts of information at users'fingertips.

NII was to have included more than just the physical facilities (more than the cameras,scanners, keyboards, telephones, fax machines, computers, switches, compact disks, videoand audio tape, cable, wire, satellites, optical fiber transmission lines, microwave nets,switches, televisions, monitors, and printers) used to transmit, store, process, and displayvoice, data, and images; it was also encompass a wide range of interactive functions, user-

tailored services, and multimedia databases that were interconnected in a technology-neutralmanner that will favor no one industry over any other.

The National Information Infrastructure

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