Did Gore coin the phrase "Information Superhighway"? Yes, per Time.

Time Magazine ^ | Karen Tumulty

[nwrep]

The Making of a Comeback

The painful 2000 election behind him, Al Gore warns that Bush is leading America into deep trouble. Is that a message that will win the White House in 2004?

[nwrep]

This fanclub article about Algore written by Time magazine's junior correspondent Karen Tutmulty claims Algorilla coined the phrase "information superhighway" in the 1970s. I did a search on this and found various references to Algore having coined the term. However, there were 2 major problems with these: 1) The references sited quoted either Algore or Tipper Gore. 2) The date the supposed coining was conceived of is described variously as 1970s, 1980, 1990, 1994, etc.

Challenge to freepers: To find out exactly when this phrase first appeared and who coined it.

[Always Right]

I am being modest, but I coined the phrase back in 1974 at the age of 10....

[speekinout]

Tutmulty claims Algorilla coined the phrase "information superhighway" in the 1970s.

Where was algore in the early 70's? I remember that was about the time when people stopped using the word "bus" in favor of the in-word "highway".
Maybe al just tacked on the "super"? :-)

[mombonn]

algore means never having to say, "I didn't invent it."

[LibWhacker]

Considering these four pages of documented algore lies, should we believe anything he says?

[JZoback]

This fanclub article about Algore

Fan club article?

It was so sweet and sugary, I about went into a diabetic coma reading it.

[dogbyte12]

From what I understand, Al Gore did actually coin the phrase. But so what? The Ad company for Wendy's hamburgers coined the phrase "Where's the beef?". Al Gore didn't build the highway, he just gave it a pet name. I don't really care, and I don't see why anybody else should either. Do I care who coined the term Baroque music? No. I just enjoy it. The people who composed deserve credit, not the guy who came up with a name for it. Same goes with Gore. He did come up with the term, but that and $1.99 will buy him a Wendy's hamburger.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

AL GORE IS A LIAR. ALWAYS HAS BEEN. ALWAYS WILL BE.

The Information Superhighway is a phrase coined in late 1960s by journalist Ralph Lee Smith in an article in the New York Times Magazine about cable television. It refers to the complete international access to news, entertainment, information and technology through a complex web connecting users' telephones, televisions and computers. Futuristic sounding, but actually not so far from reality, the project would run the telephone system while allowing electronic mail, newspapers, magazines, shopping guides and any entertainment-all interactive-to be readily available for use at any time through the family television.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

FYI

[Abcdefg]

I don't believe a damned thing from Time.

[Pharmboy]

Whew. Well done, RBA.

The only thing Al Gorp invented was himself...and he's still at it.

[MtnScout]

I found a 1960 reference here:
"The Information Superhighway is a phrase coined in late 1960s by journalist Ralph Lee Smith in an article in the New York Times Magazine about cable television."

http://www.allisontransmission.com/product/vocations/utility_customertestimonials.jsp?CustTestID=L1_att

Still looking for an actual computer network reference though.

[LibWhacker]

He lied. Here's a relevant article. After Gore's gaff, his apologists tried to claim that algore only said he had "popularized" the term, rather than coined it. The man's an inveterate liar.

It didn't take long for Gore's supporters to rally. Newsweek contributor Eleanor Clift, who never saw a pro-Gore statement she didn't like, said on the McLaughlin Group, "And by the way, Al Gore did coin the phrase 'information superhighway.' Let's give him credit for that!"

But Clift got it wrong too. It was her own publication that in 1983 predicted fiber-optic technology would lead to an "information superhighway" -- years before Gore ever used the term in public. Publications were using the term "data highway" as far back as 1975, before Gore entered Congress.

[Always Right]

From what I understand, Al Gore did actually coin the phrase. But so what?

Actually, Gore did not actually coin the phrase although Gore could get credit for popularizing its usage.

[Nick Danger]

Newsweek. An article on January 3, 1983 by William D. Marbach, Phoebe Hoban, Richard Sandza, Ron LaBreque, Kim Willenson, Kim Foltz, and William J. Cook uses the term "information superhighway" to describe fiber optic trunks being built at the time by AT&T.

Two years later, the term appeared in Fortune. An article by William B. Johnston states, "The existence of far cheaper, high-volume information superhighways will make it even more attractive for companies to construct their own links to the long-distance telephone network."

On June 30, 1985, Andrew Pollack writing in the New York Times says, "The communications network thus becomes an information superhighway, able to handle voice and computer data and, in some cases, video as well."

My hunch is that Gore first heard the term in 1989. The Communications of the ACM (Association for Compututing Machinery, an industry professional group) for November 1989 contains this tidbit:

In May and June, the Subcommittee held hearings on a National Technology Strategy for HDTV and on Supercomputing and an Information Superhighway. In July, Subcommittee Chairman senator Al Gore (D), of Tennessee, introduced hearings on Visualization, AI, and Advanced Computer Software by emphasizing the merits of scientific visualization and supercomputing.

[nwrep]

And now the correct answer is:
The term information superhighway was coined by journalist Ralph Lee Smith in the late 1960s. Follow this link:

http://www.allisontransmission.com/product/vocations/utility_customertestimonials.jsp?CustTestID=L1_att

Also this one and search for Ralph Lee Smith:

http://www.uni-giessen.de/fb03/vinci/labore/netz/hag_en.htm

Another example of Gorespeak? And repeated by his water boys in the media?

[Cindy]

GOOGLE Search Term: "the term Information Superhighway"
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22+the+term+Information+Superhighway%22&btnG=Google+Search&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1

THE REAL QUESTION IS: "WHO INVENTED AL GORE?"

[BenLurkin]

Is that "information superhighway"? I thought ALGORE invented the "Hershey Highway".

[Paul Ross]

After reading this article in its entirety, it absolutely is a huge BARFER! This needs to be recategorized as BARF ALERT material. Eeeeewww! Just plain creepy how out-of-touch these Sore-Losermans STILL are.

[FreedomPoster]

Done.