The Superhighway Summit was held at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

's Royce Hall on 11 January 1994. It was the first public conference bringing together all of the major industry, government and academic leaders in the field. It began the national dialogue about the information superhighway and its implications. The conference was organized by Richard Frank of the

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the Television in the United States, television industry in the United S ...

, and Jeffrey Cole and Geoffrey Cowan, the former co-directors of UCLA's Center for Communication Policy. It was introduced by former UCLA Chancellor, Andrea L. Rich. The keynote speaker was Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

Background

Thirty leaders in the area of communications presided over the event, which had an attendance of over 1800 people. It was broadcast live on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

, E! Entertainment, and on the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

campus.

Partial list of participants

Barry Diller Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American billionaire businessman. He is chairman and senior executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company with Rupert Murdoch and USA Broadcasting. Diller was ind ...

- chairman and CEO of QVC *

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner ( ; born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film ...

- then chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Co. *Ernestine, the telephone operator (a fictional character created by the actress

Lily Tomlin Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. Tomlin started her career in stand-up comedy and sketch comedy before transitioning her career to acting across stage and screen. ...

for ''

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (often simply referred to as ''Laugh-In'') is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for six seasons from January 22, 1968, to July 23, 1973, on the NBC television network. The show, hosted by comed ...

'') *

- then Vice President of the United States *

Reed Hundt Reed Eric Hundt (born March 3, 1948) is the chairman, CEO and co-founder of the Coalition for Green Capital. Biography Hundt attended high school in Washington D.C. at St. Albans School, graduating in 1965. He went to Yale College, where h ...

- FCC Chairman *

Robert Iger Robert Alan Iger (; born February 10, 1951) is an American media executive who is chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company. He previously was the president of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) between 1994 and 1995 and pr ...

-president of the ABC Television Group *

Jeffrey Katzenberg Jeffrey Katzenberg ( ; born December 21, 1950) is an American media proprietor and film producer. He served as chairman of Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1994, a position in which he oversaw production and busin ...

- then chairman of Walt Disney Studios * John C. Malone - president of Telecommunications, Inc. *

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

- NewsCorp * Raymond W. Smith - CEO, Bell Atlantic

Highlights

The conference was given extensive coverage by Cynthia Lee and Linda Steiner Lee over two issues of ''UCLA TODAY'' (January 13 and 27, 1994). In the article "Gore Details Telecommunications Ideas," Lee and Lee gave an overview of the opening speech given by Vice President Gore. They commented that "Vice President

outlined the

Clinton Administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican in ...

's proposals to reform the communications marketplace and challenged his audience to provide links from the so-called information superhighway to every classroom, library, hospital, and clinic in the country by the year 2000 ..'We have a dream for...an information superhighway that can save lives, create jobs and give every American, young and old, the chance for the best education available to anyone, anywhere,' Gore said."Lee, Cynthia and Linda Steiner Lee. "Gore Details Telecommunications Ideas." UCLA TODAY: 1 During his talk, "Ernestine" (the fictional telephone operator created by

for ''

'') made a surprise appearance. She complained "about the confusing and rapid transformation of communications technology. The Vice president laughingly assured Ernestine that the new technology would be simple to understand and available to all Americans." In the follow-up article, "CEOs Ponder Direction of Information Superhighway", Cynthia Lee stated that leaders at the conference noted that the future of the information superhighway was still uncertain. " 'Here we are, all ready to go cruising off down this new information superhighway,' said

, Chairman of The

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

Studios, during one of the panel discussions, 'and we really don't know where we are going. It's the first time we will be moving in a certain direction when we don't even know our final destination.' "Lee, Cynthia. "CEOs Ponder Direction of Information Superhighway." UCLA TODAY: 4 Geoffrey Cowan, the former co-director of UCLA's Center for Communication Policy, indicated that the key concept of the Information Superhighway was

interactivity Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but ...

, or "the ability for the consumer to control it, to decide what they want to receive, and the ability of the technology to respond to highly sophisticated consumer demands." The participants underscored the point that the major challenge of the information superhighway would lie in access, or the "gap between those who will have access to it because they can afford to equip themselves with the latest electronic devices and those who can't."

References

*Lee, Cynthia and Linda Steiner Lee. "Gore Details Telecommunications Ideas." ''UCLA TODAY'', Vol. 14, #9, January 13, 1994:1, 4. *Lee, Cynthia. "CEOs Ponder Direction of Information Superhighway." ''UCLA TODAY'', Vol. 14, #19, January 27, 1994: 4.

Footnotes

External links

History of the Television AcademyVice President Proposes National Telecommunications Reform
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University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...