where's the information 17 of october, 1996 by johnmichael patrick monty monteith

A few years ago cable television companies introduced a new idea. Computer cable boxes in every living room that would allow interactive television. It would give the couch potato the ability to go shopping, choose a movie, play a video game, and even browse an encyclopedia all with the click of a remote control button. They called it the "Information Superhighway".

A few months after the hoopla began on this new idea, the Internet and more importantly, the World Wide Web, started reaching a critical mass. Suddenly the Internet was the hottest thing around. As too often happens, a few politicians and news media folks got this new cable box and the Internet confused. Thus was born the new name for the Internet, and most importantly, the World Wide Web: "The Information Superhighway".

Unfortunately, even though the World Wide Web might have adopted the cable box name, it certainly has not adopted the meaning of the name. Currently the Web is missing the information it was named after. Let me give you an example:

Today I wanted to get a 16 megabyte DIMM for my laptop. Because I am trying to be a nineties type of guy, I attempt to make all of my purchases over the Internet these days. However, this is a dubious task. Not because there are not a wealth of sites which claim to sell memory for laptops. Indeed, WebCrawler located hundreds of them for me. It is because none of these sites has the information I need.

Instead of creating web pages of information, people are creating quick blurbs. Instead of creating a store online where I could find the product I want and make my purchase, I am seeing web site after web site of advertisements. "LOWEST PRICE ON MEMORY! CALL 1-XXX-XXX-XXXX." Gee, if I wanted an advertisement, I would have picked up a magazine. It would have been far faster than spending a half an hour browsing different advertisements.

If this really was the "Information Superhighway", I would have typed in "Fujitsu Milan Memory 16megs" into my favorite search engine, and would have received a hand full of locations that sold what I wanted. Two local retail establishments have the product in stock. Is it too much to expect two web pages to specifically list the product I want online?

Lets say you are interested in buying a new car. How about a Ford Explorer, for example. I should be able to type and quickly located the vehicle I want, choose the options I want, choose the color I want, choose the enterior I want, and be able to see my vehicle. I should get a price, all of the statistics on performance. I should even get an option to tour the assembly plant that is going to build my new vehicle. And then, I should be given as much opportunity as possible to buy the vehicle (directions to my closest dealer that has what I want, phone number, and maybe even a preliminary message to let them know I am coming and exactly what I am coming to get).

Am I asking too much? All of this could be done easily on the "Information Superhighway" today. I could build the site that would do this for Ford, Notebook memory stores, or just about any place that wants to put real information on the web. Unfortunately, this transformation is happening only at a snails pace. When we learn that the Web is for information, and not just for static ads, we will finally be moving closer to what the original cable box idea had promised.