Lindberg D A
National Coordination Office, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland 20894.
Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1995 Jan;83(1):29-31.
The National Information Infrastructure (NII) or "information superhighway" is a high-priority federal initiative to combine communications networks, computers, databases, and consumer electronics to deliver information services to all U.S. citizens. The NII will be used to improve government and social services while cutting administrative costs. Operated by the private sector, the NII will rely on advanced technologies developed under the direction of the federal High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Program. These include computing systems capable of performing trillions of operations (teraops) per second and networks capable of transmitting billions of bits (gigabits) per second. Among other activities, the HPCC Program supports the national supercomputer research centers, the federal portion of the Internet, and the development of interface software, such as Mosaic, that facilitates access to network information services. Health care has been identified as a critical demonstration area for HPCC technology and an important application area for the NII. As an HPCC participant, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) assists hospitals and medical centers to connect to the Internet through projects directed by the Regional Medical Libraries and through an Internet Connections Program cosponsored by the National Science Foundation. In addition to using the Internet to provide enhanced access to its own information services, NLM sponsors health-related applications of HPCC technology. Examples include the "Visible Human" project and recently awarded contracts for test-bed networks to share patient data and medical images, telemedicine projects to provide consultation and medical care to patients in rural areas, and advanced computer simulations of human anatomy for training in "virtual surgery."
国家信息基础设施（NII），即“信息高速公路”，是一项高度优先的联邦计划，旨在整合通信网络、计算机、数据库和消费电子产品，为所有美国公民提供信息服务。NII 将用于改善政府和社会服务，同时削减行政成本。NII 由私营部门运营，将依赖于在联邦高性能计算与通信（HPCC）计划指导下开发的先进技术。这些技术包括每秒能够执行数万亿次运算（万亿次运算）的计算系统以及每秒能够传输数十亿比特（吉比特）的网络。在其他活动中，HPCC 计划支持国家超级计算机研究中心、互联网的联邦部分以及接口软件（如 Mosaic）的开发，该软件便于人们访问网络信息服务。医疗保健已被确定为 HPCC 技术的关键示范领域以及 NII 的重要应用领域。作为 HPCC 的参与者，国立医学图书馆（NLM）通过区域医学图书馆主导的项目以及由国家科学基金会共同赞助的互联网连接计划，协助医院和医疗中心接入互联网。除了利用互联网提供对其自身信息服务的增强访问外，NLM 还赞助 HPCC 技术在健康领域的应用。例如“可视人”项目以及最近授予的用于共享患者数据和医学图像的试验床网络合同、为农村地区患者提供咨询和医疗护理的远程医疗项目，以及用于“虚拟手术”培训的人体解剖高级计算机模拟。
