Drawing up a map of even the main construction zones of the information superhighway is as risky as riding a dragon and, possibly, an exercise in futility, since the highway metaphor itself may be misleading. As Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future, in Menlo Park, California, points out, "Highways are orderly affairs, with set entrances and exits. This is a huge communication fur ball. Block one access and people can go to another."

Call it what you will -- highway, fur ball, or dragon ride -- its shape keeps shifting and expanding exponentially. In December, for example, Dow Jones disclosed that The Wall Street Journal would bring out a version of the paper in "interactive multimedia" form, while the Los Angeles Times and Pacific Telesis joined to create an electronic shopping service that could make classified advertising obsolete.

Meanwhile, for drivers, passengers, and construction-site kibitzers, here's a rundown of some major points of access.

CONFERENCES One of the most popular (and lucrative) locales on the new highway is the electronic cafe. There are two versions: the electronic bulletin board -- compuServe, America Online, Prodige, and The Well -- where people gather daily to chat in cyberspace; and the ubiquitous multimmedia conference.

More than 100 of these technothons are staged every year, each one a dizzying display of electronic wizardry, human enthusiasm, and verbal creativity. At last year's Digital World conference in Beverly Hills, a panelist talked about "information plasticity" and "exploded cinema." Another, overwhelmed by the pace of change in the media world, begged for a new "emotional mouse."

These events aren't cheap. A pass just to the exhibitions can range from $ 10 to $ 150, while admission to a full array of panels can cost up to $ 700. On the other hand, you'll come away with a valuable collection of media material and business cards.

Here is a small selection of conferences of special interest to journalists.

* March 1-3: San Jose, California, Intermedia '94. One of the largest trade shows on multimedia products, with emphasis on compact disk productions. Panel topics include multimedia publishing, distribution, and licensing. This conference regularly features the main players in cable television and the computer and entertainment worlds. At least one exhibitor usually makes news by announcing a major development. A good spot for job hunting. Call 203-352-8240.

* March 20-24: Las Vegas, National Association of Broadcasters Multi-Media World. NAB's second annual gathering will focus on engineering and production. This is the new media's primary venue for the broadcast television crowd, which so far has lagged behind cable. Call NAB: 202-429-5345.

* May 22-25: New Orleans, National Cable Television Association. Emphasis here will be on the possibilities of "full-service, interactive television," whereby people can talk to each other through "videoconferencing" and call up material at their own convenience rather than when a TV station schedule its. Call 202-775-3629.

* June 6-8: Los Angeles, Digital World. '94. One of the year's main multimedia events for the general audience, digital World stages panels that both explore and question the trends. Set in Los Angeles, this conference tilts toward the entertainment world -- movies, music, photography, script writing, electronic books, rights questions, and all manner of computer games. A watering hold for Who's Who in multimedia. Call 808-488-2883.

* June 16-19: St. Louis, Missouri, Investigative Reporters & Editors, Inc. IRE regularly attracts leaders in investigative reporting to panels on such gritty topics as finding your way through federal records, backgrounding a shady character, and interviewing sensitive sources. At least one day is devoted to the emerging science of computer-assisted investigations: using database software programs to analyze computerized government records. IRE is also exploring the possibility of launching an international bulletin board network, complete with a library specifically for journalists. Call IRE: 314-882-2042.

* June 23-25: Chicago, Consumer Electronics Show. As the primary showcase for the hottest new consumer products, it is probably the best place for a news organization that's moving into new technologies to find out what equipment its audience will be using. Call 202-457-8770.

* June 24-25: Las Vegas, the Newspaper Association of American (formerly American Newspaper Publishers Association). Focusing on new technologies, the NAA will examine a few papers available on electronic bulletin boards, then look at prototype for the electronic papers of tomorrow -- more personalized, more mixed with other media, and yielding opportunities to correspond with writers, editors, even newsmakers. Panelists will include Peggy Bair from the Knight-Ridder Information Design Laboratory, Walter Bender from MIT's Media Lab, and representatives from several of the new interactive cable television trials. Call NAA: 703-648-1139.

* December 6-9: Washington, D.C., Internet World '94. By far the biggest electronic network of them all, The Internet has become the main thread in the nation's emerging information web. This conference will feature people who have become expert with The Internet, and panels on specific domains of the Internet world. Call 800-632-5537.

MULTIMEDIA LABS: Big discoveries in new media mostly occur within thick corporate walls amid great secrecy. But most large technology firms now have, or are developing, their own laboratories, one of whose purposes is to explore multimedia. Most (including AT&T's Bellcore, Xerox PARC, and Apple) share some information with the outside world. Some are intensely private, such as Interval Research, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's California think tank, which one observer said operates within "cocentric rings of secrecy."

CableLabs, a Boulder-based consortium of North America's primary cable television companies, serves as a general research and information center. Information is mostly proprietary, but CableLabs publishes three newsletters. Chair of the lab's board is John Malone, president and c.e.o. of Tele-Communications, Inc., the nations largest cable TV firm. Contact Mike Schwartz, vice-president of communications, 303-661-9100.

Universities are gradually focusing on the possibilities of multimedia, notably New York University and the University of Colorado. In the San Francisco Bay area, commonly called the Multimedia Capital, San Francisco State University has the largest multimedia training program in the country. Call SF State: 415-904-7700.

For the primary journalism labs, see "Side Trips to Cybersites" (right).

INTERACTIVE TV TRIALS:

Many cable television operations are experimenting with what's called "interactive television," often in partnership with regional phone company. Offering include movies and news on demand, home shopping, interactive games, two-way videoconferencing, and links for tiny portable communication devices (called "personal digital assistants," or PDAs). Eventually, viewer of sporting events should be able to choose their own replays and camera angles.

* Sometime midyear, Time Warner Inc. plans to use Orlando, Florida, to test its "Full Service Network" on 4,000 homes (to expand throughout the community by the end of 1998). Each home will be given a printer to pull whatever material the user chooses. TW is subsidizing the network in its eagerness to try out the digital highway's new toys. Contact Edward Adler: 212-275-8000.

* A joint venture between Viacom Cable and AT&T will attempt something similar to the Orlando venture in Castro Valley, a corner of the San Francisco Bay area. Contact Hillary Condit of Viacom: 212-258-6346.

* Before year's end, Bell Atlantic plans to offer 250,000 residents of Montgomery County, Maryland, limited service of movies on demand, through ordinary phone lines. Bell Atlantic, which plans to merge with cable giant TCI, has been the most aggressive Baby Bell in advanced video service. Its partners here are IBM, Philips Consumer Electronics, and a consortium of smaller technology firms. Call Larry Plumb: 703-974-2814.

* Based on several years of experimenting with simple interactive television in Denver, the US West phone company will attempt a full-service system in Nebraska with no cable partner at present. US West will build its own system on top of Omaha's current cable system. Meanwhile, Cox Cable will be adding its own interactive service in Omaha. Contact Dick MacKnight at US West: 303-793-6559; Dave Andersen at Cox Cable: 404-843-5855.

REGULATORY EVENTS Congress and the Clinton administration share at least one goal -- breaking down unnecessary barriers to the new media entrepreneurs. Each institution has proposed different but perhaps complementary regulatory changes, which should be watched carefully.

* In mid-January, Vice-president Gore announced the administration's initial policy for the telecommunications industry: first, the concept of affordable "universal service" available to all; second, "open access," which would let people buy information from and sell it to the new networks at a fair, competitive price. The administration also wants to stimulate competition in the electronic marketplace by letting phone and cable television companies enter each other's markets. (Monopolies -- whereby a cable company acquires a phone service in the same market, say -- are still be be prevented.) A proposed addition to the Federal Communications Act would free companies from current regulatory burdens in exchange for the provision of open access. The administration hopes to pass legislation before the end of the year. Contact National Telecommunications and Information Administration: 202-482-1551.

* The House and Senate each have submitted bills to reverse some of the restrictions created by the break-up of AT&T in the early '80s. The bills would led Baby Bells pursue long-distance and general information services, as well as expanded manufacturing opportunities. Both houses of Congress also have advanced bills to let phone and cable companies into each other's turf, similar to Gore's proposal. Contact 202-226-2424 for House and 202-224-5115 for Senate proposals.

* On March 8, the Federal Communications Commission will begin a five-year auction of a kind of cellular radio service, called PCS, estimated to be worth several billion dollars. The service is mostly unused spectrum held by local government agencies. Bidding is open to all, but there may be some restrictions on current cellular radio service providers. Contact Marc Martin or Kent Nakamura: 202-653-5940.

* Last August, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office handed a powerful patent to a little-known technology company called Compton's NewMedia. The patent covered "a multimedia search and retrieval system" through a variety of electronic paths. Predictably, competitors went nuts, claiming that their software can do similar tricks and that this patent could lock up competition. In December, the patent office granted a review. Hearings on patenting computer software inventions are now under way. Contact Ruth Ford: 703-305-8600.

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