Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate concepts that are used in depicting futurevisions of society, as afforded by technology, to map the extent of their use, examine the level of theirdominance in different research areas and geographic boundaries, identify potential overlaps, analysetheir longitudinal growth, and examine whether any of the identified concepts has assumed anoverarching position.Design/methodology/approach – In total, 14 concepts, each of which is used to depict visions offuture information infrastructures, were identified. More than 20,000 scholarly documents relatedto 11 of these concepts (those with 20 or more documents) are analysed by various qualitative/quantitative methods.Findings – The concepts most referred to are Semantic Web and ubiquitous computing(all years), and “internet of things” (Year 2013). Publications on some newer concepts (e.g. “digital living”,“real world internet”) are minimal. There are variations in the extent of use and preferred concepts basedon geographic and disciplinary boundaries. The overlap in the use of these terms is minimal and none ofthese terms has assumed an overarching umbrella position.Research limitations/implications – This study is limited to scholarly publications; itwould be relevant to also study the pattern of usage in governmental communications and policydocuments.Social implications – By mapping multiplicity of concepts and the dispersion of discussions, theauthors highlight the need for, and facilitate, a broader discussion of related social and societalimplications.Originality/value – This paper is the first to present a collective of these related concepts and mapthe pattern of their occurrence and growth.Keywords Internet, Information science, World Wide Web, Information society,Digital communications, Information strategyPaper type General review