An approach is provided for automatic controlled value expansion of information. A value expansion controller detects a request at a device to perform an information operation on a set of data elements of an information space, wherein the request identifies the set by a name and the information operation applies to each data element within the set. The value expansion controller intercepts the request based on the detection and determines the location of the data elements within a communication network based on the name. The value expansion controller retrieves the data elements from the location and populates an expansion table with the retrieved data elements, wherein the expansion table is correlated to the set. The value expansion controller performs the information operation on each data element in the expansion table and causes transmission of one or more results of the information operation to the device.