Asian Studies Online - a Timeline of Major Developments
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Asian Studies Online - a Timeline of Major Developments

by
Dr T. Matthew Ciolek,
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies,
Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
tmciolek@coombs.anu.edu.au

- work in progress -

Document created: 24 Apr 2003. Last revised: 4 Jun 2003.

This section of the Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library tracks the history of Asian Studies' computer and online resources. The page offers an chronological list documenting the earliest Asian Studies' experiments with computerised files and networking, the pioneering online publications, as well as subsequent key transformations and developments. Information about the Asian Studies' online projects is placed within the context of major developments in the world of computers, networks and telecommunications since the early 1970s till the present day.

Please mail tmciolek@coombs.anu.edu.au if you know details (e.g. the date of establishment, names of the editors, scope of the resource etc.) of additional pioneering, influential, most useful, etc. online Asian Studies facilities. I am interested in all types of resources regardless of whether they are currently active or not. I am especially interested in data dealing with the early (i.e. pre-WWW) developments; and with online materials from countries other than the US or Australia, and/or in languages other than English.

Your factual input is warmly invited, and your addenda and/or corrections will be fully acknowledged - T.M. Ciolek.

[1970] [1971] [1972] [1973] [1974] [1975] [1976] [1977] [1978] [1979]
[1980] [1981] [1982] [1983] [1984] [1985] [1986] [1987] [1988] [1989]
[1990] [1991] [1992] [1993] [1994] [1995] [1996] [1997] [1998] [1999]
[2000] [2001] [2002] [2003]
[References] [Acknowledgments]

Abbreviations:
[Country] = provenance of the resource; Status: C = Confirmed information; P = Provisional information.

    1971: 23 networked computer hosts are present online; the first microprocessor introduced. Alohanet starts up in Hawaii.

  1. 1971: Work by Winfred P. Lehmann, Dr Susan Chapman, and Dr H. S. Ananthanarayana on digitization and computer storage of the text of Rig Veda.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Gardner 1998. Status: C]

    1972: Cyclades network is demonstrated in France. Ray Tomlinson sends first email message.

    return to the index

    1973: 35 computer hosts; hard disk drive developed; 2000 Arpanet (launched in Oct 1969) has approx. 2,000 users. Ethernet communications protocol is invented.

    return to the index

    1974: 65 hosts; Unix becomes popular.

    return to the index

    1975: Altair, the first personal computer introduced. The Homebrew Computer Club is formed.

    return to the index

    1977: 111 hosts; UUCP (Unix messaging and file-transfer tool), Apple II computer (first PC with color graphics) is introduced. Tandy TRS-80 and Commodore PET computers appear. The experimental Internet is demonstrated.

  2. 1977: Effort by Princeton University's Department of Classics to define rules of Tibetan verb transformation with computer-aided search and Tibetan alphabetization programs
    [USA]
    [Reference: ACIP n.d. Status: C]
    return to the index

    1978: 188 hosts; a handful of BBS systems; introduction of CompuServe dialup services. Acorn computers launched in the UK. TCP networking software evolves into TCP/IP protocol.

    return to the index

    1979: USENET news groups introduced; 100 mln emails are sent each year, versus 135 bln pieces of first-class mail.

    return to the index

    1980: Telnet software introduced; one mln personal computers in US. The SGML standard is published.

    return to the index

    1981: 213 hosts; Listserv mailing list; Osborn first portable computer is introduced. The first IBM-PC is released. Teletel (= the future Minitel) network starts-up in France. Bitnet network is launched.

    return to the index

    1982: 235 hosts; US networks linked with networks in Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and UK.

    return to the index

    1983: 562 hosts; 10 mln PCs in the US. Apricot computer is launched in the UK. Arpanet switches to TCP/IP protocol. TCP/IP becomes available in BSD Unix operating system.

    return to the index

    1984: 1,040 hosts; Macintosh personal computer is introduced; Apple introduces 3.5" floppy; Unix OS supports Internet connectivity; the domain name system is established. NSF establishes NSFNet academic network in the US. JANET academic network (based on X.25 protocol) launched in the UK.

  3. 1984 Feb: First Usenet discussion group dedicated to a specific religion, "net.religion.jewish" is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  4. 1984 Apr: "Offline" - a newsletter of the Computer Assisted Research Group (CARG), Council on the Study of Religion (SBL) is established in print format.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]
    return to the index

    1985: 1,961 hosts; File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is introduced.

    return to the index

    1986: 5,089 hosts; 241 Usenet groups. the Great Renaming of the Usenet. Cleveland Free-Net starts-up.

    return to the index

    1987: 28,174 hosts; 259 Usenet groups. NNTP software links USENET and the Internet; Microsoft's Windows operating system introduced. NSFNET and JANET became linked.

    return to the index

    1988: 26,000 hosts; 381 Usenet groups. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is introduced; over 30,000,000 MS-DOS users.

  5. 1988 Aug?: Islam [basic tenets of Islam and interpretations of the Quran] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]
    return to the index

    1989: 80,000 hosts; 40 Internet chat-room (IRC) servers; 44 mln PCs in the US. The Minitel spans 5 million telephone nodes.

  6. 1989 Feb: First scholarly mailing list for the study of a specific religion - "Judaica/He'Asif", now "H-Judaic" at www2.h-net.msu.edu, is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  7. 1989: BUDDHIST@jpntuvm0.bitnet (a forum on Indian and Buddhist Studies, no. of subscribers not known) is established.
    [Japan]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  8. 1989 Sep: "Offline" (a paper-based newsletter is established in 1984) mentions for the first time existence of such networks as BITNET, CSNET, Internet, and NSFnet "which permit rapid communication and data sharing"
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  9. 1989 Nov: USENET soc.religion.islam (a moderated discussion group) is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]
    return to the index

    1990: 313,000 hosts; 1,300 Usenet groups. Archie FTP search engine is introduced; world.std.com becomes the first commercial ISP. Hytelnet software is developed.

  10. 1990: The first FTP archive with religious (Tibetan Buddhism) scriptures, "Asian Classics Input Project", now at acip.princeton.edu, is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]
      (Contents of the site: *"The Philosophical Dictionary" consisting of Twelve Major Native Tibetan Philosophical Works *The Complete Cataloged Listings of Sanskrit and Tibetan Works in the United States Library of Congress *Specialized Computer Programs for the Study and Analysis of the Asian Classics.
      ACIP details: The Asian Classics Input Project Washington Area Office 11911 Marmary Road Gaithersburg, Maryland USA contact: Dr. Robert Taylor, Michael Roach (project director) John Malpas (chief programmer) participation, submission of errors found, or support of proposals for related efforts, contact:
      The ACIP overseas data entry center: Sera Mey Dratsang Mahayana Philosophy University Bylakuppe 571 -104, Mysore District Karnataka State, India attention: Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, Abbot Ven. Thupten Pelgye, manager, Sera Mey Computer Center)

  11. 1990 Apr: USENET soc.religion.eastern [Hinduism, Buddhism (all forms), Jainism, Sikhism, and Shintoism] unmoderated discussion group is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  12. 1990 Nov 23: Dominik Wujastyk' s Indology list (originally at INDOLOGY@LIVERPOOLACUK) (now at www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgadkw/indology.html) is established.
    [UK]
    [Reference: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgadkw/indology.html. Status: C]

  13. 1990 Jun: The first "Asian BBS Sysops' Conference" meets in Taipei, Taiwan. It is an annual event organised to foster communication among the amateur BBS system operators (SysOps) in East Asia.
    [Taiwan]
    [Reference: http://www.threeweb.ad.jp/logos/asianbbs.html. Status: C]
    return to the index

    1991: 376,000 hosts; 1,850 Usenet groups. Gopher, WAIS and WWW technologies are introduced. JANET runs TCP/IP protocol in parallel with X.25. Commercial use of the Internet is permitted.

  14. 1991 Oct: Richard P. Hayes establishes BUDDHA-L@ulkyvm.louisville.edu mailing list (in the late 1990s it had over 700 subscribers).
    [CANADA/USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  15. 1991 Dec 3: T. Matthew Ciolek establishes "Coombspapers" archive (ftp://coombs.anu.edu.au/coombspapers/) with documents and materials of relevance to Asian Studies and Social Sciences.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]
    return to the index

    1992: 727,000 hosts; 20 WWW servers; 4,300 Usenet groups. Lynx web browser is developed.

  16. 1992: Oliver Wild publishes "The Silk Road" web site (now at www.ess.uci.edu/~oliver/silk.html)
    [USA]
    [Reference: http://www.ess.uci.edu/~oliver/silk.html. Status: C]

  17. 1992: Establishment of "BuddhaNet", the first bulletin board service (BBS) ever run by a monk (now at www.buddhanet.net).
    [Australia]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  18. 1992 Feb 19: Bibliography from Geoffrey Samuel's book "Civilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies" (ftp://coombs.anu.edu.au/coombspapers/subj-bibl-clearinghouse/tibetan-buddhism-1bibl.txt) is published.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  19. 1992 Jun: Publication of the first guide to religion and spirituality online - "An Electric Mystic's Guide to the Internet" by M. Strangelove, now at wings.buffalo.edu/sa/muslim/isl/dirs/elmystic.guide3.txt
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  20. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: CHINA@PUCC [Chinese Studies] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  21. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: CHINANET@TAMVM1 [Networking in China] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  22. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: CSA-DATA@UICVM [Chinese Statistical Archive] mailing list is established.
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  23. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: EMEDCH-L@USCVM [Early Medieval China] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  24. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: TWUNIV-L@TWNMOE10 [Chinese Scholars and Students] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  25. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: MD48@CMUCCVMA [soc.culture.china, Bitnet distribution] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  26. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: INDIA@PCCVM [India] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  27. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: INDIA-D@TEMPLEVM [The India Interest Group] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  28. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: INDIA-L@TEMPLEVM [The India News Network] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  29. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: TAMIL-L@DHDURZ1 [Tamil Studies] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  30. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: AJBS-L@NCSUVM [Association of Japanese Business Studies] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  31. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: J-FOOD-L@JPNKNU10 [Japanese Food & Culture] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  32. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: JAPAN@FINHUTC [Info-Japan] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely Japan]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  33. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: JPINFO-L@JPNSUT00 [Information About Japan] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely Japan]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  34. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: JTEM-L@UGA [Japanese Through Electronic Media] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely Japan]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  35. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: NIHONGO@FINHUTC [Nihongo] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely Japan]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  36. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: PAKISTAN@ASUACAD [Pakistan News Service] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  37. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: APNET-L@JPNSUT00 [Asia Pacific Network] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  38. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: CURRENTS@PCCVM [South Asian News and Culture Magazine] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  39. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: PACARC-L@WSUVM1 [Pacific Rim Archaeology] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  40. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: PACIFIC@BRUFPB [Pacific Ocean & Islands Forum] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  41. Prior to 1992 Oct 7: SEANET-L@NUSVM [Southeast Asian Studies] mailing list is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Nelson 1992. Status: P]

  42. 1992 Dec: "Islamic Computing Resource Guide" by Basil Hashem [document format not known] is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]
    return to the index

    1993: 1,313,000 hosts; over 60,000 BBSs in the US; over 200 WWW servers; 8,300 Usenet groups; "Mosaic" graphic WWW browser introduced; over 25,000,000 licensed Windows users world-wide. White House web site is established.

  43. 1993 Jan 14-15: The First Meeting of member institutions of The Pacific Neighborhood Project held in Honolulu, Hawaii.
    [USA]
    [Reference: H-Net database. Status: C]

  44. 1993 Mar 03: Sonam Dargyay (sdhargay@ucs.indiana.edu) launches "TIBET-L" on LISTSERV@IUBVM.BITNET, LISTSERV@UCS.INDIANA.BITNET, and LISTSERV@IUBVM.UCS.INDIANA.EDU
    [USA]
    [Reference: ftp://ftp.sdsmt.edu/pub/resources/INTERNATIONAL/tibet-l. Status: C]

  45. 1993 Mar 6: Lynn Nelson (lhnelson@ku.edu) establishes WWWVL History as HNSource, a lynx-based (i.e.WWW text based) information server.
    [USA]
    [Reference: www.ukans.edu/history/VL/. Status: C]

  46. 1993 Mar: "Asian Religions Archives" [a FTP site] is established.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  47. 1993 Apr 28: T.Matthew Ciolek establishes Coombsquest gopher (gopher://coombs.anu.edu.au)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  48. 1993 Jun 28: "ANU-Asian-Computing-L" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  49. 1993 Jun 25: "ANU-Asian-Religions" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  50. 1993 May: "Buddhist Studies Facility" [a gopher site] is established.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  51. 1993 Spring: "Discus - Religious Studies Journal" is established on computer disks.
    [UK]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  52. 1993 Jul: "CyberMuslim: A Guide to Islamic Resources on the Internet" by Mas'ood Cajee [document format not known] is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  53. 1993 Jul: "DEFA - Dharma Electronic Files Archive" [FTP site] is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  54. 1993 Jul: "Tantric-News" [WAIS site] is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  55. 1993 Aug: "Chogye Zen Texts Archive" [gopher site] is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C] Aug:

  56. 1993 Nov: "Buddhist Electronic Resources Directory" by T. Matthew Ciolek [FTP site] is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  57. 1993: "D.O.O.R.S.: directory of on-line scholars of religion" by Harry Leyenhorst [format not known] is established.
    [Canada]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  58. 1993: "EBTI - Electronic Buddhist Text Initiative" announced
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  59. 1993: RELIGION@harvarda.harvard.edu (number of subscribers not known) is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  60. 1993: "STS NEWS - Tantric Studies Newsletter" [FTP site] is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  61. 1993: "Tiger Team Buddhist Information Network" [BBS site] is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  62. 1993 Jul 30: Taoism-L@coombs.anu.edu.au mailing list is established.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  63. 1993 Jun 25: "ANU-Thai-Yunnan" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]
      (The Thai-Yunnan Project was headed by Dr Gehan Wijeyewardene, was is established. in 1987 by the Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, Its purpose was to foster research and disseminate information on the regions of contact between the Peoples Republic of China and the states of mainland Southeast Asia - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Burma. The project encompassed the study of languages, cultures and societies of the constituent peoples as well as their interrelations within and across national boundaries. Thai-Yunnan Bibliography, 1621 items and (b) research notes of late Dr Richard Davis (known as Richard Davis Card Index, 1415 items))

  64. 1993 Jul 22: "ANU-ZenCalendar" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  65. 1993 Jul 30: Taoism-L@coombs.anu.edu.au is established. It is replaced 17 Apr 94 by Taoism-Studies-L@coombs.anu.edu.au.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  66. 1993 Aug 5: "ANU-Taoism-L" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au (serving contents of the eponymous mailing list)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  67. 1993 Aug: Anthony and Rebecca Bichel launch "Interactive Central Asia Resource Project (ICARP)" as part of a graduate research project at the University of Hawai'i.
    [USA]
    [Reference: http://www.icarp.org/about.html. Status: C]

  68. 1993 Aug: Zenbuddhism-L@coombs.anu.edu.au, subsequently ZenBuddhism@vivanewmexico.com - a semi-scholarly mailing list on history and current developments of Zen Buddhism. [over 400 subscribers, the list is closed down on 15 Oct 2000.]
    [Australia/USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek 2002. Status: C]

  69. 1993 Sep 7: "ANU-Tropical-Archaeobotany" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au (Tropical Archaeo- and Paleobotany Research compiled from publications of the Dept. of Prehistory, RSPacS, Australian National University, 575 items)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  70. 1993 Sep 9: "ANU-Philippine-Studies" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au (abstracts of 95 papers delivered at the 4th International Philippine Studies Conference held 1-3 July 1992, at the Australian National University)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  71. 1993 Sep: Lynn Nelson's (lhnelson@ku.edu) "WWWVL History" becomes the first module of the distributed WWW Virtual Library project.
    [USA]
    [Reference: http://www.ukans.edu/history/VL/about/about.html. Status: C]

  72. 1993 Sep 22: "ANU-Shamanism" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au (It uses the 1992 "Bibliography on Shamanism" by Geoffrey Samuel)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  73. 1993 Nov 19: "ANU-Cheng-tao-ko" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au ([Zhengdaoge], Shodoka (J.), Song of Enlightenment. A collection of 64 verses from the T'ang Dynasty China, attributed to the Zen Master Yung-chia Hsuan-chueh [Yongjia Xuanjue], aka Yoka Genkaku (J.) (665 -713))
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  74. 1993 Nov 16: "ANU-Dhammapada" [The Dhammapada] WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  75. 1993?: David Magier establishes "South Asian Studies Gopher" (gopher://gopher.cc.columbia.edu:71/11/clioplus/scholarly/SouthAsia) at Columbia University.
    [the gopher already existed on 15 Apr 1994]
    [USA]
    [Reference: a message to H-Asia. Status: P]

  76. 1993 Dec 8: "ANU-Tibetan-ACIP" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]
    return to the index

    1994: 2.2 mln hosts; 850 WWW servers; 750 WAIS servers; 10,700 Usenet groups. "Labyrinth" graphic 3-D virtual reality WWW browser is introduced; WebCrawler WWW crawler search engine is introduced.

  77. 1994: "The Buddhist Internet Database" (now "Digital Buddhist Library and Museum" [DBLM] at http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/DBLM/index.htm) is established.
    [Taiwan]
    [Reference: http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/DBLM/about/aboutdblm.htm. Status: C]

  78. 1994: Jan: "Chogye Zen Buddhism" web site is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  79. 1994: BUDDHIST-PHILOSOPHY@world.std.com [eventually over 123 subscribers] is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  80. 1994: Mar: "Finding God in Cyberspace: A Guide to Religious Studies Resources on the Internet" by John Gresham (a gopher site) is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  81. 1994 Jul: "ANU-Buddha-L" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au. The database provided access to the BUDDHA-L mailing list exchanges from the period July 1993 - June 1994.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: muhu.cs.helsinki.fi/mailing_lists/pointers/msg00097.html. Status: C]

  82. 1994: "Access To Insight" [Theravada Buddhism] [BBS site] is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  83. 1994: "BuddhaNet" [BBS site] is established.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  84. 1994: "BodhiNet - Democractic Buddhist Network" [BBS site] is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  85. 1994: "Buddhist Image Bank" [FTP site, sunsite.unc.edu] is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  86. 1994 Summer: Journal of Buddhist Ethics (now at http://jbe.gold.ac.uk) is established. by Charles Prebish and Damien Keown
    [UK/USA]
    [Reference: http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/backissues.html. Status: C]

  87. 1994: Establishment of the first Islamic web site, "The Mosque of the Internet", www.mosque.com
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  88. 1994 Feb: "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle" is established. The directory eventually publishes Yahoo > Regional > Regions > Asia (dir.yahoo.com/Regional/regions/asia/)
    [USA]
    [Reference: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/misc/history.html. Status: C]

  89. 1994 Mar: Web publication of electronic text files of the Bible and Qur'an, at www.hti.umich.edu
    [USA]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  90. 1994?: David Magier (magier@columbia.edu) establishes "SARAI" (South Asia Resource Access on the Internet)
    [USA]
    [Reference: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/southasia/cuvl/. Status: P]

  91. 1994 Mar?: "X Guide" (Stanford Experimental Guide to Japan Information Resources).
    [USA]
    [Reference: http://jguide.stanford.edu/jguide_about.htm. Status: P]

  92. 1994 Mar 24: T.Matthew Ciolek establishes "Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library" (coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-AsianStudies.html)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-AsianStudies.html. Status: C]

  93. 1994 Mar 31: Steven A. Leibo of the Sage Colleges & Suny-Albany and Frank F. Conlon of the University of Washington co-founded H-ASIA - the Asian history and culture list (www2.h-net.msu.edu/~asia/) as part of the H-NET family of lists. (first experiments from 15 March onwards)
    [USA]
    [Reference: H-Net database. Status: C]

  94. 1994 Apr 4: Japan WWW VL is established. on coombs.anu.edu.au (the site subsequently is transferred to Stanford U).
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  95. 1994 Apr 21: The Asian Studies WWW Monitor Journal (ISSN 1329 -9778) (now at http://coombs.anu.edu.au/asia-www-monitor.html) is established. under an initial title "What's New in WWW Asian Studies".
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  96. 1994 Apr 21: "ANU-Taoism-Studies-L" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au (serving contents of the eponymous mailing list)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  97. 1994 May 02: Central-Asia-Studies-L@coombs.anu.edu.au mailing list is established. [over 300 subscribers; it was closed down on 10 Apr 2000]
    [Australia]
    [Reference: Ciolek 2002. Status: C]

  98. 1994 May 3: "ANU-Central-Asia-L" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au (serving contents of the eponymous mailing list)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  99. 1994: May: "Judaism and Jewish resources" by Andrew Tannenbaum (a web site) is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  100. 1994: Jun: USENET alt.religion.buddhism discussion group is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  101. 1994: Jun: USENET alt.religion.buddhism.tibetan discussion group is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  102. 1994 Jun 27: "ANU-Asian-Settlements" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  103. 1994 May: South-Asia-Studies-L@coombs.anu.edu.au - a scholarly mailing list is established. [over 150 subscribers, it was closed down on 12 Dec 1999.]
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  104. 1994 Jun 5: "The Batish Institute of Indian Music and Fine Arts" web server (originally on http://hypatia.ucsc.edu:70/1/RELATED/Batish)
    [USA]
    [Reference: Asian Studies WWW Database 2003. Status: C]

  105. 1994 Jun 6: "Asian Studies WWW Monitor" (coombs.anu.edu.au/asia-www-monitor.html) becomes available via email (now asia-www-monitor@coombs.anu.edu.au)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  106. 1994 Jun 17: "Ministry of Education" (Singapore) web server is established. (originally on http://www.moe.ac.sg) [Singapore] [F]
    [Singapore]
    [Reference: Asian Studies WWW Database 2003. Status: C]

  107. 1994 Jun 24: "ANU-Vietnam-IT-L" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au (serving contents of the empnymous mailing list on information technology in Vietnam)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  108. 1994 Jul 7: Experimental WWW Server of the Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM), at the International University of Japan in Tokyo, is launched. (originally at http://www.glocom.ac.jp/index.html)
    [Japan]
    [Reference: Asian Studies WWW Database 2003. Status: C]

  109. 1994 Jul 11: "ANU-Vietnam-SciTech-L" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au (serving contents of the eponymous mailing list)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  110. 1994 Jul 12: The Academia Sinica announces its WWW server (www.sinica.edu.tw/) and gopher (originally at gopher://gopher.sinica.edu.tw/) servers
    [Taiwan]
    [Reference: Asian Studies WWW Database 2003. Status: C]

  111. 1994 Jul 18: Burton Lee's "X Guide" takes over "Japan WWW VL" (now http://jguide.stanford.edu/) from coombs.anu.edu.au [USA]
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  112. 1994 Aug 9: Univ. of Kansas publishes WWW sites with details mof governments of Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Tajikistan; Tatarstan; Turkmenistan; and Uzbekistan; (originally at http://ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu/ex-ussr/)
    [USA]
    [Reference: Asian Studies WWW Database 2003. Status: C]

  113. 1994 Aug 12: "ANU-Vietnam-SocSci" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au (1143 records) This dbase of social scientists in Vietnam is intended to be updated on annual basis. Data by Dr. David Marr RSPAS, ANU.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  114. 1994 Sep 2: The Armenian Research Center of the University of Michigan-Dearborn publishes a web site with material on the Armenians, their history, the Armenian Genocide, and the current struggle of Nagorno- Karabagh. (originally at http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian)
    [USA]
    [Reference: AS WWW Monitor Aug Sep. Status: C]

  115. 1994 Sep 5: Jeffrey Friedl (jfriedl@omron.co.jp) announces the new version of his Japanese/English English/Japanese dictionary at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. (originally at http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/cgi-bin/j-e)
    [USA]
    [Reference: AS WWW Monitor Sep 1994. Status: C]

  116. 1994 Sep 5: Carlos McEvilly announces the The Chinese-Language-Related Information Page. (originally at ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/mcevilly/www/chinfo.html)
    [USA]
    [Reference: AS WWW Monitor Sep 1994. Status: C]

  117. 1994 Sep 5: Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library (now at http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-Buddhism.html) is established. [Australia] [F]
    [Australia]
    [Reference: AS WWW Monitor Sep 1994. Status: C]

  118. 1994: Sep: "Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library" [web site] is established.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  119. 1994: Oct: USENET talk.religion.buddhism discussion group is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  120. 1994 Oct 19: "ANU-South-Asia-Studies-L" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au (serving contents of the eponymous mailing list)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  121. 1994 Oct 24: "ANU-Tibetan-Human-Rights" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  122. 1994 Nov 14: Connie Neal (cin@io.com) publishes Buddhist Resource File (BRF), a list of resources related to Buddhist literature and activities (originally at www.io.com/~cin/bibliography.html)
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  123. 1994 Nov 29: "ANU-ZenPoetry" WAIS database [of 20th c. religious poetry] published on coombs.anu.edu.au
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  124. 1994: Dec: USENET alt.religion.vaisnava discussion group [Hinduism] is established.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  125. prior to Dec 1994: Chuck Gardner runs the historic (in web terms) Soc.Culture.Filipino site.
    [Philippines]
    [Reference: http://www.boondocksnet.com/about.html. Status: C]
    return to the index

    1995: 5.8 mln hosts; 23,500 WWW servers; 16.5 million Usenet users; over 950 FTP archive sites. RealAudio narrowcasting; Java programming language; Altavista WWW crawler search engine introduced.

  126. 1995 Jan 12: Jim Zwick publishes Mark Twain on the Philippines (www.boondocksnet.com/ai/twain/index.html)
    [USA]
    [Reference: http://www.boondocksnet.com/about.html. Status: C]

  127. 1995: Asian Studies Network Information Center (asnic.utexas.edu/asnic.html) is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  128. 1995 Feb 8: "ANU-EAsia-Libr-Group-L" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au (contents of the mailing list edited by Susan Prentice, ANU Library and Susan MacDougall, Faculty of Communication, University of Canberra.)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  129. 1995 Feb 10: "Asian/Pacific Studies Subject-Oriented Bibliographies" (coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLAsian/VLBibl.html) site is launched.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  130. 1995 Feb 20: David Bedell, University of Bridgeport (bedell@cse.bridgeport.edu) publishes "Review Of Bitnet/Internet Lists For Northeast Asia."
    [USA]
    [Reference: http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/DBedell/Bedell.NEAmlist.html. Status: C]

  131. 1995 Apr 16: The International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism (IRIZ) at Hanazono University web site (www.iijnet.or.jp/iriz/irizhtml/irizhome.htm), now at (www.iijnet.or.jp/iriz/) is constructed. The site is officially launched in June 1995.
    [Japan]
    [Reference: http://www.iijnet.or.jp/iriz/irizhtml/iriz/irizinfo.htm and http://www.iijnet.or.jp/iriz/frame/gaiyo_f0.en.html. Status: C]

  132. 1995 May 23: Dr Moo-Young Han establishes The Korean-American Science and Technology News, KASTN, a an international weekly online newsletter (at www.phy.duke.edu/~myhan/s-kastn.html). In 2003 KASTN was read by approximately 17,000 professionals worldwide, especially in North America, East Asia and Western Europe.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  133. 1995 Jun: Publication of the first Islamic e-periodical, "Renaissance: A Monthly Islamic Journal", www.renaissance.com.pk
    [Pakistan]
    [Reference: Ciolek, in press. Status: C]

  134. 1995 Jun 09: Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) The State Department's Bureau of Public Affairs and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have is established. the Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) on the Internet. DOSFAN is a collaborative effort to present a broad range of up-to-date foreign policy information on the Internet. (gopher://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/). Coverage included: East Asia and the Pacific, Near East, South Asia
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  135. 1995 Aug: Enrica Garzilli publishes online the first issue of the "International Journal of Tantric Studies (IJTS) ISSN 1084-7553 (now at http://www.asiatica.org/ijts/)
    [Italy]
    [Reference: http://www.asiatica.org/ijts/index.php. Status: C]

  136. 1995 Sep 17: Ludovico Magnocavallo publishes a web interface to a previously existing ftp site (EJVS-IJTS FTP Archives - Fonts and Utilities)
    [Italy]
    [Reference: ftp://ftp.shore.net/members/india/fonts/. Status: C]

  137. 1995 Nov 29: Enrica Garzilli publishes online the first issue of the "Journal of South Asia Women Studies (JSAWS) ISSN 1084-7478 (now at http://www.asiatica.org/jsaws/)
    [Italy]
    [Reference: http://www.asiatica.org/jsaws/index.php. Status: C]

  138. 1995 Dec 8: Tibetan-Studies-L@coombs.anu.edu.au - a scholarly mailing list on Tibetan history and culture [in 2003 over 550 subscribers]
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  139. 1995 Dec 8: "ANU-Tibetan-Studies-L" WAIS database is published on coombs.anu.edu.au (serving contents of the eponymous mailing list)
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]
    return to the index

    1996: 14.3 mln hosts; 100,000 WWW servers; "Hotmail" free web-based e-mail; Extensible Markup Language (XML) introduced.

  140. 1996 Jul 18: Tamil newspaper, "The Muzhakkam Tamil Weekly" web edition commences operations.
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: http://www.muzhakkam.com. Status: C]

  141. 1996 Oct ??: John Gardner publishes online 10mb of Vedic texts, including Rig Veda and Shatapatha BraahmaNa, with detailed indexes in form of the "Vedavid" web site
    [USA]
    [Reference: http://vedavid.org/. Status: C]

  142. 1996 Nov 29: Southeast Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library (iias.leidenuniv.nl/wwwvl/southeast.html) moved from coombs.anu.edu.au to International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden.
    [The Netherlands]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]
    return to the index

    1997: 21.8 mln hosts; 650,000 Web servers; 190 bln emails and 190 bln pieces of first-class mail are sent each year.

  143. 1997 Mar 5: e-asia-area-group@coombs.anu.edu.au is established.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  144. 1997 Apr 4: USENET alt.religion.bahai is established. with 157 participants
    [country???, most likely USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  145. 1997 Apr 16: "Asian Studies Association of Australia, Inc. (ASAA)" web site (coombs.anu.edu.au/ASAA/) is launched.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  146. 1997 May 7: "China in Time and Space (CITAS)" [CITAS data sets include vectorized base maps of China, georeferenced socioeconomic data, bibliographic resources and utilities for coding data of administrative units] Subsequently the data are re-used by CHGIS (Harvard)
    [USA]
    [Reference: http://citas.csde.washington.edu/. Status: C]

  147. 1997 May 12th: WAIS databases last time used on coombs.anu.edu.au
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  148. 1997 Jul: Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project (DILP) (www.al-islam.or) is launched.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Asian Studies WWW Database 2003. Status: C]

  149. Prior to 1997 Sep: Robert Eng publishes "East and South East Asia: an annotated directory of Internet resources" (newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs;/AsianStudiesDept/index.html).
    [USA]
    [Reference: Asian Studies WWW Database 2003. Status: P]
    return to the index

    1998: 29.6 mln hosts; 1.8 mln Web servers Google WWW crawler intelligent search engine introduced; Java source code is made freely accessible to the software community.

  150. Prior to 1998 Jun: "Paso-kon Toohoo-kenkyuu" (Personal Computer and Asian Humanity Studies) on the Japanese commercial BBS NiftyServe (www.nifty.com)
    [Japan]
    [Reference: http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~n-iyanag/links.html. Status: P]

  151. 1998 May 6: "Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS) On Line", Association for Asian Studies, University of Michigan, USA is established. In May 1998 it had about 420,000 references; in Mar 2003 520,000 references
    [USA]
    [Reference: http://www.aasianst.org/bassub.htm. Status: C]

  152. 1998 Jun 1: "RSPAS Print News: E-Journal" (coombs.anu.edu.au/rspas-print-news.htm) is launched.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: http://coombs.anu.edu.au/rspas-print-news.htm. Status: C]

  153. 1998 Jul: "Virtual e-Text Archive of Indic Texts" [a catalogue of distributed online holdings] (www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgadkw/indology.html) is established.
    [UK]
    [Reference: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgadkw/indology.html. Status: C]

  154. 1998 Oct: "International Dunhuang Project (IDP)" web site, now at (idp.bl.uk) is mounted.
    [UK]
    [Reference: http://idp.bl.uk/. Status: C]

    1999: 43.2 mln hosts; over 1,000 WWW search engines; over 39,000 IRC channels; over 135,000 Listserv lists; 4.3 mln Web servers; over 800 mln publicly accessible Web pages indexed; 3 bln SMS text messages sent during the month of Dec; Wireless Application Protocol for mobile Internet is introduced.

  155. 1999 May 14: Budschol ("Buddhist Scholars") on the OneList service is established.
    [Japan]
    [Reference: Muller 2002. Status: C]
    return to the index

    2000: 72.3 mln hosts; 9.9 mln Web servers; over 1 bln publicly accessible Web pages indexed; estimated 407.1 mln online users worldwide; 15 bln SMS text messages sent during the month of December

  156. 2000 - mid: "Afghanpedia" (www.sabawoon.com/afghanpedia/default.shtm) is launched.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Asian Studies WWW Database 2003.Status: C]

  157. 2000 Feb 23: "Project South Asia (PSA)" (www.mssc.edu/projectsouthasia) is launched.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  158. 2000 Nov: "USEST: U.S. Embassy Beijing Environment, Science and Technology" mailing list (www.usembassy-china.org.cn/english/sandt/estnews-contents.html) is launched.
    [China]
    [Reference: Asian Studies WWW Database 2003.Status: C]
    return to the index

    2001: 109.5 mln hosts; J 27.8 mln Web servers; over 1.6 bln publicly accessible Web pages indexed; The WayBack Machine provides access to the WWW pages which were archived since 1996 by the Internet Archive.

  159. 2001 Jan 8: The "China Historical Geographic Information System (CHGIS)" project is established.
    [USA]
    [Reference: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/intro/. Status: C]

  160. 2001 Aug 7: "South Asia Literature Association Announcements (SALA-Announce)" (www-instruct.nmu.edu/english/zthundy/salaindex.html), is launched.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  161. 2001 Aug 22: "Budschol" mailing list is restablished as as H-Buddhism.
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  162. 2001 Nov 30: mekong-pa@vn-gw.anu.edu.au, laos-pa@coombs.anu.edu.au, thai-pa.info@coombs.anu.edu.au ("Review of protected areas and their role in socio-economic development in the four countries of the Lower Mekong River region") mailing lists are is established.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]
    return to the index

    2002:147.3 mln hosts; 36.6 mln Web servers; over 222,000 Listserv lists; over 100,000 e-mail newsletters; over 350,000 Usenet groups. over 2.4 bln publicly accessible Web pages indexed.

  163. 2002 Jun 21: vtn-l@vn-gw.anu.edu.au "Vietnam Tourism Network" (www.undp.org.vn/forums1/forums.htm) mailing list is established.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  164. 2002 Sep 19: "Asian Law Online", the first online bibliographic database of Asian law materials in the world (www.law.unimelb.edu.au/alc/bibliography) is launched.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: Taylor 2003. Status: C]

  165. 2002 Sep: The "China Elections and Governance", a joint project by The Carter Center at Emory University and the Research Center on Chinese Local Governance at Beijing University (www.chinaelections.org) is launched.
    [USA]
    [Reference: Asian Studies WWW Database 2003.Status: C]
    return to the index

    2003: 171.6 mln hosts; 35,543,000 web servers; over 3 bln publicly accessible Web pages indexed.

  166. 2003 Jan 10: "Meta-Guide to Indonesia: Annotated Bibliography of post-1990 Bibliographies on Indonesia" (coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/IndonPages/Meta-Bibliography.html) is launched.
    [Australia]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

  167. 2003 Jun 19: "Asian Studies in an Internet Connected World: Building an Asia- Pacific Community?" Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast [2003 Annual Meeting - ed.] June 19-22, 2003 East-West Center, Honolulu (www.aspac.org)
    [USA]
    [Reference: to be provided. Status: C]

Acknowledgments

Updates, additions and corrections to this page have been kindly provided by:

References

Maintainer: Dr T.Matthew Ciolek (tmciolek@coombs.anu.edu.au)

Copyright (c) 2003 by T.Matthew Ciolek. All rights reserved.

URL http://coombs.anu.edu.au/asian-studies-timeline.html