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* tmc * in patientia vestra habetis animam vestram * tmc *

Dear Reader,

The Internet Publications Bureau (including its all subsidiary (and/or sister) pages on "coombs.anu.edu.au" server) has permanently ceased its publishing operations on Tuesday 25th January 2011.

Any questions related to this archipelago of information resource please direct exclusively to the current administrators of the "coombs.anu.edu.au" web server at the following email address: web.cap@anu.edu.au

- with warm regards -

Head, Internet Publications Bureau, Dr T. Matthew Ciolek.

Canberra, 25 January 2011.

    Unit:

    INTERNET PUBLICATIONS BUREAU (IPB)

    Head:

    Dr T. Matthew Ciolek

    Functions:

    The Bureau researches, facilitates and supports the College's professional uses of the Internet for the purposes of effective:
    • scholarly communication
    • record keeping and documentation
    • information storage/preservation
    • information publishing and
    • high-grade online academic research

    and other research activities that are aided by ever-evolving and changing repertoire of online work tools such as mailing lists, online databases, online repositories of digital documents, web sites, blogs, wikis and search engines.

    History: (work in progress - tmc) *


  • World in 1991: 376,000 Internet hosts; 1,850 Usenet groups. Gopher, and WAIS technologies are introduced.

    • 1991, Aug - The Australian National University becomes connected (via AARNET) to the world-wide network of computer networks, the Internet.
    • 1991, Sep - RSPAS/RSSS joint computer services unit (a.k.a. the 'Coombs Computing Unit') starts providing Social Sciences- and Asia-Pacific-focused online research information services to members of the joint Research Schools, the ANU, and - simultaneously - to interested scholars world-wide.
    • 1991, Dec - an ftp site called Coombspapers - ANU Social Sciences Anonymous FTP Archive [coombs.anu.edu.au/CoombswebPages/Coombspapers.html] is established to serve as an electronic repository of working papers, bibliographies, directories, theses abstracts and other high-grade research material produced (or deposited) at the RSPAS and RSSS.
    • 1991, Dec - an ftp document called Internet Voyager: Social Scientist's Guidebook to AARNET/INTERNET Online Information Services - Part 1 & Part 2. [ ftp://coombs.anu.edu.au/coombspapers/coombsarchives/coombs-computing/internet-subj-guides/internet-voyager-1-2.txt & ftp://coombs.anu.edu.au/coombspapers/coombsarchives/coombs-computing/internet-subj-guides/internet-voyager-2-2.txt] is established as a sub-section of the Coombspapers site.

  • World in 1993: 1,313,000 Internet hosts; over 60,000 BBSs in the US; over 200 WWW servers; 8,300 Usenet groups; "Mosaic" graphic WWW browser introduced; White House web site is established.

    • 1993, Apr - a gopher site called 'Coombsquest' [gopher://coombs.anu.edu.au] is established. Its function is to provide a common interface/portal to electronic information on Aboriginal Studies, Asian Studies, Buddhist Studies, Demography, History, Linguistics, Pacific Studies, Prehistory & Archaeology collated and published by the Coombs Computing Unit.

  • World in 1994: 2.2 mln Internet 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.

    • 1994, Jan 25 - a web site called Coombsweb [coombs.anu.edu.au] is established as the 2nd WWW site at the ANU, the 5th site in Australia and the 850th WWW server in the world. Its function is to provide a common interface/portal to all electronic information collated and published by the Coombs Computing Unit. The 'Coombsquest' gopher server is gradually phased out.
    • 1994, Mar 24 - a web site called Asian Studies WWW Vitual Library [coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-AsianStudies.html] is established.
    • 1994, Apr 21 - a web/email periodical called Asian Studies WWW Monitor Electronic Journal [coombs.anu.edu.au/asia-www-monitor.html] is established as a sub-section of the Asian Studies WWW VL site.
    • 1994, Sep - an ftp document called Social Sciences Internet Resources Guide. [ ftp://coombs.anu.edu.au/coombspapers/coombsarchives/coombs-computing/internet-subj-guides/socsci-internet-rsrc-guid.txt] is established as a sub-section of the Coombspapers site.

  • World in 1995: 5.8 mln Internet 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.


  • World in 1996: 14.3 mln Internet hosts; 100,000 WWW servers; "Hotmail" free web-based e-mail; Flash Animator software introduced.

    • 1996, Sep - RSPAS/RSSS computer services unit is divided into two separate, school-based organisations. The Asia-Pacific online research information service is retained by the RSPAS and made independent of the RSPAS Computing Unit

  • World in 1997: 21.8 mln Internet hosts; 650,000 Web servers; 190 bln emails and 190 bln pieces of first-class mail are sent each year. Extensible Markup Language (XML) introduced.

    • 1997, Jan - in response to new research and teaching opportunities and challenges presented by the ever-growing body of electronic scholarly information, and in response to the of impact of the Internet-based communications and publishing on scholarly activities world-wide, the RSPAS and the ANU Library jointly establish a small, experimental body called Internet Publications Bureau (IPB). Dr T. Matthew Ciolek is the new unit's director.
    • 1997, Apr - a web site called Asian Studies Association of Australia, Inc. (ASAA) [coombs.anu.edu.au/ASAA/] is established. The IPB provides hosting service, and Dr T. Matthew Ciolek is the new site's editor.

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

    • 1998, Jun - a web/email periodical called RSPAS Print News: E-Journal [coombs.anu.edu.au/rspas-print-news.htm] is established as a sub-section of the Asian Studies WWW VL site. Ann Andrews, Publishing, Distribution and Imaging (PDI), RSPAS & Dr T. Matthew Ciolek is the new journal's editors.
    • 1998, Dec - There are 650 subscribers to the email edition of the Asian Studies WWW Monitor journal.

  • World in 1999: 43.2 mln Internet 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 are indexed. Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) for mobile Internet is introduced.


  • World in 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. Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is introduced.

    • 2000, Apr - a web document called Pacific Studies WWW Virtual Library: Online Maps and Atlases [coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPacific/VLMaps.html] is established as a sub-section of the Asian Studies WWW VL site.
    • 2000, Dec - There are 850 subscribers to the email edition of the Asian Studies WWW Monitor journal.

  • World in 2002: 147.3 mln Internet 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 are indexed.

    • 2002, Apr - Coombspapers FTP archive electronic research collection comprises 1512 ASCII files totalling 61.1 Mb of data.
    • 2002, Nov - a web document called Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library - Newsfeeds [coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLAsian/VLAsiaNewsfeeds.html] is established as a sub-section of the Asian Studies WWW VL site.
    • 2002, Dec - There are 2,375 subscribers to the email edition of the Asian Studies WWW Monitor journal.

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


  • World in 2004: 233.1 mln Internet hosts; 56.9 mln Web servers; over 8 bln publicly accessible Web pages indexed.

    • 2004, Feb - 'RSPAS Print News: E-Journal' [coombs.anu.edu.au/rspas-print-news.htm] closes down due to the Publishing, Distribution and Imaging (PDI), RSPAS reorganisation and its editor's, Ann Andrews retirement.
    • 2004, Aug - a web document called Acronyms Used by Asian / Pacific Studies' Scholars: a Dictionary [coombs.anu.edu.au/ACR/Acronyms.html] is established as a sub-section of the Asian Studies WWW VL site. Dr T. Matthew Ciolek (assisted by John Noyce, Monash U.) is the new document's editor.
      • 2004, Dec - There are 4,370 subscribers to the email edition of the Asian Studies WWW Monitor journal.

  • World in 2007: 433.2 mln Internet hosts; 106.8 mln Web servers.

    • 2007, Nov - The Asian Studies Association of Australia, Inc. (ASAA) web site moves its operations to a new address [asaa.asn.au] and discontinues its reliance on the IPB technical and html-markup assistance.

  • World in 2008: 541.7 mln Internet hosts; 155.5 mln Web servers; estimated 1,407 mln online users worldwide.

    • 2008, Jul - Dr Katerina Teaiwa, ANU becomes co-editor (together with Dr T. Matthew Ciolek) of the Pacific Studies WWW Virtual Library
    • 2008, Sep - a web document called Asian & Pacific Studies - Historical Photographs [coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/AsianPages/Asian-Historical-Photographs.html] is established as a sub-section of the Asian Studies WWW VL site.
    • 2008, Dec - There are 7,680 subscribers to the email edition of the Asian Studies WWW Monitor journal.

  • World in 2009: 625.2 mln Internet hosts; 185.4 mln Web servers; estimated 1,733 mln online users worldwide.


  • World in 2011: 252.2 mln Web servers; estimated over 2 bn online users worldwide.

    • 2011, Jan - There are 9,260 subscribers to the email edition of the Asian Studies WWW Monitor journal.
    • 2011, Jan 21 - The Asian Studies WWW Monitor journal is mothballed.
    • 2011, Jan 25 - The Asian Studies & Pacific Studies WWW Virtual Libraries are mothballed.
    • 2011, Jan 25 - The Coombsweb (WWW) and Coombspapers (FTP) information resources are mothballed.
    * Note: Unless they are marked otherwise, all IPB resources listed above have been designed, constructed and edited by the IPB's head, Dr T. Matthew Ciolek.

    http://coombs.anu.edu.au/RSPAS-ipb.html

Page last updated: January 25 2011.
Page authorised by: Head, Internet Publications Bureau, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Australian National University — CRICOS Provider Number 00120C