TeamWeb History

2008

July - The University launches a pilot project for blogs and wikis.

May - Jason Craft selected as lead for the Web Technologies Team.

2007

September - Web Cental home page updated to integrate with the new OnCampus Calendar.

Summer - David Cook promoted to Director of ITS Applications. Diane Gierisch is appointed interim lead of the Web Technology Team.

May - ITS offers MySQL database services to departments publishing from Web Central, UT Direct, and ITS managed servers and virtual hosts.

May - Web Technology Team provides method to indicate that a page is historical and no longer being maintained.

2006

February - The University launches mobile.utexas.edu, a gopher-like menu of University resources for mobile devices and cellular phones.

January 16 - Updated Web Central home page installed. New page is fully compliant with W3C standards and uses significantly fewer graphics.

January 5 - Day after Longhorns win National Championship by defeating USC in the Rose Bowl. Web Central sets traffice record with over 415,000 sessions and over 12 million hits.

2005

March - UT Direct 2.1 implemented with new look, updated API and less code overall.

2004

August - Web Office staff combines with UT Direct Development team to form Web Technologies Team in Enterprise Information Services.

March 6 - Launch of UTOPIA. (plug pulled on utopia 1/2008)

2003

June - On 10 year anniversary of the campus Web, School of Information (formally GSLIS) recognizes early TeamWeb members and others as campus Web Pioneers.

March - Version 2 of UT Direct Portal installed, fully compliant with W3C standards.

Unknown date - University's Web cited as most accessible University Web site in a study from the University of Washington.

2002

March 2 - Web Central redesign launched.

2001

Summer - New VP for Public Affairs, hires web staff and assumes ownership of content on University's front door.

2000

August - UT Direct portal launched launched along with Blackboard and Webmail.

1999

August - Formal Web Office created with funding funding/approval from Office of the Provost.

January 19 - Web Central received 1,741,715 hits, a record high. The total hits for this week (1/17) was 7,768,115, another record high.

1998

September - UTexas@115 now on the Web.

August - Unveiled new Web Central design.

August 26 - Web Central received 1,255,731 hits, a record high. The total hits for this week (8/23) was 6,440,923, another record high.

June 17 - UT Austin ranked number 4 in Web visits for universities.

1997

December - The University of Texas Web site received Honorable Mention for the School/University category in the Best of the Web competition.

March 31 - Richard Mendez, UT Austin's first Webmaster, resigns from the University.

March 21 - 1997 State of Administrative Computing. Richard Mendez speaks on The University Web, his last presentation at UT.

1996

December 31 - Connections to the UT Austin home page this year: 5,796,378.

December 20 - New University home page installed. You can read about the redesign.

December 12 - Richard Mendez gives a presentation on the Design of the University Web at an Executive Officers Meeting.

October 9 - John Wheat and other TeamWeb members and University staff participate in a joint announcement of the Virtual Campus project.

October 1 - Richard Mendez produces a secure pledge form for KUT's Fall Membership Drive. It is the second use of secure transactions.

August 16 - Dan Arthur, of Ex-Students' Association, creates the first secure form on Web Central. Alumni can now securely supply credit card numbers in the Web form. Dan and Ex-Students are the first to that take advantage of a new server service: secure transactions.

August - Texas Monthly names the University Web a top edu site in an article on the texas.100.best.

June 6 - The Daily Texan was one of the first publishers in the campus Gopher system. Those new to the Web may have not heard of Gopher. Think of Web without graphics. Boring, yes. But fast. Today, The Daily Texan ceased publication in Gopher. Everyone is reading the WebTexan.

May 29 - Web-talk, a new discussion/mailing list for campus Web publishers, begins operation.

May 14 - The Austin American-Statesman mentions the Financial Services Web in a question-and-answer series on financial aid.

May 7 - John Wheat demonstrates the Virtual Campus to Robert Berdahl and Executive Officers. The Virtual Campus, not yet completed, is a VR tour of the entire campus.

April 17 - Scenes from the Top, a tour around the Observation Deck atop the UT Tower, now includes a VR component.

March 19 - The University Co-Op is on the Web.

March 11 - TeamWeb Faculty Consulting begins operation.

March 5 - TeamWeb HelpDesk begins operation.

February 27 - Apple Computer gives a presentation to TeamWeb on its Internet tools and development directions. Gary Thompson, Apple representative for UT Austin, organized the event.

February 15 - Erika Heinen becomes the third TeamWeb Volunteer.

February 15 - John Wheat conducts a brownbag on the Web and multimedia.

February 6 - TeamWeb is a year old.

January 26 - TeamWeb begins it Spring schedule of classes.

January 23 - The Center for Teaching Effectiveness joins TeamWeb.

January 5 - Mark McFarland solicits TeamWeb for volunteers to provide consulting services in faculty offices. From an idea he first had in November 95.

January 5 - Mark Brice installs version 1.1 of the Netscape HTTPD server on Piglet, an Academic Computing UNIX system.

1995

December 31 - Connections to the UT Austin home page this year: 2,545,341.

December 19 - The library catalog is now available on the Web via UTNetCAT.

December 18 - Belinda Gonzalez Lehmkuhle and Richard Mendez complete work on Scenes from the Top, a tour around the observation deck of the UT Tower.

December 5 - Leigh Cody announces that Administrative Computing has agreed to house the TeamWeb HelpDesk in its Information Center.

November 29 - Three colleges announce their Webs today:

1. College of Engineering
2. College of Fine Arts
3. College of Natural Sciences

November 29 - Richard Mendez gives a talk entitled History of the Web at UT for the Administrative Computing FYI series. Over 40 people attend in one of the largest turn-outs for an FYI talk.

November 29 - Administrative Computing leads full-day Web training session for Business Affairs units.

November 15 - What's good, UT Austin is announced. Includes user comments and reviews from ratings services.

November 11 - John Wheat talks to technical groups from both the Comptroller's Office and the Texas Legislative Council about DP's Web Connectivity Tools.

November 9 - Richard Mendez gives a demonstration of Web publishing to staff at the Division of Continuing Education.

November 9 - John Wheat leads a discussion and demonstration of the Netscape Development Partners Program.

November 3 - The Chronicle of Higher Education publishes an article entitled Professors Put Course Materials on the Internet. This article includes several paragraphs on the World Lecture Hall.

October 27 - For the first time in history, prospective students can apply for admission to this University via the Web.

October 19 - TeamWeb has one of its rare meetings. Discusses the volunteer program, Harvest, HotJava, and classes.

October 19 - Bill Townsend, Vice President of Advertising for Lycos, Inc. speaks to an advertising class of Gene H. Kincaid.

October 10 - Mark Brice announces that Harvest is available, so that users can search UT Austin.

September 28 - Richard Mendez speaks to a GSLIS class, "Internet Resources and Services," LIS 341, about the Web at UT Austin.

September 18 - TeamWeb begins its Fall schedule of classes.

September 7 - Steve Szyszko leads TeamWeb staff in the development and installation of the Events Calendar.

September 6 - Steve Wilson becomes the first TeamWeb Volunteer. Fall BC Link publishes an article on World Lecture Hall.

August 29 - At 2:15 P.M., Homer, a DEC AXP 4000, became the home for Web Central. Mic Kaczmarczik and other Academic Computing UNIX spent several weeks preparing for the switch from Sheba to Homer.

August 29 - Belinda Gonzalez Lehmkuhle leads several TeamWeb staff in the development and installation of the Campus Maps Web.

August 10 - Richard Cole, manager of the Academic Computing Help Desk first proposes the idea of a TeamWeb HelpDesk. Little progress is made.

July 31 - August 4 - The second Faculty and Staff Web Week is held. About 300 participants attend. David Cook organizes the event.

July 25 - Richard Mendez gives a talk to UT System staff entitled, "Critical Success Factors for Managing a Web Site."

July 21 - The Frank Erwin Center displays the URL to its Web page, http://www.utexas.edu/admin/erwin/ on its marquee for all the world (or at least that part that travels IH-35 between 15th and MLK) to see. Never before has a URL been displayed so publicly on this campus.

July 14 - Mic Kaczmarczik installs version 1.4 of NCSA HTTPD server on all Academic Computing UNIX systems except Sheba, which the does the following week.

June 20 - Jack Lund installs version 1.3 of the NCSA HTTPD server on all Academic Computing UNIX systems.

June 5 - John Wheat, Richard Mendez, and Mark McFarland demonstrate the Web to Robert Berdahl and Executive Officers.

Jne 2 - Academic Computing and General Libraries treats WebWeek instructors to a luncheon at the Faculty Center.

June 1 - Kathleen Smith and Richard Mendez demonstrate a simple prototype of the Athletics Web to about 15 staff from the Athletics Department.

May 25 - John Wheat and Richard Mendez demonstrate Web Central to Larry Lallor and senior development officers.

May 22 - 26 - The first-ever Faculty and Staff Web Week is held. About 550 participants attend. David Cook organizes the event.

May 10 - TeamWeb meeting in Main 26 to discuss Web Week, new members (Susanna Herndon, Judythe Wilbur, and Christine Henke), and the presentation to Berdahl.

May 9-10 - Mic Kaczmarczik, Clyde Hoover, and Danny Gonzalez migrate Web publishers from Bongo to UTS.

May 2 - Richard Mendez demonstrates the Student Affairs Web, TeamWeb's third project, to James Vick and the department heads in that division.

April 20 - TeamWeb meeting to discuss the Student Affairs Web.

April 13 - TeamWeb meeting in 14th Floor Conference Room. Discussion of Web Week, and Events Calendar Web.

April 13 - Richard Mendez meets with Janice Daman and other staff of the Division of Housing and Food Service to discuss Web publishing. The idea for the Student Affairs Web comes from this meeting.

April 6 - The Ex-Students' Association joins TeamWeb.

March 30 - TeamWeb meeting. Discussed the six services that the team must provide to support Web publishing and use. See the mission.

March 30 - Richard Mendez has an Alumni Web follow-up meeting with Larry Lallor and others.

March 29 - Richard Mendez gives a 2-minute introduction to the Web at the 1995 State of Administrative Computing conference. See the text of the introduction.

March 23 - By invitation of Allen H Bizzell, Richard Mendez discusses the Web at a luncheon of about 15 head administrative personnel.

March 17 - Mark McFarland demonstrates the Research Web, Team Web's second project, to Juan Sanchez.

March 16 - TeamWeb meeting to discuss policies, templates, maps, and forms.

March 7 - TeamWeb holds its first meeting, to keep the momentum created by the Alumni Web moving forward.

February 17 - Richard Mendez demonstrates the Alumni Web, TeamWeb's first project, to Larry Lallor and others.

February 16 - As part of the Alumni Web, The Daily Texan begins publishing on the Web as WebTexan. WebTexan incorporates many ideas used on Jay Ashcraft's original Web version of the Daily Texan.

February 10 - UT-LANIC is featured in a story on Latin American resources on the Internet that appears in Arriba, a local newspaper.

February 6 - Academic Computing, General Libraries, and Administrative Computing form TeamWeb. See the Mission statement.

February 3 - The Austin Chronicle calls Web Central "a fertile land" in an issue devoted to the Internet.

January 14 - Web Central is featured in a story about the Web that appears in CNN's Science and Technology Week.

1994

December 8 - Richard Mendez and Mark McFarland meet to discuss attempting to make Web Central a more real collaboration between Academic Computing and General Libraries.

November 29 - Web Central is shown as a model of good design and depth of content at the CNI Conference in Orlando, Florida by Ann Stunden, Director of Academic Computing and Network Services at Northwestern University.

Week of November 27 - For the first time ever, the connections to the Web Central home page (19,032) exceed the connections to the Gopher Central main menu (17,699).

November 18 - Richard Mendez first conceives TeamWeb, but does not go beyond creating a crudely coded list of team members. These Academic Computing and General Libraries staff provide Web support to the campus.

November 16 - A new version of the UT home page is installed. It's the first version that does not look like a Gopher menu. You can read about the redesign and look at a copy of that page.

November 8 - Richard Mendez and Belinda Gonzalez Lehmkuhle meet for the first time to discuss graphics for Web Central. Nothing comes of this meeting, as other projects pull on Belinda.

October 20 - Richard Mendez demonstrates the simple Alumni Web to Randy Ebeling, John Wheat, Jim Boone, and staff of the Ex-Students' Association.

October 5 - Richard Mendez demonstrates a simple Alumni Web to Randy Ebeling, Marg Knox, and Clair Goldsmith. This prototype is lost.

August 19 - Richard Mendez trains Gayle Gaston to assume responsibility for TENET Web.

August 15 - Trent Gayle activates personal publishing on SVS and CVC, Academic Computing VMS systems.

July - In print and in conversation, Richard Mendez begins referring to the UT Austin WWW server as Web Central.

June 21 - Mic Kaczmarczik activates personal publishing on UTS.

June 14 - Mic Kaczmarczik activates personal publishing on Bongo.

June 14 - Richard Mendez begins feeding the new TENET Web. Here is the current version.

June 6 -Mic Kaczmarczik moves the Web server from overloaded Bongo to Sheba, a loaner DECstation 5000/200. He also creates the ~ftp/student area for student organizations to publish.

May 26 - In the 1994 Best of the Web contest, the UT Austin WWW server receives an honorable mention in the Campus category. The server is 1 month, 4 days old.

May 16 - Mic Kaczmarczik installs NCSA HTTPD 1.3 server on Sheba.

May 4 - UT Austin assumes responsibility for registering Texas-based servers. See Web Texas.

April 28 - Richard Mendez adds Mark McFarland to list of people who receive mail sent to www@wwwhost.cc.utexas.edu.

April 22 - Richard Mendez registers the UT Austin WWW Server with CERN, the organization that maintains the master list of servers. He also sends an announcement to NCSA for its What's New page. The announcement appears on NCSA's April page, under 24 April.

April 21 - Mic Kaczmarczik registers sheba.cc.utexas.edu as www.utexas.edu, in anticipation that Sheba will assume the role of central server from Bongo.

April 13 - Academic Computing and General Libraries staff conduct a WWW workshop in FAC 227. Organized by David Cook. See participants' comments.

March 25 - Richard Mendez begins a What's New page for the UT Austin server.

March 25 - The Computer Science Department announces its Web server.

March 22 - The Graduate School of Library and Information Science announces its Web. The announcement appears on NCSA's What's New page for March page, under 22 March.

March 21 - Marg Knox and Clair Goldsmith decide to have Web browsers on all Academic Computing UNIX and VMS systems start up at Richard's version of the UT Austin home page.

March 14 - Jack Lund inquires about the system security impact of allowing personal publishing.

March 3 - Todd Peters announces that the Libraries' Internet Handouts are available.

February 16 - James Garven announces RISKWeb. The announcement appears on NCSA's What's New page for February page, under 29 February.

January 29 - The UT Dallas announces its Web. The announcement appears on NCSA's What's New page for January page, under 29 January.

January 27 - Jean Hamrick of General Libraries announces that Mark McFarland will begin working with Richard Mendez on the UT Austin home page.

January 21 - Mark McFarland and others join the www-adm list. See list of all who joined today.

January 20 - Richard Mendez invites all members of the gopher-adm mailing list to join the www-adm list. Here is the text of the invitation.

January 3 - Richard McMinn announces GSB Web prototype.

January - Richard Mendez begins contributing to Chris Johnson's prototype. They share maintenance on the prototype, which is beginning to emerge as the UT Austin home page. Over the next couple of months, Richard's participation greatly increases while Chris' diminishes.

1993

December 17 - Mic Kaczmarczik creates a www-adm mailing list with himself and Richard Mendez on it.

December 14 - Mark Brice calls for a meeting between himself, Chris Johnson, Mic Kaczmarczik, and Richard Mendez to discuss coordinating Mark's and Chris' efforts regarding their prototypes of the UT Austin home page. This meeting never happens.

Unknown date - Trent Gayle begins work on a prototype of a UT Austin home page.

December 8 - Mark Brice announces his prototype of a UT Austin home page, which no longer exists.

December 6 - Chris Johnson takes the lead for the Documentation Group by creating an HTML version of Introduction to the Computation Center.

December 5 - The Applied Research Laboratories announces its Web. The announcement appears on NCSA's What's New page for December page, under 5 December.

November 25 - Jay Ashcraft creates the first Web version of the Daily Texan. Jay also begins work on the first College of Fine Arts Web.

November 15 - The Texas Department of Information Resources announces its Web. The announcement appears on NCSA's What's New page for November page, under 15 November.

October - According to the W3C History page, there are 200 known Web servers worldwide.

September 30 - Chris Johnson begins work on a prototype of a UT Austin home page.

June 18 - Jonathan Abbey installs XMosaic 1.1 on the ARL system and modifies the source so that XMosaic starts up connecting to the ARL Web.

June 9 - Jonathan Abbey installs NCSA HTTP server software, httpd 0.4 prerelease 1, on the Applied Research Laboratories system.

June 7 - Mic Kaczmarczik installs Plexus HTTP server software on Bongo, an Academic Computing UNIX system. Thus, ACITS becomes the first unit on record at UT Austin to install Web server software. With this installation, and the one 2 days later by Jonathan Abbey, this University is at the forefront of Web development worldwide. In June 1993, there are only about 125 Web servers worldwide. Two of those are on this campus.

May 19 - Mic Kaczmarczik installs the NCSA Xmosaic browser on an Academic Computing UNIX system.

January - According to the W3C History page, there are 50 known Web servers worldwide.

1992

November - There are 26 Web servers worldwide.

October 21 - Michael "Mic" Kaczmarczik installs a WWW line-mode browser on Academic Computing UNIX systems. One comment in the system modification report reads, "This is a test to see if WWW is something we want to use."

Fall - General Libraries teaches first class with a Web component.