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Twenty-five years of training and transformation at the UOC

To what extent is the history of the UOC parallel to the evolution of the internet? This guide, comprising a wide range of resources such as websites, timelines, videos, news items and e-books, takes you on a journey through the years of the internet and the UOC.

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Internet: from ones and zeros to the World Wide Web
The UOC's origins

Internet: from ones and zeros to the World Wide Web

A selection of resources about the birth of the internet, its development over time and its current status around the world.

Inside the Internet link opens in a new window

This documentary film takes a critical look back at the most important milestones in the history of the internet. It also features interviews with the inventor of the internet access system we all know as the World Wide Web, as well as information about hackers and the people there to ward them off.

Internet History link opens in a new window

Timeline showing key moments and figures in the development of the internet.

W3C - World Wide Web Consortium link opens in a new window

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the leading standards organization of the World Wide Web (WWW). The founder, Tim Berners-Lee, was the creator of the WWW and of the basic standards on which it is based: URL, HTTP and HTML.

Internet Live Stats link opens in a new window

Website displaying everything happening on the internet right now, allowing users to follow along in real time.

Our World in Data - Internet link opens in a new window

Online publication curated by the University of Oxford, with data on the internet's presence around the world.

Dossier on internet use around the world link opens in a new window

Statistics on internet access, use and browsing possibilities.

Internet Archive: Wayback machine link opens in a new window

Portal that provides a repository of websites that have been published during recent internet history. In many cases, you can consult sites that are no longer online or that have changes their versions. The role of the web is to preserve website and resources that have changed over time.

Editorial UOC's Historia viva de internet (The living history of the internet) link opens in a new window

Three Spanish-language books published by Editorial UOC containing the leading articles penned by the-editor-in-chief of the same-titled journal between 1996 and 2004.

Computer Hope link opens in a new window

Detailed listing of key events that have occurred during the evolution of computers, the internet and other technologies.

The UOC's origins

It is time to take a look back at the milestones that information and communication technologies reached while the UOC was growing as a university.

1994-1995

At a time when Google did not yet exist and in most homes using a landline and surfing the internet at the same time seemed like an impossible dream, the world's first online university was born: the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, or UOC for short. During these years:

Yahoo! and the online bookshop Cadabra.com (which would later become Amazon) appeared on the net (1994).
Before Google stormed in, users browsed the newborn web using NCSA Mosaic (1993), Netscape Navigator (1994), Lycos (1994) or InfoSeek (1994).
GeoCities began to host websites (1994).
Justin Hall, a student at the time, became the world's very first blogger (1994).
The first version of the Apache server was made public (1995).
Spain saw the launch of Movistar (1995) and its online mobile telephone service, GSM.

The UOC is born link opens in a new window

On 6 April 1995 the Parliament of Catalonia unanimously approved a law to officially recognize the UOC as a university.

Appointment of the UOC's first president

In a plenary session in May 1995, the Board of Trustees of the Fundació per a la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya named Gabriel Ferraté as president.

The UOC's inaugural ceremony link opens in a new window

The first official academic year kicked off in October 1995, with 206 students logging onto the Virtual Campus.

Annual Report 1995/1996 link opens in a new window

The UOC's academic activity began to buzz with degrees in Business Studies and Educational Psychology.

The UOC Library opens link opens in a new window

Article published in the UOC's institutional repository, O2, looking at how the Library came to be and the content of its holdings.

1995-2000

Internet-mediated auctions sprung up on eBay (1995).
Microsoft developed its internet browser, Internet Explorer (1995).
Hotmail became available (1995).
JavaScript arrived on the scene; the programming language was originally called LiveScript (1995).
There were now a million people surfing the internet (1998).
The first mobile telephone with internet capabilities hit the market (1997).
Google was born out of a garage in California (1998), followed by the first Doodle.
A new company that would start sending DVDs by post went into business under the name of Netflix (1998).

«Un bar en el ciberespacio» link opens in a new window

The Virtual Campus 2.0 made its debut. Students needed a modem to connect, which they did via the InfoVía network.

La Virtual arrives on the scene link opens in a new window

This consumption cooperative was set up in 1996 to offer the University community products and services of interest.

The Virtual Campus wins an award link opens in a new window

The aim of the European Union's Bangemann Challenge was to reward European projects for their outstanding use of communication technologies, and the UOC came out a winner.

The first UOC graduates link opens in a new window

Twenty-nine Educational Psychology students and nine Business Studies students celebrated their graduation in Manresa, Spain.

«Lecciones en el Campus Virtual» link opens in a new window

The UOC saw an upswing in student enrolment and added new programmes and courses to its catalogue. It also rolled out pilot tests for future programmes in the field of humanities.

EDIUOC appears

The UOC's publishing label was created to offer students educational materials and galvanize research activity on ICT.

Aula Oberta link opens in a new window

The Aula Oberta (Open Classroom) pilot project set off on a mission during the 1997/1998 academic year to take the UOC beyond university education.

Inauguration of the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) link opens in a new window

The research centre was founded to bring together research on new technologies and their impact on society.

Neix Digithum link opens in a new window

The scientific journal created by the then Faculty of Humanities and Language Studies published its very first issue in 1999.

The international doctoral programme kicks off link opens in a new window

The doctoral programme in the Information and Knowledge Society was offered for the first time in the year 2000.

2000-2005

We survived Y2K.
Millions of computers were infected with the first widespread virus, known as ILOVEYOU (2000).
The dot-com bubble burst (2000-2001).
The first USB flash drive hit the market with 8 megabytes of storage (2000).
We started to say farewell to printed encyclopaedias: Wikipedia was here to say (2001).
These years witnessed the launch of many important brands, such as the iTunes Store (2001), Safari (2003), Skype (2003), LinkedIn (2003), Second Life (2003), Gmail (2004), Flickr (2004) and Vimeo (2004).
Mark Zuckerberg brought Facebook into our lives (2004).
The arrival of YouTube meant we could start uploading and sharing videos! (2005).

The UOC is recognized for its digital initiative link opens in a new window

In 2000, the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) honoured the UOC with an ICT Excellence Award in the category of Digital Opportunity.

Juan Manuel Suárez gives his inaugural lecture link opens in a new window

Chairman of the Red Cross at the time, Suárez kicked off the 2002/2003 academic year with a speech about the potential of ICT.

Dr Josep Laporte is awarded the first doctor honoris causa by the Universitat Oberta link opens in a new window

The Catalan Government's former minister of Health, Education and Universities, and currently president of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Josep Laporte i Salas (born in Reus, 1922), became the first person to be made doctor honoris causa by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), in 2003.

IDP. Journal of Internet, Law and Politics publishes its first issue link opens in a new window

With the release of Issue 1 in 2005, the new UOC-published journal set out to cover the crossover between ICT, law and politics

Artnodes sees the light of day link opens in a new window

The UOC's new journal debuted in 2002 with a mission to explore the intersection between art, science and technology.

The LletrA platform launches link opens in a new window

The year 2001 saw the opening of the very first internet-based platform specialized in Catalan literature.

First programmes in Spanish link opens in a new window

Thanks to an alliance with Grupo Planeta, a Madrid-based media group, the UOC was able to offer its first programmes in Spanish.

Prize of Excellence link opens in a new window

The International Council for Open and Distance Education awarded the UOC with a Prize of Excellence in 2001.

Manuel Castells gives his inaugural lecture link opens in a new window

Castells kicked off the 2001/2002 academic year with a speech titled "Internet and freedom".

Reading of the first thesis by a UOC doctoral student link opens in a new window

In 2002, Joan Torrent i Sellens, professor at the UOC's Faculty of Economics and Business, became the first UOC doctoral student to defend his thesis, titled Innovació tecnològica, creixement econòmic i economia del coneixement: una aproximació empírica, agregada i internacional a la incorporació del coneixement a l'activitat productiva durant la dècada dels noranta (Technological innovation, economic growth and the knowledge economy: an empirical, aggregated and international approach to the incorporation of knowledge in production activity in the 1990s).

Creation of the UNESCO E-learning Chair link opens in a new window

The chair was set up in 2002 to foster research, information and documentation on the use of ICT in education.

2005-2010

Never before could so much been said in just 140 characters; Twitter was born (2006). Google Chrome was developed (2008).
Apple launched its first-generation iPhones (2007).
Dropbox was founded (2007).
New brands popped up, namely Airbnb (2008), Instagram (2010) and Pinterest (2010).
A new music, podcast and video streaming service hit the scene: Spotify (2008).
Text messages could now be sent through WhatsApp (2009).

ETHE steps onto the scene link opens in a new window

Originally called Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Conocimiento, or RUSC, this new journal had its sights set on anything and everything related to e-learning.

New president, Imma Tubella link opens in a new window

Gabriel Ferraté passed the torch onto the UOC's new president, Imma Tubella, in 2005.

Results of the Internet Catalunya project

The research programme had been set in motion to analyse our transition towards the information society.

The UOC joins the EUA link opens in a new window

During the 2007/2008 academic year, the UOC became a full member of the European University Association (EUA).

Alumni comes to be link opens in a new window

The new programme would carry on the work of the Graduates' Club, originally formed in 2001.

Creation of the eLearn Center link opens in a new window

The UOC established the first e-learning research and innovation centre in Spain.

The UOC's institutional repository, O2, opens its virtual doors link opens in a new window

The repository was created in 2010 as a place where UOC-produced materials could be deposited and made openly available to everyone.

A blast from the UOC's past link opens in a new window

Web page created to mark the University's 10th anniversary containing facts, figures and testimonies about the UOC 15 years ago.

2010-actualitat

Siri spoke her first words and Snapchat hit app stores (2011).
A new generation of mobile connectivity, 5G, was born (2018).
The first augmented reality glasses came out (2012).
TikTok took the app world by storm (2016).

Josep A. Planell is named president link opens in a new window

Planell took over for Imma Tubella in 2013.

Oikonomics sees its first release link opens in a new window

The first issue of this general interest journal about economics, business and society was published in 2014.

Strategic Plan 2014-2020 UOC link opens in a new window

The UOC Strategic Plan is the road map that accompanies the University's strategy and helps prioritize decision making. To reinforce the operating stage of the plan, each of the six action plans is led by a member of the Executive Management Committee.

Launch of Hubbik link opens in a new window

The platform was created in 2015 to foster entrepreneurship, open innovation and transfer support.

The UOC debuts a fresh corporate image link opens in a new window

The UOC's corporate image got a facelift in 2016.

UOC X is here link opens in a new window

In 2016, the UOC X brand replaced Ensenyament Obert i Educació Online, thus taking over responsibility for the University's online training offer.

Foundation of the eHealth Center link opens in a new window

The new centre was to specialize in health research, training and consultancy and would go on to partner with world leaders across the globe.

The UOC opens a new centre in Colombia link opens in a new window

Following the opening of its first international office in Mexico, the UOC set up a new centre in Bogotá, Colombia, in 2018.

La UOC, entre les 150 millors universitats joves del Times Higher Education link opens in a new window

Aquest rànquing classifica les universitats de menys de cinquanta anys i, per primera vegada, el 2019 inclou la UOC

The UOC pledges itself to the 2030 Agenda link opens in a new window

The UOC embraced the 2030 Agenda's Sustainable Development Goals and mapped out its strategy accordingly.

Librarians responsible for this library guide

Sandra Pérez
Operative subgroup: Communication and projects Operative group: Library Development

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Library guides

Twenty-five years of training and transformation at the UOC

Internet: from ones and zeros to the World Wide Web

Librarians responsible for this library guide

Sandra Pérez