New Media Timeline (1986)

By: David Shedden

December 16, 2004

Previous: 1985 / Next: 1987
Intro and links to the other years in the timeline

TECHNOLOGY

Jan. 1986 — The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, opens. (In 1993, the center will release Mosaic, the first graphical Web browser.)
March 13, 1986 — Microsoft Corporation’s initial public stock offering.
A commercial mailing list program called LISTSERV is developed by Eric Thomas for BITNET.
The Internet Engineering Task Force is formed. IETF is an international technical organization concerned with the evolution of the Internet.

THE MEDIA

March 1986 — The Knight Ridder Company ends its Viewtron videotex project. (See also: “Before the Web, There Was Viewtron” and “Viewtron Remembered Roundtable.” By Howard Finberg, Poynter Online, Oct. 2003.)
The Times Mirror company ends its Gateway videotex project.
“Videotex Players Seek a Workable Formula.” New York Times, March 25, 1986.
July 16, 1986 — The first Free-net is launched in Cleveland, Ohio, at Case Western Reserve University.
The Hamilton (Ontario) Spectatorlaunches a BBS new media site during 1986.

News Example:
Jan. 28, 1986 — Challenger Space Shuttle Explosion,
New York Times.
(Story available from
database vendor services.)

Previous: 1985 / Next: 1987

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David Shedden