Welcome to the History of the Irish Internet!
This site is a companion effort to the techarchives website, except it is less well-researched, and is primarily a personal view of the development of the Internet in Ireland by your humble author, Niall Murphy. There is indeed room for a well-researched, unbiased and scholarly account of the events; this isn't it. Try techarchives for that.
You can find your way around in two main ways; the articles themselves, which you'll see below grouped under various headings, and the search function. There isn't a specific order: the articles are deliberately written to be a bit less chronological and a bit more subject-oriented, but if you read them as per the grouping below, that would be ideal.
I suggest you begin with reading the introduction, and then read on whatever subject area takes your fancy. If you come across obvious errors or missing pieces of content, let me know. However you read this, though, I certainly hope you enjoy it. Comments and questions welcome.
DISCLAIMER: the opinions expressed herein are my own, research was in fact carried out, and that the quoted interviews and extracts reflect the opinions of others. Lawyers have reviewed the publication and any errors or omissions are of course my own.
Articles
The Dialup ISPs
Before there were mobile operators, before there was eir, before there was ComReg, there were the Dialup Internet Service Providers, which is how most of us got our email fix. (Web? What's that?)The Internet Societies
The story of the rise (and fall, and recovery) of the Internet Societies of Ireland's colleges.
The Internet Societies (2277 words)
While other people were having a good time, I was having a very different good time.
Netsoc Rise and Fall (1670 words)
All good things must come to an end. Thankfully, so must the bad things.Naming Things
The peculiarities of the domain naming business, the difficulty history of the IE Domain Registry, and the redemption wrought by the Iron Curtin.Government and Governance
Oh what a tangled Web we weave, when first we practice to Govern ourselves. Or, be governed, without much choice about it.
Government, Academia, and the Internet (6110 words)
The Internet -- can't live with it. Pass the beer nuts.
INEX: co-operation South (7130 words)
INEX -- how it came to be, how it thrives. Small is beautiful, and not so small any more.Disordered Packets
Articles not fitting well under any other grouping.