CANADA ONLINE
THE EARLY WEB
1993–1994

APR 1993
• Mosaic browser released
The first popular graphical web browser.
DEC 1993
• University of Toronto, Waterloo, UBC, SFU, McGill online with early Web servers.
• Internex Online, Hookup Communications, UUNET Canada appear in Mosaic indexes.
• ANIMA – Online in preparation.
Canada's Web becomes publicly visible.
JAN 1994
• ANIMA – Online launches (Arts Network for Integrated Media).
Vancouver-based platform connecting artists, technologists, and cultural institutions through networked media art. Aspired to create a distributed arts infrastructure for the digital age—one of the earliest media-art Web platforms globally.
FEB 1994
• Webweavers (Vancouver) begins hosting Web experiments.
• CISR (Centre for Image and Sound Research) at SFU and Western Front explore Web distribution.
CISR, Webweavers, and ANIMA collaborate as distinct organizations. Vancouver emerges as Canada's cultural Web hub (briefly).
MAR 1994
• Cultural prototypes from Webweavers + Western Front appear online.
• University pages expand; early student and research pages proliferate.
Web content diversifies.
APR 1994
• Western Front publishes first online electronic-media documentation.
• Vancouver Free-Net begins basic HTML gateway.
• InterAccess (Toronto) active as digital-art centre; Web presence begins later.
Canada shifts from infrastructure Web → content Web.
MID-1994
• CBC establishes web presence.
• NFB (National Film Board) launches online platform.
Major Canadian cultural institutions embrace the Web.