Portals
Back in 1995, when our first Web resources were launched, searching the Web required considerable skill... and there wasn't so much to find. Sites which gathered together resources and links on a given theme or subject in one place were very useful. We produced a couple for BT's educational product, CampusWorld, covering Music and Religious Education (RE).
Martin doing his stuff. The others on the platform are the religious broadcaster Roger Royle, and the Provost of the Cathedral.
We had a launch event for the RE one in Coventry Cathedral. Getting online was a bit harder in those days. If you were out and about, the best (and usually the only) option was to connect a modem to a phone line. We ordered an exhibition line from BT, but getting it into the nave wasn't entirely straightforward, despite the fact that the whole place had permanent cabling for BBC outside broadcasts. When Martin got there, he found no fewer than five BT vans outside, with the crews all trying to get the line installed and working! They managed it, just in time, and he was able to connect and demonstrate the site. Looking back, it was probably the first time the Web had been accessed from inside a UK cathedral...