Ivan Pope (born 1961) is a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
technologist, involved in a number of early
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
developments in the UK and across the world, including coining the term ''
cybercafe'' at London's
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...
. He was a founder of two of the first internet magazines, The World Wide Web Newsletter, and later
.net magazine in the UK. In 1994 he founded Webmedia to professionalise the process of web site design and build. In 1995 he was involved with the creation of the
domain name management company
NetNames
NetNames was a British company that provided online brand protection, as well as domain name management and acquisition services. It was the first specialist domain name registration company. Founded in 1997, it ceased trading under its original ...
. Pope is now a writer and a noted proponent of the
dérive
The ''dérive'' (, "drift") is a revolutionary strategy originally put forward in the "Theory of the Dérive" (1956) by Guy Debord, a member at the time of the Letterist International. Debord defines the ''dérive'' as "a mode of experimental ...
.
Biography
Pope was born in 1961, the son of Patricia Pirard, a French national, and
Marius Pope, a south-African born journalist of Lithuanian Jewish descent. His younger brother is the photographer
Pat Pope.
Work
3W and internet magazines
After graduating from
Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...
with a BA degree in Fine Art in 1990, Pope worked as an artist with Loophole Cinema for five years. The World Wide Web Newsletter (later ''3W'' magazine) was created by Pope at
Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...
Computer Centre early in 1993. The magazine was conceived as a general information source to promote
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
use. The name was taken from the
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
project of
Tim Berners-Lee
Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He is a Professorial Fellow of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a profess ...
and the first issue was published in late 1993, reporting at the time: "there are under 100 web servers in the world".
''3W'' opened up many opportunities and Pope left Goldsmiths College to concentrate on
web development
Web development is the work involved in developing a website for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network). Web development can range from developing a simple single static page of plain text to complex web applications ...
work. Pope attended the first London Internet World exhibition in 1994 as an exhibitor with ''3W'' magazine. He was hired by ''
Time Out
Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to:
Time
* Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team
* Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken
* Timeout (computing), an enginee ...
'' magazine in London to consult on their early web development.
During 1994 Pope was asked by
Future Publishing
Future plc is an international multimedia company established in the United Kingdom in 1985. The company has over 220 brands that span magazines, newsletters, websites, and events in fields such as video games, technology, films, music, photogr ...
to join the team working on the first consumer internet magazine,
.net. He worked from the Bath offices of Future Publishing on the first issues as Assistant Editor and also wrote extensively for the magazine during the first year of its existence.
''Cybercafe''
Pope was asked to curate an internet component for an arts symposium held at the
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...
in London in March 1994. Inspired by reports of a cafe with bulletin board access in the US, he coined the term ''
cybercafe'' for a weekend in the ICA theatre as part of an event called "Towards the Aesthetics of the Future", Placing internet access
Apple Mac
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
s on the cafe style tables, Pope created an
internet cafe
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
concept.
Pope and
internet artist Heath Bunting
Heath Bunting (born 1966) is a British contemporary artist. Based in Bristol, he is a co-founder of the website ''irational.org'', and was one of the early practitioners in the 1990s of Net.art. Bunting's work is based on creating open and demo ...
planned to open London's first
cybercafe in 1994, although were beaten to it by
Cyberia.
With
Steve Bowbrick
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
Notable people with the name include:
steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
* Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people
* Steve ...
, Pope founded ''Webmedia'', an early web development company whose first offices were in the basement of Cyberia. The aim of Webmedia was to professionalise the design and build of web sites, a process that did not exist at that time. Webmedia grew fast over the next two years, gaining early web accounts from the likes of Lloyds Bank and Lufthansa.
Netnames and Nominet
While managing this fast growing company and working with the nascent web industry, Pope stumbled across domain name registration and founded
NetNames
NetNames was a British company that provided online brand protection, as well as domain name management and acquisition services. It was the first specialist domain name registration company. Founded in 1997, it ceased trading under its original ...
in 1995 to handle global name registrations for companies and individuals. In 1996 Pope objected to the uncontrolled way in which
Nominet
Nominet UK is currently delegated by IANA to be the manager of the .uk domain name. Nominet directly manages registrations directly under .uk, and some of the second level domains .co.uk, .org.uk, .sch.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, .ltd.uk and .plc.uk.
...
began registering UK domain names for an annual fee.
At the time there were no specialist domain name companies and NetNames quickly gained a reputation for specialist knowledge in what became an explosive space.
In 1997 Pope separated NetNames from Webmedia, and in 2000 Pope sold NetNames to Netbenefit NBT, then a LSE listed UK company. He joined the board of Netbenefit and was briefly chair, before leaving in 2001.
By the end of the nineties Pope had been instrumental in the formation of a UK namespace organisation,
Nominet UK
Nominet UK is currently delegated by IANA to be the manager of the .uk domain name. Nominet directly manages registrations directly under .uk, and some of the second level domains .co.uk, .org.uk, .sch.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, .ltd.uk and .plc.uk. ...
, a non-profit that still manages the .uk
namespace
In computing, a namespace is a set of signs (''names'') that are used to identify and refer to objects of various kinds. A namespace ensures that all of a given set of objects have unique names so that they can be easily identified.
Namespaces ...
.
Start-ups
In 2006 Pope founded a widget management company, ''Snipperoo''. He was a blogger and authority on the subject of
web widgets
A web widget is a web page or web application that is embedded as an element of a host web page but which is substantially independent of the host page, having limited or no interaction with the host. A web widget commonly provides users of the ...
. He has spoken at ''WidgetsLive!'' and ''Widgetcon''. On 6 December 2007 he created Europe's first conference in digital Brighton dedicated to web widgets, ''Widgetygoodness''.
He was the founder of Fabrivan, Thingmakers and Shapie Me.
Bibliography
* ''Internet UK''. Prentice Hall, 1995.
* ''The First Days of the Internet''. Self-published. 2021.
See also
*
Computer Underground Digest
*
Internet in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has been involved with the Internet throughout its origins and development. The telecommunications infrastructure in the United Kingdom provides Internet access to businesses and home users in various forms, including fibr ...
References
External links
Archived Blogat
Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Ivan
Date of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Internet pioneers
British technology company founders
British technology writers
British people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
1961 births