John Demco, Canadian Internet pioneer, to receive honorary alumnus award

John Demco, the "godfather" of the Canadian Internet, will receive a UBC honorary alumnus award this November for his volunteerism and foresight in conceiving the dot-ca domain.

Twenty-seven years ago, Demco, then a Computing Facilities manager in UBC's Department of Computer Science, established the dot-ca domain name. Working with a team of fellow volunteers, and using UBC facilities and equipment, he oversaw and granted domain name requests by hand.

By 2000, more than 100,000 dot-ca domain names had been registered by Demco’s team. That same year Demco transferred over responsibility of the domain to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, a not-for-profit corporation he helped establish in 1998. Nowadays, there are over 2 million dot-ca domain names registered.

In 2013, Demco was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. The Demco Student Learning Centre in the Department of Computer Science is named after him.

The alumni UBC Achievement Awards will take place November 19, 2014. More information about this event can be found at: http://www.alumni.ubc.ca/events/awards/