Brief History


  • The Infoling mailing list was launched in May 1996 by Carlos Subirats, with the help of co-moderator Mar Cruz.
  • On its first day, Infoling had only three subscribers -- and two of them were Subirats and Cruz. By its tenth day, Infoling had 110 subscribers, and it has since grown to having more than 5,700 subscribers. These subscribers reside in over 50 different countries.
  • For its first year and a half, Infoling was stored on a server at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain. In February 1998, it was moved to the RedIRIS listserver in Madrid, Spain, and a web interface was added to the list archive. Since August 1999, the Infoling archive has also been mirrored at the LINGUIST List website based in the U.S.
  • In 2003, Infoling received a general grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (DIF2003-10302-E).
  • In 2009, three new members joined the Infoling crew: editors Paloma Garrido (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid) and Laura Romero (Universitat de Barcelona) and software developer Marc Ortega (Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona). With help from publishers Octaedro and Arco/Libros, Infoling acquired a new server, and the founders were able to realize their dream of developing a full website with a new submission system and a user-friendly advanced search function.
  • In 2010, Infoling added a Reviews section and the editorial team expanded to include review editors Alexandra Álvarez (Universidad de Los Andes, Venezuela), Yvette Bürki (Universität Bern, Switzerland), and María Luisa Calero (Universidad de Córdoba, Spain).
  • In 2011, Infoling received a grant from Fundación Comillas for outreach and to implement some new website technology.
  • The Infoling editors are currently working to:
    • Further improve access to the database and increase the distribution of Infoling and
    • Explore new technologies and potential new ways to disseminate information on Spanish linguistics.
  • For more on the history of Infoling, check out our tenth-anniversary posting by Editor-in-Chief Carlos Subirats, "Breve historia informal de Infoling desde 1996 hasta 2006: Una crónica personal de los avatares de la lista durante la última década."