Dear All, The announcement below of an upcoming Whois webinar, is being sent on behalf of Steve Sheng, ICANN Senior Technical Analyst. ** Webinar Surveys Whois Requirements, Past and Future What has the GNSO previously recommended that Whois should be able to do, and what other standards or capabilities will Whois need in the coming world of IDNs and new gTLDs? In May last year, the GNSO Council tasked Policy Staff (with the assistance of technical staff and Council members as required) to collect and organize a comprehensive set of requirements for the Whois service. GNSO Council asked that these requirements reflect known deficiencies in the current Whois service and also possible requirements that may be needed to support various policy initiatives that have been suggested. The Staff has complied with the Councils task, compiled an initial report, and now seeks consultative input from the ALAC, ccNSO, GAC and SSAC. One of the reports lead authors, Steve Sheng, ICANN Senior Technical Analyst, is offering a webinar to brief the community on the report and to respond to questions. The paper, entitled Inventory of Whois Requirements Initial Report, is available now from the ICANN site [PDF <http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/whois-service-requirements-initial-repor t-26mar10-en.pdf> , 668 KB]. Who should attend? Any community member interested in Whois policy work is welcome. Members of the ALAC, ccNSO, GAC, GNSO and SSAC are especially encouraged to participate. Date and Time: To accommodate the communitys diverse schedules, the hour-long webinar is offered twice: * Tuesday, 20 April 2010. 17:00 UTC (10:00 Marina del Rey, 13:00 Washington D.C, 19:00 Brussels) * Tuesday, 4 May 2010, 06:00 UTC (09:00 Riyadh, 11:00 Islamabad, 15:00 Seoul, 16:00 Sydney) Prepared content will be identical at both sessions. (Live audience questions may vary.) The webinar is offered in English. How to Register. To participate in the live event, specify which session youd like to attend in an email to the GNSO <mailto:gnso.secretariat@icann.org?subject=Whois%20Webinar%20Registration> Secretariat. Participation details will be emailed back to you. ** Regards, Heidi Ullrich, Matthias Langenegger, Seth Greene, Gisella Gruber-White, Marilyn Vernon, Kristina Nordström ICANN At-Large Staff email: staff[at]atlarge.icann.org website: www.atlarge.icann.org