Hi Jeff,

Thanks for taking the time to write this.  I may differ with you on whether or not memorability can be measured.  There are no doubt surveys that could be designed to measure this in relation to TLDs.  Having said that, I think I come down on the side of freedom of expression when it comes to new gTLD proliferation. 

 

The biggest problem I see with promoting that freedom of expression is the sheer cost of entry into the marketplace.   Is this going to get any cheaper?   And so, for example, is there any way to establish categories that are more easily operated?  What about family genealogy as a use?  My sister would dearly love to start .aikman for all related in the clan (Scottish origin).  How could that ever be affordable?

 

In other words, in terms of “haves” and “have nots” and freedom of expression, I think we should be asking ourselves some long term questions about the cost of owning and operating a gTLD for the many purposes you mention are possible.

 

Anne

 

 

 

 

 

Completely personal opinion here, but I think that comment from the RSSAC is a “red herring” meaning that it ignores the rationale for new TLDs.  The RSSAC is looking at the notion of domain names as only being for the original purposes in which they were intended:  Namely to create more memorable representations of network resources, because it was perceived to be too difficult to remember IP Addresses.

 

What it ignores is that the use of domain names, whether at the top or the second level, has evolved into being used for many other purposes than purely that for which it was originally designed. As stated by John Klensin in IETF RFC 3467 (2003),  

 

“The DNS was designed to identify network resources.  Although there was speculation about including, e.g., personal names and email addresses, it was not designed primarily to identify people, brands, etc.  At the same time, the system was designed with the flexibility to accommodate new data types and structures, both through the addition of new record types to the initial "INternet" class, and, potentially, through the introduction of new classes.”

 

Despite not being designed for these purposes, that is what has evolved.  Domains are now used to identify computers, machines, organizations, people, places and things.  Whether used for commercial or non-commercial purposes, they identify brands, people, geographic locations and things to their relevant user base.  That user base may be global, national, local or even familial.  A domain may be used for web traffic, machine-machine communication, e-mail or a host of other potential applications.  It is up to the owner of the domain name (Or TLD) to make its intended user base aware of its existence.  The significance of the domain is then ascertained and judged by the user base and not those outside of its intended user base. 

 

The RSSAC is asking an existential policy question of the GNSO community.  One that has no right or wrong answer and one which has no clearly ascertainable answer.  The answer to the question will differ to every person that attempts to answer it.   There is no way to measure the global significance or memorability of any particular namespace.  There is no purely scientific way to answer that question.  And even if there was, why would it be limited to “library and cognitive science.”  Why not look at it from an Anthropological, Economical, Educational, Historical, Linguistic, Philosophical, Political, Psychological, Sociological, Sustainability or other type of social science perspective?

 

My personal view is that regardless of the global significance or memorability of a namespace, that namespace may have significance or memorability to a small community, locality or even a family.  It may not even be used in the traditional sense and not intended to have any memorability by any persons or groups, but may only be significant to other machines.   One of the things discussed at Namescon last week was a venture that Donuts has invested in which is working on using a TLD Namespace for a Geographical mapping tool to map the entire world down to the centimeter.  If it does use the TLD namespace to do this, then there may or may not need to be any memorability of the namespace to any human so long as devices knew how to find the appropriate location.

 

Sorry for the long e-mail and I will get off my soapbox, but I am not a huge fan of spending any more time on that question given that in my opinion it misses the point and relevance of what domains (and TLDs) have become.  

 

 

 

I think the following point made by the RSSAC is very significant and certainly deserves further discussion.

 

• Using concepts from the disciplines of library and cognitive science, what number of TLDs results in their loss of memorability and significance?

 

 

Hard to balance this with freedom of expression goal, but it should be given more consideration.  In addition, the marketplace trend is toward apps – not more websites.

 

Anne

 

 

 

Just in from the RSSAC.  We will add the questions asked of us to the appropriate Work Tracks.  Although some of the, may naturally fit in Work Track 4, others may be overall questions to the Working Group.

 

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