Hello, everyone. Please join us for the ICANN-APRALO workhop at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) on 23 October 2013. *IGF Workshop #32 - **Next in IDNs: Linguistic Diversity in the Internet Root* Date: 23 October 2013 (Wednesday) Time: 14:30 - 16:00 local time (UTC 0630 - 0800) Room: Room #1, Nusa Dua Hall 2, Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC) *Workshop Title* Next in IDNs: Linguistic Diversity in the Internet Root *Workshop Theme* The Internet as Engine of Growth and Development *Workshop Organizers* APRALO – Asia Pacific Australasia Regional At-Large Organization ICANN – Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers *Workshop Description* The introduction of IDN variants in the root zone serves to enhance the Internet’s multilingualism and cultural diversity at the level of Top Level Domains (TLDs). The ICANN community has studied the viability of this introduction and has developed a process that will make it a reality. This process has implications for language communities. Language communities that share a script (e.g., Chinese, Japanese and Korean, which share the Han script) must agree on rules related to variant script characters in order to proceed. Furthermore, while allowing language communities to self-mobilize and proceed at their own pace, there are advantages to being an early participant or first mover. This process of allocating Variant TLDs in the Internet root* *requires language communities to collaborate and will require effective facilitation. This joint APRALO-ICANN workshop will provide an overview of the ICANN process, discuss the issues implicating language communities and outline the way forward. *Key Discussion Questions* *Process* – What is the process and what are the structural constraints of the process? How was the multistakeholder model deployed in the development of the process and how will it evolve in moving forward? How will language and technical communities be engaged? *Variants *– What are the key variant issues for scripts such as Arabic, Han, Indic, Latin and Cyrillic that have a large community of users worldwide and whose script is shared across different language communities and across national borders? What variant issues can realistically be addressed within the structural constraints of the process? *Community* - How can the readiness of language communities for IDN Variant TLDs be supported? How can the disadvantage to late entrants be minimized? What models of engagement can be used to support the collaboration of language communities that transcend national borders? What best practice models of dispute resolution can be deployed to address disputes among language communities that span the globe? * * *Workshop Role-Players* *A. Moderators* · On-Site Moderator – *Rinalia Abdul Rahim* (Executive Committee Member, ICANN At-Large Advisory Committee; APRALO Representative & Executive Council Member, ISOC Malaysia Chapter) · Remote Moderator – *Maureen Hilyard* (APRALO Representative, Cook Islands & Board Chair, Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society) * * *B. Panel of Technical Experts* · *Ram Mohan* (Chair, ICANN Board IDN Variants Working Group & Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Afilias Limited) · *Andrew Sullivan *(Principal Architect, Dyn, USA) · *Sarmad Hussain* (Professor of Computer Science and Head of the Center of Language Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan) · *Akshat Joshi* (Project Engineer, GIST Group, Center for Development of Advanced Computing, India) · *Edmon Chung* (CEO, dotAsia & Vice-Chair, Internet Society Hong Kong) * * C. *Panel of Internet End User Representatives * · *Mohamed El Bashir* (Manager, Technical Affairs Department, ictQATAR, Qatar) · *Hong Xue* (Professor of Law and Director of the Institute for Internet Policy & Law, Beijing Normal University, China) · *Satish Babu* (Director of the International Centre for Free and Open Source Software, India) * * *Workshop Agenda* 1. Moderator’s welcome and introduction (5 min) 2. Overview of the ICANN Process for Developing Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone by Ram Mohan and Andrew Sullivan (15 min) 3. Responses from Panel of Internet End User Representatives - Mohamed El Bashir (4 min) - Hong Xue (4 min) - Satish Babu (4 min) 4. Responses and Views from Panel of Technical Experts - Sarmad Hussain - Arabic Script (8 min) - Akshat Joshi - Indic Script/Devanagari (8 min) - Edmon Chung - Han Script (8 min) 5. Discussion involving panelists and participants (30 min) 6. Wrap up *Workshop Organizers * *Rinalia Abdul Rahim*, Managing Director, Compass Rose Sdn Bhd ( rinalia@compassrose.my) * * *Baher Esmat*, Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement – Middle East, ICANN ( baher.esmat@icann.org)