ICANN Meeting in Seoul, Korea
Introduction to 36th ICANN
In October 2009, NetMission participated in the ICANN meeting in Seoul, Korea. These meetings are held annually to conduct policy development and outreach. Various public forums and workshops were held by the stakeholders of the ICANN model, such as the Civil society, the At-Large Summit of individual Internet user representatives, Governments, Registries and the technical community. This year, the meeting was hosted in collaboration with Korea Information Security Agency (KISA).
Participants came from 111 different countries, and together engaged in a wide range of discussions about the Internet’s domain name system and related issues, such as International Domain Names (IDNs), New generic TLDs, and Trademark Protection, just to name a few. The ICANN meeting greatly increased our knowledge about issues in the Digital World. One early morning, ICANN even arranged a morning session to introduce us to some of the related topics, to help us better prepare for the discussions.
Highlight of the trip
The most memorable event for us was the NETmission presentation during the APRALO meeting. We introduced the NetMission Ambassadors' programme to other participants, conveyed our mission, background, and introduced the events and projects we have implemented to minimize the digital divide in Hong Kong. The participants were very interested in our work and many even shared their experience and insights with us after the presentation. At that moment, I realized that our work not only benefited people in Hong Kong, but also helped spread the message to the rest of the world! After the meeting, we were invited to join the membership of At Large Structure (ALS). What a pleasant surprise!
Reflections/ Feelings
We found it quite interesting that some ideas, such as multilingual domain names, have been discussed for more than ten years! However, with the aid of technology and people's joint effort and collaboration, ideas can indeed come true. For example, people can now use Chinese characters as a domain name to access different websites in the world. Although the difference may not be as widespread in international cities like Hong Kong, we realized what an impact it will bring to the Greater China, where many may not understand English well. This possibility allows many who were previously limited by the language barrier to significantly increase their Internet access, and this certainly plays an important role in narrowing the digital divide.
ICANN . 韓國首爾ICANN 簡介
在去年十月，一行四位連同DotAsia代表一同參與於韓國首爾進行的ICANN會議。互聯網名稱與數字地址分配機構(ICANN)是一個國際性的會議，一個集合了全球網絡界商業、技術及學術各領域專家的國際公開會議。會議討論了多個議題，包括：負責討論互聯網協議 (IP) 地址的空間 分配、協議、通用域名、國家和地區域名系統的管理、服務器系統的管理等重要議題 。不同的持份者如：商業利益者、網絡服務供應商、政府代表技術團體，通過會議、工作坊、公開論壇進行討論。
行程點滴
參加者未必對每個議題有足夠的認識，特別是我們第一次踏足ICANN會議的新人。因此，大會特意安排特別的「早餐會」介紹相關的基本資料，籍此使我們每天都做好準備。
這次讓我印象最深刻的就是我們在APRALO的會議上向大家介紹NetMission。簡介會綜合了一年來的經歷：從挑選、面試到終於成為「网域使命青年使者」(NetMission Ambassador)； 由訓練到策劃四個服務項目；到我們有機會參加不同國際會議等，我們都一一介紹給與會者。看著與會者留心地傾聽我們一年多以來的成果，並且滿意地點頭，感到 非常鼓舞。原來我們可以做的，不只是惠及香港而已，我們能夠把訊息也帶到世界各地，喚起大家關注。簡介會結束后，許多人也過來跟我們分享他們國家的不同經 驗，而且我們更加有幸獲邀加入At Large Structure，這是我們萬萬也沒有想過的驚喜！
感想
雖然短短幾天，不但要努力參與緊密的行程，也需要適應時差。可是看到席間的與會者都雀躍地討論著不同的議題，把不同的想法化為行動，就覺得世界正悄悄地改變。原來不少會議中的議題已經討論了十年有多，經過大家多年來的努力，加上科技的進步，從前的不可能已經呈現在我們的眼前。其中一個例子，經過首爾ICANN 會議後，全中文域名已經可以正式在全球使用。對於我們來説，這可能是一件錦上添花的事情，可是對於那些不太熟悉英語的人來説，這個決定可是讓他們更容易接觸到網絡世界，打破語言障礙，進一步收窄數碼鴻溝。
