Re: Comments on Karp draft

[Cary Karp <ck@nrm.se>]

>> It is argued that the heritage sectors function as
>> significant providers of network content. Any potential
>> that a modification of

> Can you base that statement on any facts?  Number of web
> pages in your sector vs. the total number of web pages
> worldwide?  Number of web servers in your sector vs number
> of web servers in other sectors like sex, computer sales,
> cd sales, book sales, etc.?

I'm not sure that I understand this question. I can supply
evidence to support the assertion that numerous EU and other
international programs have expressed significant interest in the
heritage community as a content provider. I cannot provide
absolute data that compares the scope of this interest to that
shown towards other content providers. What kind of content do
sales sectors contribute?  Take a look at listings of EU programs
and projects if you are uncertain about the their interests.
(I'll gladly provide a review if anyone would like.)

I would not for a moment suggest that The International
Association of Pizza Oven Manufacturers could not make a credible
case for the setting up of a dedicated .pizza TLD. What I am
suggesting is that the cultural sector figures far more
prominently in the dialog between service and content providers
in the internatialization arena.

> Can you explain how frick.museum would be more memorable
> than frick.museum.org?

Nope - if museum.org were at our disposal. As I stated 
earlier, the museum community does have a number of 2LD 
options in case a new TLD is not going to be created. Our 
concern is that *if* a museum TLD domain is to be set up, we 
would like it to be administered by an authority within the 
museum community rather than by a purely commercial agency.

> Suppose there was .museu - what would your organization
> become? nrm.se.museu?  swed-nrm.museu?  Why didn't you
> request museum.se and then register nrm.museum.se and then
> organize all other museums in Sweden to register under
> museum.se thereby making a very memorable name, as well as
> identifying the nation where the museum is located?
> Since almost every country has a museum of natural history,
> a country identifier will have to be included.

The rules for registration within .se specifically prohibit a
construct such as museum.se. "MUSEUM" designates a sector not an
organization and, as such, is not a 2LD candidate. The rules in
other 2-letter TLDs prohibit an organization from operating a
2LD, at all. If it were possible to implement a museum.xx in each
2-letter domain, that might be just fine. Problem is, there is no
way that any central museum authority could even vaguely
influence the operation of all such museum 2LDs. If the construct
were inverted to give an xx.musea, control would be easy, as
would the country ID. 

It is not certain that any museum would need to be put on the 3LD
in such a scheme. Although acronyms would be in too short supply
to put every institution in its own 2LD, there is usually a
well-known unambiguous vernacular designation for every museum. 
In the case of the Swedish Museum of Natural History nrm.musea
would probably not be adequate. Using riksmuseet.musea would,
however, not likely be the source of contention. Admittedly, this
is a problem of significant scope, but even an inverted
institution.country.sector scheme is not without advantage when
compared to the current each-national-TLD-has-its-own-rules way
in which the global community is currently being treated.


Cary Karp               Department of Information Technology
mailto:ck@nrm.se        Swedish Museum of Natural History
http://ck.nrm.se/       Svante Arrheniusv. 3
Phone: +46 8 666 4055   Box 50007
Fax:   +46 8 666 4235   104 05 Stockholm, Sweden