BW Communities

Net Goes Native

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[The Right to Information (RTI) Act of India, 2005 advises public authorities to provide as much information as possible to the public through various means of communication. It further mandates the use of the Internet as one such communication tool in making that information available and accessible. However, in India, the digital divide continues to be a challenge for citizens. With a population of more than a billion people1, the total number of users who access the Internet is roughly 100 million2, less than 10 per cent of its entire population.  As much as 72 per cent of the pages on the Internet are in English3. In India, nearly 77 per cent4 of the population constitutes of non-English speakers and users making the access of a predominantly English Internet non-intuitive and often difficult. Internationalized Domain Names or IDNs in Hindi are scheduled for launch in May 20125 that will enable organizations and individuals to register their website addresses in Hindi. IDNs in other Indian local languages will follow later. Internationalized Domain Names IDNs are domain names or Web addresses in local language. Historically, domain names have contained ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) characters e.g. domain names have used the English alphabet (a,b,c…z), numbers (0, 1…9) and the hyphen (-). While Web content written in various languages has been around for a long time, domain name addresses in local language scripts were launched two years ago. In October 2009, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) announced the launch of IDN country code top level domains (ccTLDs) that will be written entirely in the local language. भारत.भारत is an example of an IDN ccTLD in the Hindi language. The domain name is a critical way to locate resources on the Internet, and IDNs make the Internet more accessible for non-English speaking countries and local communities by allowing users to access the Internet in their local language. As of June 2011, 26 countries have received one or more IDNs6. India has passed its string evaluation phase7 and has entered the final phase of delegation approval by the ICANN board for the launch of new TLD .bharat in seven Indian languages - Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu and Gujarati. Why IDNs Are Important IDNs are important for many reasons. The most important is the growing number of Internet users around the world for whom it is difficult to recognize and use ASCII characters and reproduce them on keyboards or use software to enter website addresses in browsers. Over the past decade the Internet has internationalized its audience and provided a platform for services beyond those targeted for speakers of Latin-based languages. In the year 2000, the number of Internet users in Asia was at par with Europe and North America. Today, India has more than those two continents combined8. Here are some examples of how ccIDNs make navigating the Internet much easier. <ul> <li>If you read an online newspaper in Gujarati for example and there is a link</li> <li>to more information, then it can be a challenge to reproduce an ASCII Web address. Besides, it makes more sense to have a Gujarati based address for a site with Gujarati content.</li> <li>If you see a billboard advertisement that contains a link or email address, it is more useful if the website or email address is based on characters that you can reproduce. </li> <li>In cases where website addresses do not convey any meaning in particular, it may be even more important to use a script or alphabet that the target audience or intended users can recognize and be able to produce on a computer keyboard. </li> <li>IDNs have clear advantages in targeting local markets and non-English speaking Internet users, and for local promotions and advertisements. Success in Indian markets often requires brands to go regional in their promotions and advertisements. With IDNs, brands will be able to reach out to users in the language they may recognize and prefer.</li> </ul> IDNs Will Offer New Opportunities IDNs are expected to offer the entire Internet ecosystem – government/policy makers, registrars, businesses and consumers – new opportunities to explore, access and grow as the case may be. IDNs will significantly enhance the user experience. IDNs may make it possible for more people to access the Internet and do more things online with greater ease. With IDN ccTLDs, people all over the world will be able to type domain names in their own familiar languages. Businesses may be able to advertise their websites in local languages for effective targeting of users. By adding IDNs, domain name registrars will have the opportunity to expand registration services and potentially increase revenues with their existing infrastructure. As Internet usage grows with the use of IDNs, it holds the promise for great impact on social and economic development in India as it does worldwide. Verisign, a pioneer in domain name technology and registry services, is a leader in the propagation and adoption of IDNs. IDNs make it possible for millions of current and potential users to access the Internet entirely in their local languages. Sources 1 India's population in 2009 was 1.15 billion people as reported by World Bank, World Development Indicators, updated for April 27, 2011 2From a news report in the Economic Times, April 28, 2011 available at http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-04-28/news/29482828_1_facebook-users-social-networking-social-web 3 From the news report titled ‘EURid and UNESCO assess IDN uptake', posted on May 31, 2011, available onhttp://www.idnnews.com/?p=9920 4 (http://www.tesol-india.ac.in/EnglishTeachingIndustry/india-worlds-second-largest-english-speaking-country) 5 Available on the link http://blog.hamarahost.com/india-to-have-bharat-domain-names-in-hindi-by-may-2012/1939.html, posted on November 4, 2011 6 From the blog post by John Yunker titled ‘India one country many IDNs' posted on June 6th, 2011; available at http://www.globalbydesign.com/blog/2011/06/06/india-one-country-many-idns/ 7 From the blog post by John Yunker titled ‘IDN update: Korea and India join the party', posted on September 27th, 2010; available at http://www.globalbydesign.com/blog/2010/09/27/idn-update-korea-and-india-join-the-party/ 8According to the Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief (Volume 7, Issue 4, November 2010) (The author is Vice President APAC, Naming Services, VeriSign)