First, let me say that BeyondBooks was an informative and inspiring event. Not being involved in the library or journalism ”businesses” it was a steep learning curve. I have given thought to the possibilities raised many times since.

Recently a thought entered my mind and I decided to offer it here for a reality check.

Just a bit of background. I run a not-for-profit focused on educating New Yorkers on the use of the .nyc TLD – like .com and .org but just for New York. We view .nyc as digital infrastructure that offers potential for a wide variety of civic and economic development roles, if imagined as a public interest resource. Alternately it could just be a name-sales mechanism like the .com TLD, i.e., the more names sold the more revenue realized.

So what is going to happen is that sometime in 2013 the city’s Internet community (still requiring some definition) will have access to an entire set of domain names. And, if the public interest development is followed, names will be allocated to neighborhoods, e.g., GreenwichVillage.nyc, our small businesses, as portals (hotels.nyc, pizza.nyc), to civic organizations, for public spaces and objects – streets, bridges, transit stations, buildings, fire hydrants, light posts, and more.

One of the challenges is figuring out how to identify public interest names and distribute them equitably and with efficiency.

Further, how to make the .nyc TLD a sustainable resource. That is, how do we make sure there are good domain names for our children and theirs? (Some will say that domain names are old hat, that they will soon be replaced by something new – and indeed that might be true. But their replacement is not on the horizon and prudence demands that we create it with a thought for the future.)

So my thought was about a role for libraries in the distribution of domain names. For example, here in New York City, might libraries play a role in identifying local organizations and projects that will benefit from good domain names? (Good domain names are short, descriptive and memorable.) Can they identify and oversee the development of polices on the reuse of names of the save-our-tree.nyc sort?

Beyond the naming role, there is surely an extension of its traditional Internet access and training roles that relate to locating domain names and their websites. Also, governance of the TLD is still in question – perhaps there is a way to engage residents in civic conversations and processes guiding the many questions of appropriate names, or maybe that should be inappropriate ones.

More background. Global cities like New York will make use of TLDs beginning as early as 2013. The application filing fee for a city-TLD will be $185,000 in 2012. So few will be apply when the opportunity first arises to apply for a city-TLD in early 2012. (I would estimate 20 globally.) But as their utility are proven, and as the TLD application fees are lowered over the next decade, many cities might find TLDs useful.

Is there a role for libraries in domain name identification? Distribution? Training? Recycling?

Best,

Tom Lowenhaupt

———————————————– 
Thomas Lowenhaupt, Founder & Chair
Connecting.nyc Inc.

toml@communisphere.com
Jackson Hts., NYC 11372
718 639 4222

web – http://connectingnyc.org
wiki – http://bit.ly/OurWiki
blog – http://bit./y/OurBlog

Much of my comment below is apparently obscured by the vimeo graphic. (Don’t worry, you can live without reading it. But find the David Lankes vimeo and learn a lot.)

– my determination to explore the opportunities and challenges created by the various dissolving borders grows daily.

Really looking forward to next Wednesday.