[APAC-Discuss] Fwd: [ALAC-Announce] ICANN News Alert -- Sri Lankan Community Preparing for a Multilingual Internet Using Local Scripts

Thu Dec 14 10:59:27 UTC 2017

Excellent developments for IDN and UA in Sri Lanka. Well done!

".*..ICANN is currently calling for volunteers to form Generation Panels
for these four scripts: Hebrew, Myanmar, Tibetan and Thaana*"

Do we have APRALO ALS personnel who can volunteer or help with seeking out
volunteers for these scripts? Would be a great way to get involved with
ICANN's IDN and UA efforts.

Justine
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ICANN At-Large Staff <staff at atlarge.icann.org>
Date: 14 December 2017 at 18:40
Subject: [ALAC-Announce] ICANN News Alert -- Sri Lankan Community Preparing
for a Multilingual Internet Using Local Scripts
To: ALAC Announce <alac-announce at atlarge-lists.icann.org>

[image: CANN][icann.org]
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.icann.org_&d=DwMFaQ&c=FmY1u3PJp6wrcrwll3mSVzgfkbPSS6sJms7xcl4I5cM&r=mrDeztziKLa7gZqGADzxcnHA3QXmXYsnChWYBR4NElI&m=pfghS28RF6Oh1W5keFZLfp2f5NjVcA0JcFR0CCkQ20g&s=HWNrbOf7O0w8numQO5GxICPNWn4jbBMHjel8r-i12Us&e=>
News Alert

https://www.icann.org/resources/press-material/
release-2-2017-12-12-en[icann.org]
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.icann.org_resources_press-2Dmaterial_release-2D2-2D2017-2D12-2D12-2Den&d=DwMFaQ&c=FmY1u3PJp6wrcrwll3mSVzgfkbPSS6sJms7xcl4I5cM&r=mrDeztziKLa7gZqGADzxcnHA3QXmXYsnChWYBR4NElI&m=pfghS28RF6Oh1W5keFZLfp2f5NjVcA0JcFR0CCkQ20g&s=QYWxKau_zH-hWqq6wQxBAe5Inp1LfBF3od9R69LFTxY&e=>
------------------------------
Sri Lankan Community Preparing for a Multilingual Internet Using Local
Scripts

Work commences on enabling Sinhala and Tamil scripts for top-level domain
names

12 December 2017

*Colombo, Sri Lanka…* The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) and local experts in policy, technical and linguistic
fields convened in Colombo today to introduce the Internationalized Domain
Name (IDN) program and launch the Sinhala Generation Panel (GP). The launch
signifies an exciting future where the local community contributes towards
developing secure and stable access to the Internet in Sinhala.

The Asia Pacific region is linguistically diverse. Of the 6,800 languages
in the world, about half of them or 3,500 are spoken in APAC. 21 of the top
30 most spoken languages in the world are used in the region. This
diversity adds challenges to the Internet domain name space.

"IDNs are domain names represented by letters or characters from different
scripts and writing systems. They offer the possibility of using the domain
names in languages across the globe, including Sinhala, Tamil, Thai,
Chinese, Hindi, and others. Thus, providing a truly multilingual Internet
with greater flexibility and opportunities for billions of users," said
Sarmad Hussain, ICANN's IDN Programs Director.

"The ability for Internet users to come online in their native languages
and scripts is a significant development for the Internet. As Sinhala is a
commonly used language in Sri Lanka, the work by the Sinhala GP will lay
the groundwork for allowing complete domain names in the Sinhalese
language," added Hussain.

The Sinhala GP comprises two Co-Chairs and a number of local community
representatives from the policy, linguistic fields, as well as members with
technical expertise in Sinhala language computing, Unicode and the
Internet's domain name system.

Harsha Wijayawardhana, Co-Chair of the Sinhala GP, said, "We are all
extremely excited about this new development. The Sinhala GP will work on
developing root zone label generation rules for the Sinhala script. There
will be significant technical work involved, such as developing the rules
for computers to understand how to form correct top-level domain names in
Sinhala script. Our efforts will help to form the basis for allowing
complete domain names in the Sinhala language."

Earlier this week, members of the Sinhala GP attended a workshop to discuss
the work plan and next steps. The Neo-Brahmi GP is also in Colombo this
week. They are developing label generation rules for nine Neo-Brahmi
scripts including Tamil, the other commonly used language in Sri Lanka.
When both the Sinhala and Neo-Brahmi GPs' work are completed, Sri Lankans
can look forward to accessing the Internet's domain name system using
domain names in their scripts and languages.

Work has been completed by the respective GPs for the Arabic, Armenian,
Cyrillic, Ethiopic, Georgian, Khmer, Lao and Thai scripts, and is underway
for many more, including Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Korean, and Latin
scripts.

ICANN is currently calling for volunteers to form GPs for these four
scripts: Hebrew, Myanmar, Tibetan and Thaana.

Enabling a Multilingual Internet – Additional Information

In addition to developing rules to form valid top-level domains (TLDs) in
the local script, many computing systems need to be upgraded as they do not
recognize or appropriately process new domain names, primarily because the
TLD or IDN may be more than three characters in length or in an alternate
format. The same is true for email addresses that incorporate these new
extensions.

The Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG), supported by ICANN, is a
community-led, Internet industry-wide initiative working on creating
awareness and identifying and resolving problems associated with the
universal acceptance of domain names. To learn more, or report an issue
with Universal Acceptance, please visit www.uasg.tech[uasg.tech]
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.uasg.tech&d=DwMFaQ&c=FmY1u3PJp6wrcrwll3mSVzgfkbPSS6sJms7xcl4I5cM&r=mrDeztziKLa7gZqGADzxcnHA3QXmXYsnChWYBR4NElI&m=pfghS28RF6Oh1W5keFZLfp2f5NjVcA0JcFR0CCkQ20g&s=rA-Ft5DmSOt07YTAqC8m97pz4osBD1ndRkZJ43Xld7Q&e=>
.

####

For more information on IDNs, please visit here[icann.org]
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.icann.org_resources_pages_idn-2D2012-2D02-2D25-2Den&d=DwMFaQ&c=FmY1u3PJp6wrcrwll3mSVzgfkbPSS6sJms7xcl4I5cM&r=mrDeztziKLa7gZqGADzxcnHA3QXmXYsnChWYBR4NElI&m=pfghS28RF6Oh1W5keFZLfp2f5NjVcA0JcFR0CCkQ20g&s=jbvIdPS3rrD0JLgI_3_p8QpvZWHRfSZAXQ-CFUypk-4&e=>
.
For more information on UA, please visit here[uasg.tech]
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.uasg.tech_&d=DwMFaQ&c=FmY1u3PJp6wrcrwll3mSVzgfkbPSS6sJms7xcl4I5cM&r=mrDeztziKLa7gZqGADzxcnHA3QXmXYsnChWYBR4NElI&m=pfghS28RF6Oh1W5keFZLfp2f5NjVcA0JcFR0CCkQ20g&s=yflrrQ2qrXE7D45jTnBqI3EKdJ28Wz_EZfw4cdnsvNM&e=>
.
Media Contacts ICANN

*Liana Teo*
Head of Communications, APAC
Tel: +65 6816 1259 <+65%206816%201259>
Mobile: +65 9796 5500 <+65%209796%205500>
Email: liana.teo at icann.org

*Fiona Aw*
Global Communications Coordinator
Tel: +65 6816 1264 <+65%206816%201264>
Mobile: +65 9113 6621 <+65%209113%206621>
Email: fiona.aw at icann.org
About ICANN

ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure and unified global
Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you have to type an
address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be
unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate
and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in
1998 as a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation and a community with
participants from all over the world.

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