24 November, 2010

At-Large & the new gTLD "Ambassador Program"


Found in the At-Large Work Team D minutes:

Heidi:  "I can tell you that Barbara [that's Barbara Ann Clay -- ICANN's Vice President for Communications and Marketing] is going to be asking At-Large for a favor.  So this could be a good time for At-Large to want something from the Communications Department.  They are going to ask you if At-Large could serve as ambassadors to new gTLDs by presenting on what ICANN is doing, emphasizing what is being done for new gTLDs.  And, in fact, for At-Large to do this with a variety of resources, including slideshows, videos, etc."

Hmmmm..... this should be interesting.... while details of this plan have been available for more than a year since the publication of the new gTLDs Draft Communications Plan, I don't think that anyone ever expected the at-large to engage in any real outreach (as candidly, they're just not that good at it).

By the way, the section of the Communications Plan that pertains to the At-Large states:

Message

With the introduction of new gTLDs the Internet landscape may significantly change by offering challenges but also opportunities and competition. Specific messaging for TLD acceptance – tbd.

Approach
  • Produce global outreach events.
  • Produce webinars.
  • Produce informational materials that are easy to read and accessible in multiple languages.
  • Maximize media outreach through targeted PR efforts.

We'll have to wait and see if an at-large ambassador corps emerges in response to this initiative...

P.S. Also found in the same minutes is this sad statement:    "Well, the specific problem is that ALSes do not understand how domain names work (and, even worse, some that don’t unfortunately think they do)."

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