23 November, 2010

A new gTLD for UNESCO?

While scrolling through another new gTLD tracker (showing 135 new gTLD projects), I came across this:

"UNICEF is exploring the option of selecting a vendor for developing an application to secure the .unicef domain and subsequently managing it on behalf of UNICEF for an initial period of two years.  This Request for Information (RFI) is intended to provide sufficient information for vendors to determine whether they would be willing to participate in a potential selection process."

For an organization that has its own prominent dot org address, and which is certainly eligible for a free dot int address (the IANA recognizes as organizations qualified for domain names under the .int top-level domain the specialized agencies of the UN), one wonders why UNESCO would consider the new gTLD option.

Their reasoning is outlined here:

"Taking the long view, as time goes on a name such as www.donations.unicef and www.cards.unicef will become more intuitive in a more crowded Internet, and thus more valuable because the name reflects exactly that of an organization and declares what it does."

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