SEEDIG 7 Series
Internet in your native language: Universal Acceptance | 21 June 2021
Event description
On 21 June 2021 we hosted the SEEDIG 7 Series kick-off event under the overarching theme “Internet in your native language: Universal Acceptance”.
Universal Acceptance continues to be one of the most decisive concepts for the future of the Internet. According to the UN, by the end of 2030, the world economy will face another three billion new Internet users. The majority of them will be using non-Latin scripts. Therefore, Universal Acceptance is aimed to make the online environment more inclusive and barrierless for everyone.
We believe that the only way to solve technical problems and overcome administrative barriers is to strengthen cooperation between all stakeholder groups. Our event brought together community members, governmental representatives and DNS experts to brainstorm how to further advance Universal Acceptance in the SEE+ region.
Agenda
10:00–10:05 (5 min) | Welcoming remarks
10:05–10:35 (30 min) | Fireside chat with Danko Jevtović | ICANN Board of Directors
10:35–10:40 (5 min) | Coffee break
10:40–11:40 (60 min) | Stakeholder Dialogue on UA Engagement Strategies
Mark William Datysgeld | ICANN GNSO Council & Governance Primer Consultancy
Kristina Hakobyan | Internet Society NGO (ISOC AM)
Maria Kolesnikova | UA Regional Coordination Group for CIS and Eastern Europe
Dijana Milutinović | RNIDS
11:40-12:00 (20 min) | Open mic
The event will be moderated by Dušan Stojičević | Gransy
Messages from the event
“We have to bring the next billion people online, and as long as they feel more comfortable communicating in their native languages, UA is the key driver to achieve this goal. ICANN supports the community, and engages with many tech companies and governments to help them understand that the IDNs are very important for the countries’ development and that the software systems they use need to get UA ready."
“It is important to raise awareness among the general public to help users understand what opportunities they can get when UA fully adopted. Once and if the public demand reaches the critical point, the big companies would become more responsive. Additionally, if they see the small businesses getting UA ready, they could step on that way with more enthusiasm.”
“IDNs bear strategic importance for small countries like Armenia. This year we are celebrating the 5th year of .հայ IDN with 1,105 registered domain names so far. Our experience proves the primary importance of training government representatives on UA-related issues and promoting a domain in the local language and UA compatibility on all government resources.”
“From the UA perspective, the Serbian language is a very unique example since it can be written in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts. This also makes the promotional efforts a bit more difficult because the Cyrillic script is much less used not just online but in general. We believe that users have a right to demand using the Internet in their native language. When building awareness, we try to engage the public in general but through speaking with some distinct groups.”
“There is a gap in the communication between people who deal with the technical and promotional aspects of the Universal Acceptance. UA requires more education and encouragement for people to ask questions. The complicated part of the UA is that everything should work right for the system to operate successfully. If you fix seven issues out of eight, it still won’t work. That is why sometimes we can’t see the progress, but it exists.”
Co-organiser
The Serbian National Internet Domain Registry Foundation – RNIDS manages country’s top level domains .RS & Cyrillic .СРБ and internet infrastructure of special importance ensuring national domains operate flawlessly. Organised in line with the multistakeholder governance model and bottom-up approach, RNIDS aims to articulate the needs, objectives, and interests of local community to foster the growth of Serbian digital ecosystem. RNIDS seeks to implement best practice in its business operations, therefore is committed to cooperation and experience exchange with other national registries as well as international organisations. RNIDS is a member of ccNSO under the ICANN umbrella and a member of CENTR, APTLD, RIPE NCC and DNS-OARC.
