dotCYM Cyf i glad to confirm that John Jones of eLINIA company in Cardiff is now a member of the dotCYM Cyf board.

John has four decades worth of experience in the telecommunications world having worked for BT before setting up his own company, eLINIA, in 2003. During his career in BT John’s roles also included Senior Systems Development Manager BTUK, Head of Information Services BTUK and Vice President BT Ignite Content Hosting.

eLINIA is located at Cardiff Gate and among its recent clients include; Honda, the National Trust and the broadcasting the Assembly’s proceedings online.

CYM and the Cayman Islands

It seems likely that the bid for a Welsh Top Level Domain will have to use another domain rather than CYM. This comes because of the Cayman Island’s use of the CYM letters for use in the shipping industry.

dotCYM Cyf is in discussion with our partners and the Welsh Assembly Government for another possible alternative.

dotCYM in Brussels

dotCYM Cyf and our European partners from the Basque Country, Brittany, Galicia and others will meet with opinion formers in Brussels in June to discuss the future of linguistic and cultural TLDs.

The meetings will discuss ways of moving on and fast-tracking the slow and expensive process of presenting an application for a TLD to the world’s governing body, ICANN.

Peter Hain says dotCYMRU way forward

Welsh Secretary of State, Peter Hain MP, made an interesting announcement during the current General Election campaign. He called for Wales to concentrate it’s employment strategy in ‘green energy jobs’ and ‘dot Cymru, dot com revolution’. Thanks to dotCYM’s work, it confirms that the ‘dotCYMRU’ brand and the need for a Welsh IT sector is mainstream in economic thinking.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/wales/8618590.stm

We’re sorry that we haven’t sent out a newsletter recently – but as you’ll see from this edition, we’ve been rather busy! And there is plenty of genuinely encouraging news for supporters of dotCYM as we head into 2009 – the crunch year for applications to ICANN. Thank you, as ever, for your support – and we hope that it will not be too much longer before you can start making plans to buy your own .cym domain.

dotCYM meeting with the Deputy First Minister

After working closely with Assembly officers over the last few months to refine the business plan, we are now looking forward to meeting the Deputy First Minister early in March. We will be continuing to work closely with Assembly officers between now and then to make sure that any remaining questions are answered fully in advance of the meeting, and we are optimistic that the meeting will make the future of the bid absolutely clear. A considerable amount of work has gone into developing the business plan in line with Assembly requirements, and dotCYM are very grateful to all our Board members for their extremely valuable input.

dotCYM respond to ICANN draft request proposal

dotCYM have responded formally to ICANN’s draft request proposal, in which they outlined their expected requirements for bids for new domains. We noted several key points which may require further clarification from ICANN, in particular with regards to data protection legislation, and have also requested that they look again at proposals for flat fee structures instead of percentage-based fees. After receiving a number of similar concerns during the consultation period, ICANN are now intending to produce a second draft of the request proposal, which means further slippage in the expected dates for actual bid submission. However, we are still expecting to be engaged in the actual submission process by this summer at latest. We would like to thank Peter Black AM, Bethan Jenkins AM and Jill Evans MEP fod their support and for raising their concerns over ICANN’s pricing policy in their response to the draft RFP.

Cardiff City Council announce support for dotCYM

We would like to thank Cardiff City Council, and Deputy Leader Cllr Neil McEvoy in particular for announcing their support for the dotCYM bid (see www.cardiff-info.com/content.asp?id=7952&d1=0 and the Western Mail’s report at www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/01/24/council-backs-cym-domain-campaign-91466-22766480/). Support from the capital city of Wales shows that the benefits of a Welsh domain are increasingly widely recognised. Siôn Jobbins, dotCYM’s Chief Executive, says that ‘It will be a way for local businesses in Cardiff to show they’re part of the fabric of Cardiff life. This is a very good decision for Cardiff business, society and the status of Cardiff as the capital of Wales.’

Membership

dotCYM would like to thank all those who took up the opportunity of becoming members of dotCYM. Because of time constraints with responding to ICANN and developing the business case, we haven’t taken as much time of this side of the bid’s work as we would have liked! However, you will be hearing from us in more detail in the very near future. We are now taking advice regarding the most effective structures for making sure that our members play a genuine and practical part in running dotCYM, and for the time being are not accepting new members.

Gordon Brown: ‘Digital technology as important as roads’

The Westminster Government has said that all homes should have access to 2Mbps broadband by 2012, in order to help secure a competitive low carbon economy. Gordon Brown said that ‘Every aspect of our lives… will be dependent on the services that the digital network provides’ and that digital technology is as important today as ‘roads, bridges and trains were in the twentieth century’. Westminster recognises that developing digital infrastructure is vital for any modern economy, which is why they have been consistently supportive of the dotCYM bid. The bid for .cym is in the mainstream of future economic and social thought. Not having a Welsh domain in the 21st century would be as damaging as not having roads in the 20th.

Warm thanks to Tom Brooks

After putting in an enormous amount of voluntary time helping to drive the dotCYM bid forwards, Tom Brooks has now stood down from the Board in order to concentrate on his responsibilities with the Westminster All Parliamentary IT Committee and the All Party Communications Group, where he intends to continue to lobby for practical political support for the dotCYM bid. dotCYM would like to thank him for his huge commitment to the bid and his extremely hard work on the fine detail of preparing our application to ICANN. Diolch Tom.

In response to growing pressure from around the globe the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) decided in June 2008 to admit a range of top-level domains to the Internet addressing system. A top-level domain (TLD) is the last part of an Internet domain name, split into two categories; generic TLD, which includes dot COM; and country code TLD, which relates to countries or larger geographical regions such as dot CO.UK.

As the capital city for Wales, Cardiff has chosen to support the campaign to establish a TLD for Wales which would assist a focus on Cardiff and Wales internationally. At present, the four countries that make up the United Kingdom are covered by a single TLD dot CO.UK. Subsequently Wales and Scotland have launched bids for their own specific TLDs.

Google and Yahoo have confirmed that local domains such as dotCYM will score higher in searches including related terms like Wales or Cymru. Many Welsh software and IT businesses will obtain a boost from the additional services that they could offer around a dedicated Welsh internet domain.

Deputy Leader of Cardiff County Council and Executive Member for Economic Development, Cllr Neil McEvoy, said: “The campaign for a new and unique Top Level Domain for Wales is based on numerous economic and social benefits. For businesses in Wales the dot CYM Top Level Domain will provide an opportunity to register some of the best domain names possible: short, descriptive and memorable.

“Wales would also benefit from improved marketing globally as a tourism destination and business market by setting aside and managing names such as www.hotels.cym, www.visit.cym. We can build a clear brand around .CYM which will be a positive addition and effective way to promote Wales’s products, culture and sporting achievements. The .CYM domain will also put this ancient nation on the internet map”.

Chief Executive of ‘dotCYM’, Siôn Jobbins, said: “The dot CYM domain will give people in Cardiff, Wales and the Welsh diaspora the choice to brand their products, services, interests, sports and communities with a distinct Welsh brand.

“It will be a way for local businesses in Cardiff to show they’re part of the fabric of Cardiff life. This is a very good decision for Cardiff business and society, and the status of Cardiff as the capital of Wales.”

In order to strengthen an application to ICANN, ‘dotCYM’ is recruiting members and supporters to demonstrate the need and local support for a TLD for Wales. This now consists of over 400 organisations and companies, including WAG, and many more individuals.

Peter Black’s continuous interest and support for the dotCYM application is another small but significant sign of the cross-party support for the .cym domain as a way to brand and unite Welsh communities wherever they are.

http://peterblack.blogspot.com/2008/11/dot-cym-campaign-continued.html

At a time when international organisations and investment banks are in difficulty, the bid for a Welsh internet domain is bucking the trend and opening its doors to people across Wales and beyond. This shows confidence that people are willing to make a moral investment in the future of Wales by becoming members of dotCYM, the bid for a Welsh domain.

Starting today, the people of Wales have a unique opportunity to change the face of the Internet by helping win a .cym domain that would put Wales at the forefront of the next major shift online. ICANN, the international body responsible for internet domains, is preparing to accept applications for new domains early in 2009 – and thanks to the dotCYM campaign, Wales is in with a real chance shoulder to shoulder with heavyweights like .sco (Scotland), .london, .berlin, .paris and .nyc (New York City).

‘What we need now is members,’ says dotCYM managing director Siôn Jobbins. ‘The Welsh Assembly Government has agreed to support our bid, we’ve been engaged in extensive lobbying with the internet’s governing body, ICANN, we’re working flat out on the legal details, but ICANN have said that they will look more positively on bids that have community support, and that the number of members is how they will assess that. This is a bid for the whole Welsh community, and we want as many people as possible to fly the red dragon online. We’re confident that .cym can build on its claim to be the people’s domain.’

This means that unlike most international decisions, the people of Wales (and the Welsh diaspora) have a real say in whether or not .cym will happen. Even major players like Nominet (responsible for .uk) only have about 3000 members, so every single Welsh person who becomes a member of dotCYM will make a genuinely significant difference to the chance of winning the new domain and then to the running of that domain. They will also have a voice in the future of the domain, as dotCYM is a not-for-profit bid - profits from the sale of .cym will be invested back into the Welsh internet community and infrastructure, not in big fat bonuses for the bosses! The bid for the .cym domain is built on sound ethics as well as sound internet and business sense – unlike much of the world’s business.

‘It’s a great chance for the people of Wales to show that they want Wales to be successful online,’ says Maredudd ap Gwyndaf, one of the founding directors of dotCYM. ‘.cym will help keep internet spend in Wales, it will help Welsh companies rise up the search rankings for searches including terms like Wales or Cymru, and it will make Wales a safer place to be online by increasing our ability to police eCrime – and if people show they want it by becoming members, we’ll have an excellent chance of winning.’

Anyone who wants to help win this for Wales can sign up at www.dotcym.org for £2 a month or £24 a year (£100 a year for institutions).

The GUM3C conference is about global understanding in multilingual, multimodal and multimedia context. It’s held as part of the celebration of 2008 being the International Year of Languages.

Among the other speakers will be world-famous linguist, David Crystal, who’s written much about the development of the English language, language death and the importance of harnessing the new technology for the benefit of lesser-used languages.

Links:

GUM3C

David Crystal

The Government’s decision was covered widely in the Welsh media. It was part of the main daily newsprogrammes from BBC in Welsh and English and received a very positive editorian in the Welsh daily, the Western Mail. Interviews on the annoucement were conducted for BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru and local radio in Llandudno.

The announcement is another big step for the dotCYM bid and confirms the Government’s support and seal of approval for the bid. It shows that the Welsh Assembly Government want the Welsh people in Wales and abroad to have the opportunity to use .cym

The bid to achieve full internet status for Wales was given a boost today following an announcement by the Welsh Assembly Government that it will provide funding to support the campaign.

Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones has confirmed that the government will back the work of the ‘dotCYM’ campaign in bidding for a national domain name for Wales on the world-wide web.

Provision of £20,000 is being made to develop the campaign during this financial year follows a decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in June to admit a range of new names to the internet addressing system.

Provision of funding of £20,000 to develop the campaign during this financial year follows a decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in June to admit a range of new names to the internet addressing system.

Mr Jones’ announcement in the National Eisteddfod delivers a commitment in the One Wales programme of government to support domain name status for Wales on the internet.

Success for the campaign would mean that people in Wales could chose to have a Welsh internet domain address .cym as well as .uk, .eu, .com or .org.

This would give organisations, companies and individuals the option of a distinctive address on a par with those of other nations, including Catalonia, which gained a domain after a campaign led by puntCAT, an umbrella organisation representing 98 language and cultural movements.

“This announcement reflects a more strategic approach to put Wales on the world map and enhance Welsh culture and identity on the worldwide web”, said Mr Jones, who is Minister for the Economy and Transport.

“Proper Internet status for our nation will open up new marketing opportunities and help promote the Wales brand.”

“We fully support the One Wales Agreement objective to transform Wales into a self-confident, prosperous, healthy nation and society, which is fair to all”, said Siôn Jobbins, Chief Executive of dotCYM cyf.

“Providing Wales with an Internet top level domain is essential if these creditable goals are to be met”, he said.

“The Internet is the e-engine for economic growth and Wales needs top level access to deliver the innovation that we need. The Internet is about to change radically and Wales must be fully on board the new Internet with a top level domain identity .cym, on a par with other economically growing communities.

“The National Eisteddfod is a great event asserting and promoting Welsh culture; bringing together all those who feel a part of the Welsh society from all over Wales and the Welsh societies abroad.

“The .cym domain will do exactly the same thing not just one week a year but all year round, 24/7 for years to come.”

Two pieces of news which you’ll probably not have heard about came to our attention over the past week. Both show the way that the dotCYM bid’s philosophy of creating more choice for Welsh webusers as well as being a vehicle for the promotion of a unique language, culture and identity, is now a part of mainstream thinking.

We include a link to the report by Tom Brooks of dotCYM of Baroness Shriti Vadera, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Competitiveness at Westminster’s speech at a recent meeting. The other link is to discussion by the United Nations’s UNECSO fund which now sees the internet not only as a vehicle for simple communication and economy but as a vital way to promote communication in lesser used languages – like Welsh.

As discussions about ‘digitial exclusion’ increase these discussions are increasingly discussing the importance of the internet recognising, supporting and promoting communication in languages and among cultures which have been marginalised in the past.

The bid for .cym then is more relevant and more mainstream than ever before.

Links:

Tom Brooks’s summary of Baroness Shriti Vadera’s speech

UNESCO discuss the internet

At a meeting on Sunday 3 August, Tom Brooks and Sharanne Basham-Pyke were made new board members of dotCYM cyf.

Tom has some forty years of experience in the IT world and is a management consultant who has guided major public and private sector outsourcing initiatives. He has been a Divisional Director of a European subsidiary of one of the USA’s largest technology company and a Director of two UK companies. He is an invited lay member of the Westminster All Party Parliamentary IT Committee and a lay participant in the All Party Communications Group.

Sharanne Basham-Pyke is a Client Director for BT. During her career in the ICT industry she has been primarily focused on influencing and delivering services to Wales. She is also a member of Cardiff Business School International Advisory Board, Board Member of a Housing Association in Wales, and a member of RhAG Casnewydd (Parents for Welsh-medium education, Newport Gwent).
Both Sharanne and Tom will be great assets to the dotCYM bid.

e-Crime and .cym

The .cym domain will be a help in the fight against e-Crime. That’s the message we’re hearing from many experts in the field.

There are currently some 2 billion internet users in the world. It is expected by 2012 that there will be some 7 billion users. The increase in users and, by implication, websites is one good reason (among many) for new domains – which is one reason ICANN are going ahead to open the process for domains. Within this context, it makes sense to have a domain for the Welsh community. But another good reason is coming apparent.

As the .cym domain will be a sponsered domain (unlike .com for instance) there will be tighter management over who can use it. This means the .cym domain will be a domain people can feel safer with. So, in the future, if there’s a .cym at the end of the URL you can be surer that it’s not a spam email or fake proposition. Another good reason for .cym!

Eisteddfod Launch with Minister

Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, Economy and Transport Minsiter and also Deputy First Minister announced the Government’s political and financial support for the dotCYM bid at this year’s National Eisteddfod. The annoucement was well received and given wide coverage in the press and media.

The Welsh Assembly Government’s support for dotCYM is in line with similar support in other countries such as Catalonia and Galicia for their respective bids.

dotCYM, UNESCO and WAG at Bangor

Tom Brooks on behalf of the dotCYM cyf bid gave a paper as part of the international conference on ‘Global Understanding in Multilingual, Multimodal and Multimedia contexts’ in Bangor on 22 August. The conference was sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government as part of its contribution to ‘2008 as the International Year for Language’. The conference was led by UNESCO and was opened by Alun Ffred Jones as the WAG Minister.

Tom’s subject was ‘The dotCYM Experience - The Challenges Of Establishing A Minority Language On The Internet’. The paper was well received and generated a lot of interest. Next year’s international conference on ‘Global Understanding in Multilingual, Multimodal and Multimedia contexts’ will take place in Amsterdam.

dotCYM Man

The support of the Welsh Assembly Government has allowed dotCYM cyf. to appoint Aran Jones to work on the bid for the next three months or so.

Aran is well-known to many in the Welsh internet scene and is the man behind the Welsh language blog aggregator, www.blogiadur.com and also the English language www.blogcymru.com . He is also part of the Welsh language dating website team at www.pishyn.com, started www.dimegoch.com (an online campaign to support the use of Welsh in business) and is responsible for hosting the popular Welsh discussion forum www.maes-e.com. Aran’s organisational skills and passion for the Welsh internet culture will be great assets as he gets to work for dotCYM cyf.