Complete ICANN Application
The Museum Domain Management Association ("MuseDoma"), a non-profit trade association, was created to obtain, maintain and operate a restricted, top-level domain for the worldwide museum community. The MuseDoma is submitting this Application to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN"). The new, generic top-level domain name being proposed is .museum. It is the Latin term for museum and is used as the term for museum in numerous present-day languages.
Museums exist as public institutions, providing access for society to the rich histories of evidence of people and their environments. As permanent institutions, museums are dedicated to the acquisition, conservation and research of this evidence, and to communication and education about it. The results of these activities form the primary contribution of museums to awareness of our past and to the understanding of our present.
The rationale for the .museum TLD is fundamentally based on the notion of
authenticity.
The .museum TLD is intended to privilege and to provide a platform for facilitating and
encouraging all of the varied and unique activities that are part of a museum’s
mission for the ever-growing professional and non-professional audiences relying on online
communication and education. It is perhaps even more important in cyberspace than it is in
physical space for the sources of information about inventions, art works, artifacts and
other evidence of people and their environments to be authentic and verified.
A clear, cyberspace identity for museums is expected to help bridge the digital
divide.
While some museums have actively embraced digital technology and operate sophisticated web
sites, many museums find themselves on the other side of the digital divide. There are
obvious financial and technical reasons for being left behind but there is a significant
non-tangible component as well. The Internet remains an alien phenomenon despite ubiquitous
assertions of its globality. Museums that have yet to establish themselves in this community
make frequent mention of the need for a sectoral point of attachment to it. A shared domain
identity is precisely what is needed.
The parameters that are proposed here for a restricted museum domain and the
policies attendant to them are intended to support and to further the missions of the
worldwide museum community.
This community is understood to include bona fide museums as well as their general
and professional audiences, their representative associations from a regional to an
international level, the professional organizations that support their activities, and
their respective employees. The establishment of the .museum TLD will immediately support
and further the missions of museums by simply making them easier to recognize – if
not find – among the denizens of Internet users and will provide new means of
addressing some other issues such as intellectual property and provision of the suite of
services in support of getting, and keeping, museums on the web.
Eligibility for the .museum TLD, a restricted domain, is based on the ICOM
definition of museum.
This definition is the result of years of discussions and it continues to be discussed and
modified as needed to reflect changes in museums. By basing the eligibility criteria on the
ICOM definition and by recognizing that it will evolve over time to reflect changes in
technology and attitudes, the MuseDoma can ensure that the most fundamental element of this
Application – the eligibility criteria for the .museum TLD – operates in the
interest of the museum community. There are an estimated 40,000 institutions and
organizations worldwide that will immediately qualify for the .museum TLD.
The MuseDoma has two Founder Members: the International Council of Museums
("ICOM") and the J. Paul Getty Trust.
In addition to these Founder Members, two classes of voting members are established for
operating, non-profit museums; another class of membership is non-voting and is open to any
interested individual, institution or organization.
ICOM has been actively working on establishing the .museum TLD for over four years
and it has strong support for this Application from the global museum community.
ICOM, whose status is unique, is the non-governmental organization ("NGO") created
in 1946 by United Nations' Economic and Social Council ("UNESCO") to represent
the interests of museums worldwide. It now has approximately 15,000 members in 147 countries.
The membership participates in the activities of 116 National Committees and 26
International Committees. Some National Committees have also organized on a regional level
to reinforce their actions. ICOM is affiliated with 14 international associations. Its
unique position in the MuseDoma reflects its leading role in all matters of policy for
museums -- in the world of bricks and mortar as well as in cyberspace. The policy decisions
explained in this Application rest squarely on ICOM's status and reputation.
The J. Paul Getty Trust operates the J. Paul Getty Museum and has a long-standing
commitment to the museum community.
The Getty's interests in establishing the .museum TLD are shared by museums the world over
and through its involvement with the MuseDoma, the Getty substantiates its support of
ICOM’s initiative for establishing the .museum TLD.
The MuseDoma will contract with the Internet Council of Registrars
("CORE") to secure its registry operator services for the .museum TLD.
The MuseDoma is confident that CORE has the experience and resources to provide the .museum
TLD registry operator services efficiently and effectively.
The basis for registration in the .museum domain will be the following article of the ICOM Statutes:
Article 2 - Definitions
1. A museum is a non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment.
(a) The above definition of a museum shall be applied without any limitation arising from the nature of the governing body, the territorial character, the functional structure or the orientation of the collections of the institution concerned.
(b) In addition to institutions designated as "museums" the following qualify as museums for the purposes of this definition:
(i) natural, archaeological and ethnographic monuments and sites and historical monuments and sites of a museum nature that acquire, conserve and communicate material evidence of people and their environment;
(ii) institutions holding collections of and displaying live specimens of plants and animals, such as botanical and zoological gardens, aquaria and vivaria;
(iii) science centres and planetaria;
(iv) conservation institutes and exhibition galleries permanently maintained by libraries and archive centres;
(v) nature reserves;
(vi) international or national or regional or local museum organizations, ministries or departments or public agencies responsible for museums as per the definition given under this article;
(vii) non-profit institutions or organizations undertaking research, education, training, documentation and other activities relating to museums and museology;
(viii) such other institutions as the Executive Council, after seeking the advice of the Advisory Committee, considers as having some or all of the characteristics of a museum, or as supporting museums and professional museum workers through museological research, education or training.
A proposal will be presented to the next General Assembly of ICOM to be held in 2001 for the modification of this definition by including the following additional proviso:
(ix) cultural centres engaged in the preservation, continuation and management of living heritage systems on a non-profit basis.
The latter addresses the issue of "intangible heritage," but does not encompass notions of born digital creative activity. An additional modification (x) should be on the table at the September 30th meeting of the ICOM Reform Task Force, which is completing its review of ICOM's basic organization and suggesting modifications to it.
22 January 2002 14:30 UTC