<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">Le 9 sept. 2016 à 16:01, Khaled Koubaa <<a href="mailto:khaled.koubaa@gmail.com" class="">khaled.koubaa@gmail.com</a>> a écrit :</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="gmail_quote">Dear colleagues,<br class=""></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_quote">I highly encourage all of you to take part of this survey.</div><div class="gmail_quote">Please share it widely through your networks to make sure we have better image of the DNS industry in our continent.</div><div class="gmail_quote">Cheers,</div><div class="gmail_quote"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_quote">Khaled</div><div class="gmail_quote"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_quote"><div class=""><font color="#666666" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" class="">Khaled Koubaa</font></div><div class=""><font size="1" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" class="">Twitter : <a href="https://twitter.com/koubaak" target="_blank" class="">@koubaak</a></font></div><div class=""><font size="1" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" class="">LinkedIn : <a href="http://lnked.in/kkoubaa" target="_blank" class="">http://lnked.in/kkoubaa</a></font></div>
<br class="">
Assessing domain name management systems in Africa: Take part in the survey!<br class="">
<br class="">
Southern African Communications Forum<br class="">
<br class="">
<a href="https://dnsafrica.study/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">https://dnsafrica.study/</a><br class="">
<br class="">
An in-depth study of the DNS ecosystem in Africa has been commissioned<br class="">
by ICANN, and the project implementation team, led by the Southern<br class="">
African Communications Forum (SACF), is appealing to the technical<br class="">
community in Africa to make the study a success by completing the online<br class="">
survey at <a href="http://dnsafrica.study/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">http://dnsafrica.study</a>. The study aims to identify the<br class="">
strengths and weaknesses in the domain name system (DNS) in every<br class="">
country in Africa, and will develop recommendations on how to advance<br class="">
the industry and bring it closer to the opportunities available. To<br class="">
support the project, the SACF has assembled a team with deep experience<br class="">
of the African internet environment, including a number of members of<br class="">
the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), as well as Mark<br class="">
Elkins, who initially operated the successful .<a href="http://co.za/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">co.za</a> domain, and William<br class="">
Stucke, who has been involved in the South African internet industry<br class="">
since its inception.<br class="">
<br class="">
What is this study for?<br class="">
<br class="">
The study aims to verify the commonly held assumption that there are<br class="">
about 1.5 million domain names registered under the 58 African top-level<br class="">
domains (TLDs), and will unpack this figure to gain a clearer picture of<br class="">
the distribution of domain registrations around the continent. African<br class="">
countries have had widely varying degrees of success in selling their<br class="">
own domains to their citizens and others, many of whom are also<br class="">
registering under the generic domains (gTLDs) such as .com and .org.<br class="">
<br class="">
ICANN believes that an opportunity exists to boost the domain name<br class="">
industry in Africa, to the benefit of all role players in the industry,<br class="">
as well as the citizens and governments of African countries.<br class="">
<br class="">
What is the study’s scope?<br class="">
<br class="">
The DNS study will entail:<br class="">
<br class="">
1. Conducting a survey to gather relevant information about the African<br class="">
DNS market. In the case of country code top-level domains (ccTLDs),<br class="">
collected information includes governance models and registry models.<br class="">
This is the main body of work – to encourage as many people as possible<br class="">
from the different stakeholder groups to answer the questionnaire.<br class="">
<br class="">
2. Developing a regional and country-based breakdown of domain name<br class="">
registrations, including ccTLD versus gTLD registrations, and<br class="">
registrations by businesses, governments, non-governmental entities,<br class="">
research and academic institutions, individuals, etc. The proportion of<br class="">
active domains will also be assessed.<br class="">
<br class="">
3. Looking at the type of content hosted by the domains and the share of<br class="">
the sites that offer e-commerce services. Identifying whether this<br class="">
content is hosted within the country or outside will also be an<br class="">
important part of the assessment.<br class="">
<br class="">
4. Measuring the growth rate of domain name registrations in the past<br class="">
five years, including internationalized domain names (IDNs), and looking<br class="">
at the current market of local registrars and resellers for ccTLDs and<br class="">
gTLDs.<br class="">
<br class="">
5. Where possible, looking at the current market of global registrars<br class="">
and resellers for African ccTLDs and gTLDs. This will include the user<br class="">
experience at local registrars and resellers (e.g. support for local<br class="">
languages, payment gateways, IDN support, and level of automation).<br class="">
<br class="">
Other issues that will be taken note of include: the factors that are<br class="">
holding back take-up of domain names (e.g. awareness, infrastructure,<br class="">
policy and/or regulation, payment gateway); the current understanding of<br class="">
the concept of premium domain names and how to develop this market; the<br class="">
best practices that have made an impact in domain name market growth,<br class="">
including those related to business models, regulatory and governance<br class="">
mechanisms, consumer awareness, among others; the broader ecosystem of<br class="">
the internet infrastructure and online services and the impact of such<br class="">
elements on the overall evolution of the domain name industry; and<br class="">
mechanisms to increase African participation in ICANN activities. The<br class="">
study will also provide information on how to set up a DNS observatory<br class="">
in Africa.<br class="">
<br class="">
Online survey tools and your participation<br class="">
<br class="">
The team has developed an online survey tool for each stakeholder type<br class="">
in four languages: English, French, Arabic and Portuguese. In addition,<br class="">
a DNS Zone File Analysis Tool has been developed that is able to analyse<br class="">
a DNS zone file and return details on the number of active websites in<br class="">
the zone, where they are hosted and what languages they use.<br class="">
<br class="">
The main effort currently is to encourage the different role players to<br class="">
complete the survey, as well as to request the relevant agencies to make<br class="">
zone files available for analysis.<br class="">
<br class="">
The six key role players that the study is focusing on are:<br class="">
<br class="">
Registries: A registry is an organisation operating a database<br class="">
containing domain name details, typically the designated operator of the<br class="">
ccTLD (which is accredited by ICANN) and second level and perhaps lower<br class="">
level domains for that country. These may be operated by the same or<br class="">
different entities.<br class="">
<br class="">
Registrars: Organisations that register domain names on behalf of<br class="">
others, often officially accredited by a registry.<br class="">
<br class="">
Resellers: Organisations who register domain names on behalf of<br class="">
registrars or registries.<br class="">
<br class="">
Registrants: People or companies with a domain name registered in<br class="">
their own name.<br class="">
<br class="">
Regulators: Those who have a legally mandated role to play in<br class="">
determining the policy and rules around domain name registration.<br class="">
<br class="">
IXP managers: Those who manage one or more internet exchange points<br class="">
in a country. These are a useful contact point for finding out important<br class="">
data, including contact details of all those above.<br class="">
The survey tool is available for anyone who is involved in the DNS<br class="">
industry or has registered a domain name.<br class="">
<br class="">
The team is hoping that this blog post will encourage readers to fill in<br class="">
the relevant questionnaire. Having recruited a respondent, the<br class="">
responsible team members will follow up and help ensure that the<br class="">
respondent completes the relevant questionnaires. All respondents will<br class="">
be provided with access to the final report.<br class="">
<br class="">
The team carrying out the study calls for your assistance to make this<br class="">
initiative a success, in order to improve domain name management in Africa.<br class="">
<br class="">
To participate in the survey, go to <a href="https://dnsafrica.study/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">https://dnsafrica.study/</a><br class="">
<br class=""><br class=""></div></div>
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