ICANN | ICANN Meetings in Cape Town | Workshop: Internationalized Domain Name Real-Time Captioning

ICANN Meetings in Cape Town

Workshop: Internationalized Domain Name

Wednesday, December 1, 2004

Note: The following is the output of the real-time captioning taken during the IDN Workshop held on 1 December, 2004 in Cape Town, South Africa . Although the captioning output is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid to understanding the proceedings at the session, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.

>>PAUL TWOMEY: COLLEAGUES, I SUPPOSE, LET US CONVENE THE WORKSHOP ON INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES.
THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE MOVING THROUGH. OBVIOUSLY SOME OF THE OTHER MEETINGS ARE RUNNING A LITTLE BEHIND TIME, BUT IF WE DON'T START NOW WE WON'T BE FINISHED IN TIME FOR DINNER THIS EVENING.
SO WE HAVE, ACTUALLY -- I'LL BE ASKING VINT CERF, THE CHAIRMAN OF ICANN, TO GIVE US A GENERAL INTRODUCTION, BUT PERHAPS I CAN JUST TAKE US TO THE AGENDA HERE TODAY.
FIRST OF ALL, AS I THINK VINT WILL MAKE CLEAR, INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES IS A KEY ISSUE AND ONE WHICH WE ARE PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN AND LOOKING TO CONTINUE TO ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY AND RAISE THE PROFILE OF AND ALSO ENGAGE ON WHAT THE ISSUES ARE FOR IMPLEMENTATION GOING FORWARD.
WE HAVE A THREE-PART SESSION HERE THIS AFTERNOON, AND ALL PARTS SORT OF FOCUS ON IDNS, PARTICULARLY IN AN AFRICAN CONTEXT.
THE FIRST WILL BE A SESSION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDNS IN THE AFRICAN REGION, AND WE'LL HAVE AN EXPERT SERIES OF SPEAKERS SPEAKING TO US.
SECONDLY, THERE WILL BE A PANEL SPECIFICALLY DEALING WITH APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT, WHICH WAS ONE OF THE ISSUES BROUGHT UP QUITE A LOT IN THE KUALA LUMPUR WORKSHOP ON IDNS. AND THE -- THERE WILL BE A DISCUSSION BY A CORE PANEL ON THAT ACTUAL ISSUE OF APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT.
AND THEN THERE'S GOING TO BE A FINAL PANEL ON POLICY ISSUES AND PROCESSES.
I'D LIKE TO THANK ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WERE INVOLVED IN PUTTING THIS TOGETHER. THEY'VE ALL DONE A GREAT JOB. PARTICULARLY I'D LIKE TO THANK TINA DAM WHO IS IN THE AUDIENCE FOR THE WORK SHE'S DONE ON THE STAFF SIDE, ALSO THERESA SWINEHART.
PERHAPS, THEN, I'LL OPEN UP THE SESSION NOW TO THE FIRST INTRODUCTORY SPEECH FROM VINT.

(APPLAUSE.)
>>VINT CERF: WELL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I'M NOT SURE THAT I DESERVE ANY APPLAUSE AT ALL. OF COURSE, ONE IS TEMPTED, IF YOU'RE APPLAUDED AS YOU STAND UP, TO SIMPLY SIT DOWN BECAUSE IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT.
I CONSIDER MYSELF TO BE SOMETHING OF AN IMPOSTER STANDING UP HERE SPEAKING ON IDNS. THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THIS AUDIENCE AND PEOPLE WHO WILL BE ON THE PANELS WHO ARE INFINITELY BETTER PREPARED THAN I TO MAKE ANY PRONOUNCEMENTS AT ALL ABOUT IDNS. BUT THAT NEVER HAS STOPPED ME BEFORE, SO I DO HAVE A FEW REMARKS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE.
FIRST OF ALL, THERE IS STILL A GREAT DEAL OF TECHNICAL WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO IMPLEMENT THE STANDARDS THAT HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED IN THE IETF TO SUPPORT UNICODE OR ITS ENCODING IN ASCII ON THE INTERNET. THERE ARE A LOT OF DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS THAT WE'LL NEED TO BE COGNIZANT OF THESE NEW REPRESENTATIONS OF DOMAIN NAMES. AND I DON'T WANT TO UNDERESTIMATE THE EFFORT INVOLVED IN GETTING THAT SOFTWARE INTO EVERYONE'S HANDS. THIS IS, OF COURSE, A VERY IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE OPEN-SOURCE NOTION, TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT BY SHARING IMPLEMENTATIONS OF APPLICATIONS THAT CAN USE THESE NEW IDN-BASED DOMAIN NAMES.
I ALSO THINK, THOUGH, THAT WE'RE AT A POINT WHERE WE CAN GATHER AND BENEFIT FROM REAL FEEDBACK FROM ACTUAL IMPLEMENTATION OF IDNS, BOTH ON THE REGISTRATION SIDE WITH REGARD TO POLICIES THAT MIGHT BE REQUIRED TO RESTRICT WHICH KINDS OF TERMS CAN BE REGISTERED, AND ALSO JUST PLAIN EXPERIENCE IN USE, WHAT SORTS OF PROBLEMS HAVE ARISEN IN THE COURSE OF TRYING TO USE IDNS, TO OPERATE A REGISTRY AND/OR A REGISTRAR TRYING TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO REGISTER THESE NAMES AND THEN WHAT SORT OF APPLICATION PROBLEMS HAVE ARISEN.
IT SEEMS TO ME THAT WE HAVE A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT TO LEARN FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE ACTUALLY TRIED IT. I HAD A CONVERSATION WITH SABINE DOLDERER NOT TOO LONG AGO, AND I LEARNED SOMETHING VERY INTERESTING THAT I HADN'T THOUGHT ABOUT. I'M A STUDENT OF GERMAN, BUT NOT A VERY GOOD SPEAKER OF IT, AND I HAD THOUGHT IT WAS A REASONABLE SPECULATION THAT ANYTHING THAT WAS SPELLED WITH AN UMLAUT OF THE OE TYPE COULD ALSO BE SPELLED WITH AN O AND THE TWO LITTLE DIERESIS AT THE TOP. SHE QUICKLY MENTIONED AN IMPORTANT NAME, GOETHE, HE DID NOT SPELL NOR DOES ANYONE ELSE SPELL IT G-O UMLAUT T-H-E. SO IT'S NOT TRUE THAT EVERY DIPHTHONG OF THAT TYPE MAPS INTO THE OTHER.
THAT MAY NOT BE TRUE OF OTHER LANGUAGES. BUT IT WAS AN IMPORTANT EXAMPLE OF THE NEED TO BE CONSCIOUS OF LANGUAGE AS WE APPROACH IDN USE.
ALTHOUGH DOMAIN NAMES ARE JUST LABELS IN THE COMPUTER SCIENCE SENSE OF THE TERM, THE WAY WE USE THEM OFTEN INVOLVES LANGUAGE BECAUSE WE'RE TRYING TO MAKE THOSE DOMAIN NAMES MEAN SOMETHING TO THE READER.
SO ONCE AGAIN, THERE IS A STRONG NECESSITY TO TURN TO LANGUAGE SPEAKERS FOR GUIDANCE AND ADVICE ABOUT HOW TO FORMULATE POLICIES WITH REGARD TO IDNS.
ONE INTERESTING THING THAT I THINK I HAVE LEARNED FROM THE CHINESE, JAPANESE, AND KOREAN COMMUNITY IS THAT IN THEIR CASE, THEY ACTUALLY HAVE A MORE CANONICAL FRAMEWORK THAT HAS BEEN HELPFUL IN DEALING WITH TRADITIONAL AND SIMPLIFIED CHINESE CHARACTERS WHICH APPEAR IN MORE THAN ONE LANGUAGE. THERE, THE ATTEMPT IS TO MAKE MORE CANONICAL THE REPRESENTATIONS THAT ARE ACTUALLY REGISTERED. I'M SURE JAMES SENG AND OTHERS WILL DO A BETTER JOB THAN I HAVE JUST DONE REPRESENTING THE HARD WORK THAT THEY'VE GONE THROUGH TO PREPARE THEIR RESTRICTION FRAMEWORKS.
SO I GUESS THE POINT I WANT TO MAKE HERE IS THAT WE WOULD, I THINK, BE FOOLING OURSELVES IF WE THOUGHT THAT THERE WAS A SINGLE SET OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR DEALING WITH IDNS WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT THEM FROM A LANGUAGE-SPECIFIC POINT OF VIEW AND THAT WE ACTUALLY HAVE TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT LANGUAGES REALLY DO VARY IN THEIR STRUCTURE AND, THEREFORE, POLICIES MAY HAVE TO VARY ALONG WITH THAT.
THERE ARE AN ENORMOUS NUMBER OF TECHNICAL SIDE EFFECTS WHICH IDNS PRESENT. FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN THEY APPEAR IN TEXT AND YOU CUT AND PASTE THE TEXT, THERE IS AN INTERESTING QUESTION ABOUT WHAT IS DONE WITH THE -- WITH THAT REPRESENTATION, WHETHER THERE IS AN AWARENESS IN THE PROGRAM THAT'S DOING THE CUTTING AND PASTING OF WHETHER THIS IS A SPECIAL ENTITY WHICH MAY NEED TO BE INTERPRETED IN DIFFERENT SCRIPTS THAN JUST THE UNDERLYING ASCII. WE ALMOST CERTAINLY WILL ENCOUNTER SIMILAR KINDS OF PROBLEMS WITH FORWARDING. ONE OF MY FAVORITE EXAMPLE OF AN UNEXPECTED SIDE EFFECT IN FORWARDED E-MAIL WAS AN E-MAIL I GOT FROM VENI MARKOVSKI WHO HAPPENS TO BE OUR BULGARIAN ON THE BOARD OF ICANN, AND HE GOT QUITE EXCITED WHEN HE SAW THAT DOT DE WAS REGISTERING GERMAN UMLAUTED DOMAIN NAMES, SO HE FORWARDED SOME EXAMPLES TO ME.
I SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT THE EXAMPLE TO SHOW YOU BUT I'LL HAVE TO SKETCH IT IN WORDS FOR YOU.
THE E-MAIL THAT I GOT SAID, LOOK, DNIC IS NOW REGISTERING GERMAN DOMAIN NAMES WITH UMLAUTS IN THEM. BUT THE E-MAIL THAT I GOT FROM HIM SHOWED CYRILLIC CHARACTERS IN THE PLACE WHERE WE WOULD HAVE EXPECTED TO SEE UMLAUTS. AND SO I FORWARDED THE MESSAGE BACK TO HIM SAYING SURELY YOU UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CYRILLIC CHARACTER AND A GERMAN UMLAUT. AND HIS REACTION WAS FAIRLY INTERESTING, BECAUSE HE SAID, WELL, IT DIDN'T LOOK THAT WAY WHEN I SENT IT TO YOU.
WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS THE WAY IN WHICH THE MESSAGE WAS ENCODED, THERE WAS A CHARACTER SET ASSOCIATED WITH THE ENTIRE MESSAGE. AND SINCE VENI'S E-MAIL SOFTWARE WAS ROOTED IN BULGARIAN, IT WAS ASSUMED ANYTHING HE SENT WOULD INCLUDE A SCRIPT WITH THE CHARACTERS HE SENT AND IN PARTICULAR THE GERMAN UMLAUTS WERE ENCODED INTO THE CHARACTERS. SO THAT'S WHY I GOT THE WRONG CHARACTER SET.
IT'S EXAMPLES LIKE THAT, AND I'M SURE YOU CAN MAKE UP MUCH MORE ELABORATE ONES WHEN YOU DEAL WITH WORD PROCESSING PROGRAMS RATHER THAN E-MAIL, THINGS GET COMPLEX WHEN DEALING WITH HTML COMPONENTS. SO I BRING THIS UP, AS WE TRY TO INTRODUCE INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES, ALTHOUGH ICANN ISN'T RESPONSIBLE FOR DEALING WITH THE PROBLEMS OF APPLICATIONS, WE SHOULD BE AT LEAST CONSCIOUS OF THE FACT THAT AS WE INTRODUCE THESE THINGS AT THE DOMAIN NAME LEVEL THAT WE WILL ALSO INTRODUCE SIDE EFFECTS, RIPPLING SIDE EFFECTS IN OTHER APPLICATIONS.
THERE ARE ISSUES I THINK WE HAVE NOT ADDRESSED. ONE HAS TO DO WITH IDN ELEMENTS AT THE TOP LEVEL. TODAY MOST OF THE MECHANISMS WE HAVE IN PLACE THAT I'M AWARE OF TEND TO DEAL WITH TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS THAT ARE STILL IN ASCII, AND I UNDERSTAND THAT THERE ARE IMPLEMENTATIONS OF TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS THAT INCLUDE IDN ELEMENTS. THEY'RE NOT NECESSARILY PART OF THE GLOBAL DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM YET.
THERE ARE SOME INTERESTING POLICY ISSUES. ONE OF THEM IS WHETHER TWO TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS THAT MEAN THE SAME THING BUT ARE REPRESENTED IN DIFFERENT CHARACTER SETS SHOULD BE TREATED AS DISTINCT OR THE SAME.
IF THEY'RE DISTINCT, THEN THE SECOND LEVEL DOMAINS THAT ARE REGISTERED IN EACH NEED TO BE TREATED AS DISTINCT. ON THE OTHER HAND, IT MIGHT BE PREFERRED IN SOME COMMUNITIES THAT THE TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN IN IDN FORM AND THE TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN IN ASCII FORM IN FACT FORM A COHERENT WHOLE, AND, THEREFORE, THE SECOND LEVEL DOMAINS THAT ARE EDGE REGISTERED AND ANY THIRD AND FOURTH LEVEL DOMAINS ARE INTENTIONALLY SUPPOSED TO BE BOUND TO EACH OTHER. I'M NOT PROPOSING ANY ONE OF THOSE POLICIES PARTICULARLY, BUT I AM SAYING ONE NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND WHETHER THERE WILL BE A BINDING OR NOT IN THE CASES WHERE WE START INTRODUCING TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS IN IDN FORM THAT ARE INTENDED TO BE ANALOGS OF THEIR ASCII COUNTERPARTS. THIS ALSO RAISES A POTENTIAL PROBLEM, THE NUMBER OF TLDS THAT MIGHT BE INTRODUCED AS A CONSEQUENCE OF INTRODUCING TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS IN IDN FORM. THE WORST CASE SCENARIOS, OF COURSE, MIGHT INVOLVE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ENTRIES IF EVERY EXISTING ASCII-BASED TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN !
NEEDED ALSO TO BE REPRESENTED IN EVERY POSSIBLE LANGUAGE THAT'S AVAILABLE THROUGH THE UNICODE ENCODING. THAT'S A SERIOUS POTENTIAL PROBLEM FOR THE ROOT OPERATION.
SO ONCE AGAIN, A TECHNICAL CONSIDERATION WOULD INFLUENCE POLICY DECISIONS.
AND THE FINAL POINT I'D LIKE TO MAKE IS THAT IN OUR PASSION TO INTRODUCE IDNS, I THINK WE CAN EASILY CONFUSE TWO DIFFERENT IMPORTANT OBJECTIVES THAT I THINK INTERNET SHOULD HAVE. ONE OF THEM, OF COURSE, IS TO SUPPORT THE USE OF LOCAL LANGUAGES TO MAKE THE INTERNET MORE ACCESSIBLE TO PEOPLE WHOSE LANGUAGES ARE NOT YET REPRESENTED IN THE DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM. ON THE OTHER HAND, WE ALSO HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO PAY ATTENTION TO INTERNATIONALIZATION; THAT IS TO SAY, THE ABILITY OF COMMUNITIES TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER EVEN IF THEIR BASE LANGUAGES ARE NOT THE SAME.
IF IT'S IMPOSSIBLE FOR SOMEONE TO ENTER ONTO THEIR KEYBOARD AN IDN IN A LANGUAGE THAT THEIR KEYBOARD ISN'T SET FOR, THAT'S A PROBLEM.
SO I HOPE THAT WE DON'T LOSE TRACK OF ONE OF THE IMPORTANT VALUES OF THE INTERNET, WHICH IS TO PERMIT COMMUNITIES TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER. WHEN WE HEARD MR. DESAI THIS MORNING POINT OUT THAT THE TREATY AGAINST THE PROLIFERATION OF LAND MINES, HIS BELIEF IS THAT TREATY COULD NOT HAVE BEEN FORMED IF NOT FOR THE EFFECTIVE INTERNET ALLOWING COMMUNITIES TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER. IF THEY COULDN'T EVEN ENTER EACH OTHER'S E-MAIL ADDRESSES BECAUSE OF AN IDN BARRIER, THEN THAT OUTCOME MIGHT BE IN QUESTION.
SO WE WANT TO BALANCE, I THINK, THE UTILITY OF LOCALIZATION WITH THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONALIZATION SO AS TO NOT LOSE THAT IMPORTANT VALUE.
SO I, FIRST OF ALL, COMMEND TO YOUR ATTENTION THE EXPERTS THAT YOU'LL BE HEARING FROM IN THE REMAINDER OF THIS PROGRAM AND THANK EACH OF YOU FOR ATTENDING AND EACH OF THE PANELISTS FOR TAKING TIME TO MAKE THEIR PRESENTATIONS.
I SHOULD TELL YOU THAT PAUL AND I MAY HAVE TO DISAPPEAR ABOUT 2:00, SO PLEASE DON'T TAKE OUR DISAPPEARANCE AS A LACK OF INTEREST.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
PAUL, I TURN THIS BACK OVER TO YOU.
>>PAUL TWOMEY: THANK YOU, VINT. IT'S A BIT LIKE AN ICANN BOARD SHUFFLE UP HERE BUT I'M GOING TO INTRODUCE MOUHAMET DIOP, SENEGALESE MEMBER OF THE BOARD, AND I'LL INTRODUCE ONE OF OUR OTHER KEY SPEAKERS WHO IS ADAMA SAMASSEKOU.
MOUHAMET.
>>MOUHAMET DIOP: THANK YOU VERY MUCH, AND THANK YOU, VINT CERF, FOR TAKING THE TIME WHAT YOU REALLY FEEL ABOUT THE IDN IMPLEMENTATION AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE IDN FOR THE NEXT STEP.
BEFORE I GIVE THE FLOOR TO ADAMA SAMASSEKOU TO COME AND SHARE WITH US HIS VIEW ABOUT THE IDN IN AFRICA AND WHAT'S GOING TO BE THE NEXT STEP FOR HIM, I WANT TO SHARE MAYBE SOME HISTORY ABOUT IDN IN ICANN, BECAUSE I THINK IT'S VERY IMPORTANT TO RECORD FOR WHAT HAPPENED, BECAUSE YOU KNOW THAT AT ANY ICANN MEETING, WE HAVE NEW FACES AND PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED AND WHERE WE ARE AND WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEP THAT WE HAVE TO ACHIEVE IN ORDER TO GET THINGS MOVING.
SO I THINK THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING REALLY INTERESTING THAT HAPPENED THE LAST THREE YEARS IN ICANN WHERE WE JUST RECOGNIZED THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DOMAIN NAME EXPANSION, ESPECIALLY ABOUT IDN. AND I THINK THAT THERE WAS SOME STRONG VOICE COMING FROM ASIA-PACIFIC, AND LATIN COUNTRY, SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRY IN ORDER TO ENABLE, I MEAN, THE LANGUAGE IN THE DOMAIN NAME SPACE.
AND I THINK THAT THERE'S A COUPLE INITIATIVES THAT HAVE BEEN SET UP IN ORDER TO ENABLE THAT INITIATIVE. I JUST RECALL THE IDN COMMITTEE THAT HAD BEEN SET UP BY ICANN AND CHAIRED BY ONE OF THE ICANN BOARD DIRECTORS WHOSE NAME IS KATOH-SAN FOR MANY YEARS.
HE TRIED TO SET UP, I MEAN FROM SCRATCH, WHAT NEED TO BE DONE. I MEAN, JUST HAVE A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THE ISSUE ARE, BECAUSE WHEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT MULTILINGUALISM, THERE ARE MANY ISSUES THAT COVER THOSE ITEMS. AND FROM ICANN'S PERSPECTIVE, WE'RE JUST TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS OUR ROLE AND WHAT CAN BE DEALT WITH AT THE ICANN LEVEL. MAYBE THERE ARE SOME ISSUES THAT HAVE TO BE DEALT WITH AT ANOTHER LEVEL. BUT ON THE PURE ICANN RESPONSIBILITY LEVEL, WE'RE TRYING TO SEE HOW COMPLEX THE ISSUE ARE. AND THE IDN COMMITTEE HAVE WORKED WITH MANY EXPERTS. JOHN KLENSIN WAS ONE OF THEM, MANY PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT CONSTITUENCY WHO JOINED THE COMMITTEE. WE'VE GOT REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE ADDRESSING SUPPORT COMMUNITY, AND I HAVE THE CHANCE AT THAT TIME TO REPRESENT THE (INAUDIBLE) SUPPORT ORGANIZATION INSIDE THAT COMMITTEE.
WE HAVE ALSO ELISABETH PORTENEUVE WHO REPRESENT THE CCNSO AT THAT TIME. JUST TO LET YOU KNOW THAT THERE WAS MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE INVOLVED AT THAT TIME IN THE PROCESS, JUST TO UNDERSTAND THE ISSUE ABOUT IDN AND WHAT HAVE -- WHAT ICANN HAVE TO BE DONE. AND JUST TO UNDERSTAND WHAT ISSUES HAVE BEEN RAISED BY THE INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAME.
SO THIS COMMITTEE CAME OUT WITH SOME RECOMMENDATION, AND WE SEE THAT THERE WAS MANY TOPICS THAT HAVE TO BE COVERED, LIKE THE COMMUNITY-BASED, WHAT WILL BE THE IMPLICATION OF LANGUAGE, WHAT'S GOING TO BE THE IMPLICATION ON THE CYBERSQUATTING, AND THE GEOGRAPHICAL IMPLICATION OF THIS ISSUE, THE CULTURAL IMPLICATION.
AND WHEN THE -- WHEN THE TERM OF THIS IDN COMMITTEE CAME TO AN END, MANY PEOPLE ASKED THE QUESTION, DOES THAT MEAN THAT WE HAVE FINISHED THE JOB OR HAS ICANN SET UP EVERYTHING FOR IDN TO BE IMPLEMENTED?
AND WE KNOW THERE WAS ANOTHER TECHNICAL COMMITTEE CALLED THE IDN-RIC COMMITTEE, IT WAS REGISTRY IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE IN WHICH WE GOT ALL THE REGISTRY. VERISIGN WAS PART OF IT, AFILIAS, WE GOT ALL THE REGISTRY. WE GOT SOME COUNTRY CODE, TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN WHO ARE REALLY INTERESTED IN IMPLEMENTING A SECOND-LEVEL REGISTRATION FOR IDN. WE GOT ALSO A VERY IMPORTANT WORK THAT HAVE BEEN DONE BY THE SGKS, CHINESE, KOREAN, AND JAPANESE GROUP THAT HELP US A LOT. I MEAN, UNDERSTAND THE ISSUE. AND WHAT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT IS WE COME UP WITH IETF STANDARDS THAT HELP UNDERSTAND THAT IF YOU WANT TO IMPLEMENT IDN, THESE ARE THE STANDARDS THAT HAVE TO BE USED IN ORDER TO AVOID A LOCALIZATION OR KEY-WORD APPLICATION TO BE THE ONLY CHOICE GIVEN TO PEOPLE WHEN THEY WANT TO DEAL WITH OTHER LANGUAGES.
SO IETF ISSUED THE STANDARD LAST YEAR, AND WE NOW UNDERSTAND THAT TECHNICALLY WE DON'T HAVE ANY BARRIER FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF IDN, BUT WE ALL CONVENED AND UNDERSTAND THAT THERE WAS NEED FOR POLICY, I MEAN, TO BE REALLY WELL DEFINED IN ORDER TO AVOID ALL THE PROBLEM THAT HAVE BEEN RAISED BY THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF DOMAIN NAME. AND WE HAVE A CHANCE AT THE LAST ICANN MEETING IN KUALA LUMPUR TO HAVE AN IDN SESSION LED BY JOHN KLENSIN WITH ALL THE OTHER EXPERTS, AND WE HAD A CHANCE TO GET EXPERIENCE FROM VARIOUS COUNTRY. AND WE ALSO HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE TECHNICALLY WHAT ARE THE REAL CHALLENGES WE ARE FACING WHEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IDN.
AND EVEN IF YOU'RE REALLY AFRAID WHEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE IDN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN NAME, I JUST WANT TO SHARE SOME OF MY FEELING ABOUT THAT.
IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT THAT WE MAKE THE INTERNET WORLD AS -- AS WE FEEL IT IN OUR NORMAL LIFE. LIKE IF I TALK TO MY SON, IF I TALK TO FRIENDS, I JUST WANT TO DO IT IN MY OWN NATIVE LANGUAGE.
AND WHAT I'M EXPECTING IS ALL THE EVOLUTION WE'RE MAKING WITH THE TECHNOLOGY IS TO ENABLE PEOPLE TO DO THAT IN THAT WAY.
AND IT'S A VERY CHALLENGING ISSUE FOR US, IS HOW WE CAN MAKE THE INTERNET JUST LIKE AN IDEAL TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT THAT WILL HAVE PEOPLE JUST DUPLICATE EXACTLY WHAT THEY HAVE IN THEIR NORMAL LIFE IN THAT ENVIRONMENT.
I'M NOT AFRAID ABOUT THE TECHNICAL IMPLICATION, EVEN IF I SHOULD, JUST BECAUSE THIS TECHNICAL COMMUNITY HAS MADE CHALLENGES ALL OVER THEIR LIFE AND THIS IS JUST A NEW ONE. SO IT'S NOT TIME TO GIVE US. IT'S JUST TIME TO SAY WE MAKE IT, WE ALREADY MADE IT, AND WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT.
AND THAT'S THE ONLY THING THAT GIVE US ENOUGH RESOURCES TO SAY THAT. IDN IMPLEMENTATION IS A CHALLENGE. IT'S REALLY HARD IF WE LISTEN TO PEOPLE. THEY JUST EXPLAIN TO US EVERY DAY THAT IT WILL NOT BE AN EASY PART, BUT I FEEL CONFIDENT THAT WE SHOULD MAKE IT AND WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT BECAUSE IT'S PART OF THE CULTURAL DIVERSITY PROGRAM. IT'S JUST THE FIRST STEP THAT WILL ALLOW PEOPLE TO FEEL THEMSELVES IN AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE THE TECHNOLOGY WILL ENABLE PEOPLE TO LIVE EXACTLY THE SAME WAY THEY'RE DEALING NOW.
SO I WOULD JUST CALL FOR ICANN TO HAVE ENOUGH COURAGE TO TACKLE THAT PROBLEM AND TO LAUNCH, MAYBE JUST AS SOMETHING LIKE THE FIRST EXPERIMENTATION AT THE TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN. IT'S NOT THE ICANN BOARD OF DIRECTORS WHO ARE SPEAKING; IT'S JUST THE AFRICAN NATIVE SPEAKER. (INAUDIBLE) SPEAKING IS MY NATIVE LANGUAGE, AND I'M CALLING TO LOOK AT, AS A NEXT PHASE, AFTER THE SECOND-LEVEL IMPLEMENTATION OF IDN, TO TALK WITH PEOPLE AND HAVE THAT TOP LEVEL IMPLEMENTATION OF IDN TO OCCUR. WE NEED THAT AND I THINK IT WILL COME VERY SOON.
THE OTHER SIGNAL WE GET FROM ICANN AS A VERY STRONG ONE IS DURING THE LAST KUALA LUMPUR MEETING, IT HAD BEEN SET UP A PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE. PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE MEANS, THAT'S THE CHAIR, THAT THE CEO OF ICANN WILL HAVE TO POPULATE THAT COMMITTEE. AND I DON'T THINK THAT HE WILL TAKE AS LONG AS THE WORKING GROUP FOR U.N. TO POPULATE, BECAUSE AFTER THE WSIS PROCESS, SO WE HAVE WAITED FOR MORE THAN 11 MONTHS BEFORE WE HAVE THE COMMITTEE POPULATED.
SO FROM KUALA LUMPUR, WE HAVE SPENT FOUR MONTHS, SO PLEASE, CEO, WE ARE EXPECTING THAT COMMITTEE TO BE POPULATED VERY SOON. AND I THINK THAT IF YOU COMMIT YOURSELF ON IT MAYBE BEFORE WE LEAVE THAT MEETING IN CAPE TOWN, WE WILL GET THAT COMMITTEE POPULATED.
SO I WILL NO LONGER KEEP THE FLOOR. I JUST WANT TO COME AND HAVE ADAMA SAMASSEKOU SHARE WITH US, HIS EXPERIENCE AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE AFRICAN ACADEMY OF LANGUAGE. HE IS ONE OF THE SUPPORTERS OF THE CULTURAL DIVERSITY. HE WAS ALSO THE FORMER CHAIR OF THE WSIS PROCESS, THE PREPARATORY WSIS SUMMIT IN GENEVA. AND HE WAS VERY PLEASED TO ACCEPT TO COME TO AN ICANN MEETING AND SHARE WITH US HIS EXPERIENCE, AND I THINK THAT WE SHARE A LOT OF THINGS, AND I'M GOING TO CALL HIM FOR THE FLOOR. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. ADAMA.
(APPLAUSE.)
>>ADAMA SAMASSEKOU: THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MOUHAMET.
I DON'T SEE A LOT OF KOSA SPEAKING PEOPLE HERE, BUT IN KOSA IT MEANS GOOD AFTERNOON, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. WHILE WE ARE IN SOUTH AFRICA, I THINK WE NEED TO PAY TRIBUTE TO ONE OF OUR GREAT LANGUAGES, AFRICAN LANGUAGES.
LET ME CONTINUE IN FRENCH.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MY BROTHER, FOR GIVING ME THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE WITH YOU THE VISION THAT I HAVE PREPARED. I HAVE HAD AN ACADEMIC PRESENTATION, BUT AS WE HAVE SEEN THE PRESENTATION THIS MORNING, I, AFTER VINT CERF, WHAT HE HAS SAID SO CLEARLY, THE FIRST THING THAT I'D LIKE TO SAY WHEN I TALK ABOUT IDN -- DON'T WORRY, I'M NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT AS A TECHNICIAN. I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING. MOUHAMET KNOW BETTER THAN ME. AND I ALSO HAVE A BROTHER HERE WHO WILL TALK MUCH BETTER, MAXIME SOMÉ. HE'S PRESENT HERE. AND PIERRE OUEDRAOGO, WHO KNOW THIS DOMAIN.
WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR ME TO SHARE WITH YOU IS REALLY THE SITUATION OF OUR CONTINENT.
CLEARLY, THE FIRST QUESTION THAT ONE WOULD ASK HIMSELF, WHY MOUHAMET TALKED WITH SUCH KIND OF SENSITIVITY OF HIS MOTHER TONGUE, WHICH HE WOULD LIKE IT TO BE USED IN THE INTERNET AS HE USE IT WITH HIS CHILDREN. THIS IS A QUESTION OF OUR CONTINENT.
AFRICA IS THE ONLY CONTINENT IN THE WORLD WHERE A CHILD GOES TO SCHOOL, STARTS LEARNING A LANGUAGE OTHER THAN WHAT HE'S USED IN HIS FAMILY. THAT'S THE ONLY CONTINENT WHERE IN THE CONTEXT OF JUSTICE, IN MOST OF THE CASE IN ALL THE STATES, THEY USE INTERPRETERS WHO SPEAK EITHER FRENCH, ENGLISH, PORTUGUESE, AND AT THE SAME TIME KNOW THE MOTHER TONGUE OF THE ACCUSED.
AFRICA IS THE ONLY CONTINENT WHICH HAS TWO OR THREE PERCENT OF ITS ROLE PLAYERS OF DEVELOPMENT AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL WHO ARE IN THE MARGIN OF EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION, BECAUSE INFORMATION, THE PUBLIC MANAGEMENT OF BUSINESS IS DONE IN OFFICIAL LANGUAGES WHICH ARE NOT MASTERED BY THE POPULATION, THE AFRICAN POPULATION. THIS IS THE SITUATION.
TODAY WE ARE IN THE CONTEXT WHERE THE WORLD IS CHANGING AND WE HAVE THE POSSIBILITY AT THE TECHNICAL LEVEL TO DO ANYTHING; TO TAKE IN CHARGE ALL THE LANGUAGES IN THE WORLD. BUT THIS SITUATION IS STILL STAGNANT. AND THIS IS A BIG ISSUE, AND WHEN THIS MORNING WE SAID IT WAS TECHNICALLY POSSIBLE. BUT WHAT WE ARE WAITING FOR, TECHNICIANS ARE WAITING FOR LINGUISTS TO SAY WHAT ARE POSSIBLE FOR THE CORRECT (INAUDIBLE) IN OUR LANGUAGES AND THEY ARE CALLED BILINGUISTS AND WE SAY THEY HAVE TO PUT EVERYTHING IN PLACE REALLY RAPIDLY. BUT MY FIRST QUESTION AT THE LEVEL OF AFRICAN INITIATIVES THAT I WOULD LIKE TO TALK ABOUT HERE, IF YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE INSTRUMENT WHICH IS AFRICAN ACADEMY OF LANGUAGES, WE WOULD LIKE TO PUT IN PLACE, SINCE THREE YEARS NOW, THE IDEA OF THE ACADEMY WAS STARTED THREE YEARS AGO, BUT IT WAS STARTED THREE YEARS BEFORE. AND WHEN THE HEAD OF STATES OF AFRICA DECIDED TO CREATE AN AFRICAN INSTITUTION WHICH WOULD BE IN CHARGE OF VALIDATING AFRICAN LA!
NGUAGES TO BE USED AS WORKING LANGUAGES ON A DAILY BASIS IN ALL THE LIFE ACTIVITIES OF THE STATES AND AFRICAN COMMUNITIES. AND THEY TOOK THIS DECISION ON THE PROPOSAL OF THE MOKINARI, THE OLD FORMER PRESIDENT OF MALI. BUT IT'S A SITUATION, IT'S A POLITICAL WILL THAT IS VERY OLD AT THE LEVEL OF HEAD OF STATE, SINCE OAU IN 1964 IN THE CHARTER OF THE ORGANIZATION, THE WORKING LANGUAGES OF THE OAU SHOULD BE EIGHT POSSIBLE AFRICAN LANGUAGES AS SUCH. AND ENGLISH AND ARABIC AND FRENCH AND PORTUGUESE.
IF POSSIBLE, AFRICAN LANGUAGES. IT STARTED IN 1963, AND FROM 1963 WE HAD TO WAIT, JULY 2004 TO HAVE IN OAU, WHICH IS AU TODAY, A PRESIDENT, AN AFTERNOON CAN PRESIDENT, MAKING A SPEECH IN AN AFRICAN LANGUAGE, IN SWAHILI AS SUCH, THE LANGUAGE WHICH WAS ADOPTED AS A WORKING LANGUAGE OF OAU SINCE 1986, WHICH WAS IMPLEMENTED THEN.
THAT SUGGESTS TO SAY THAT THIS WILL EXIST, BUT THEN IT WASN'T IMPLEMENTED. AND TODAY THE ACADEMY HAS BEEN CHARGED OF PUTTING IN PLACE THIS VISION AND TO REALIZE AT THE ACADEMY WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT. THE AFRICAN ACADEMY OF LANGUAGES IS A SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION SPECIALIZED -- THE AU SPECIALIZED FROM MALI (INAUDIBLE), IT HAS TO PROMOTE AFRICAN LANGUAGE TO PROMOTE THE USE AND FACILITATE EXCHANGES BETWEEN STATES AT AN ECONOMICAL AND SOCIAL LEVEL AND TO RECOGNIZE THE AU IN TERMS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONTINENT. AT THE CONTINENT LEVEL, (INAUDIBLE) IS THE HIGHER INSTITUTE STRUCTURE WHICH HAS IDEAS AND WHICH HAS TO TRANSLATE IDEAS TO MAKE THEM REALIZABLE, AND TO IMPLEMENT LINGUISTIC POLITICS IN A NORMALIZED WAY AND IN A CONSENSUAL WAY.
THE FINAL REPORT OF THE STATES ORGANIZED BY THE AU SECRETARY ON 5TH OF FEBRUARY LAST ON LANGUAGES AS THE OBJECTIVE OF PROMOTING AFRICAN LANGUAGES AND CROSS-LANGUAGES, AND I WOULD LIKE TO STOP THERE BECAUSE WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS FOR AFRICA TODAY TO GIVE PRIORITY TO THE LANGUAGES BETWEEN BORDERS, BETWEEN SENEGAL, MAURITANIA AND OTHERS. AND IT IS SHARED BY NINE STATES AND WESTERN AFRICA AND FRANCOPHONE STATES, AND I THINK THAT THIS WILL ALLOW EVEN SWAHILI IN THE REGION WE ARE IS SHARED BY 15 STATES WITHOUT LOOKING AT GUNI IN WESTERN (INAUDIBLE) AFRICA. THE KNOWLEDGE OF LANGUAGES IS VERY IMPORTANT AS AN INTEGRATION FACTOR FOR INITIAL UNDERSTANDING AND PROGRESS AND RESOLUTION OF CONFLICT TO REALIZE WE HAVE TO PUT OBJECTIVES ON COORDINATION OF ACTIVITIES, OF RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ON LANGUAGE TO PUT IN PLACE A FRAMEWORK OF RESEARCH FOR CONSULTATION AND RESEARCH AND MODERNIZATION OF INSTRUMENTS AND THE I.T. AND HARMONIZING TEACHING AND ALSO HAVING DOCUMENTATIONS AND PUTTING THE!
DATABASES AND REDEFINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGES, WHICH IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE AFRICAN LANGUAGES SHOULD DEVELOP A PARTNERSHIP RELATIONSHIP WITH EUROPEAN LANGUAGES, WHICH ARE PART OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGES AT THE LEVEL OF EDUCATION, JUSTICE AND THE PRESS. AND ALL THE USE, EQUITABLE USE OF THESE MEDIUMS IN USING AFRICAN LANGUAGES AND EUROPEAN LANGUAGES WHICH ARE LANGUAGES WHICH ARE USED TOO AS WORKING LANGUAGES.
THE MAIN BODY OF THE ACADEMY IS A BOARD, ASSEMBLY OF THE ACADEMY, THE TECHNICAL SECTOR AND THE COMMISSION OF LANGUAGES AS FAR AS LANGUAGE COMMISSIONS, EACH LANGUAGE IS A VEHICLE AND WILL BE A COMMISSION OF LANGUAGES, THERE WILL BE A (INAUDIBLE) COMMISSION, A MUNDANE COMMISSION, AND (INAUDIBLE) COMMISSION, ET CETERA. AND THESE ARE THE COMMISSIONS, LANGUAGE COMMISSIONS, WHICH WILL HAVE THE BASIC STRUCTURE SCIENTISTS WILL WORK ON AND WE WILL USE THESE LANGUAGES AS WORKING LANGUAGES FROM THE AFRICA REGIONS, AND AFRICA IS DIVIDED INTO FIVE BIG REGIONS. AND WE HAVE THE SATIC REGION, AND THE NEXT REGION, WE HAVE THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION TO USE LANGUAGE AS WORKING LANGUAGES, LANGUAGES WHICH WILL BE USED ACROSS BORDERS FOR THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.
AND THE TWO WORDS ON THE ACTIVITY OF THE ACADEMY. SO FAR, IN FACT, WHEN WE ANALYZE THE ACTIVITIES THAT HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKEN AND WE CAN SAY THAT THE ACADEMY IS FUNCTIONAL, WHICH IT IS NOT OPERATIONAL SO FAR, WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE PLANNING TO LAUNCH THE ACADEMY IN 2005. LEGALLY THE STRUCTURES WILL BE PUT IN PLACE. AND THIS WILL MAKE IT OPERATIONAL, BUT WE HAVE HAD ACTIVITIES, A LOT OF ACTIVITIES, AND I DON'T WANT TO GO IN DETAILS ON THESE ACTIVITIES, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO LET YOU KNOW ABOUT THE THREE MAIN ACTIONS OF THE ACADEMY, JUST TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA WHICH WILL LET US UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE THING.
FIRST OF ALL, THE ACADEMY HAS TRIED TO PUT IN PLACE AN ACTION PLAN OF THE LINGUISTICS FIELD WHICH WAS ACCEPTED BY THE HEAD OF STATE SINCE 1986. THERE IS A PLAN OF ACTION WHICH WASN'T IMPLEMENTED, SO THEN THE ACADEMY, WITH THE EXPERT OF THE LINGUISTS, HAS GOT A STEERING COMMITTEE WHICH IS CALLED ELBA AND THESE IMPLEMENTATIONS OF THE PLAN OF AFRICA AND THIS STEERING COMMITTEE WILL HAVE TO MEET IN A FEW DAYS AT THE END OF THE WEEK IN CAPE TOWN TO TACKLE THE DIFFERENT CHANNELS WHICH WILL BE USED IN THE FUTURE.
AND THE FIRST CHANNEL IS FOR US TO TACKLE FIVE OR SIX PROJECTS OF THE COMMITTEE WHICH WILL BE PUT IN PLACE ALL OVER THE CONTINENT, INCLUDING TRAINING OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN LINGUISTICS, AFRICAN LINGUISTICS, TO THE I.T.
THE SECOND POINT IS THAT THE AU COMMISSION HAS DECIDED TO CONSIDER 2006 AS THE YEAR OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES.
THE ACADEMY HAS GOT TO PREPARE FOR THAT.
UNTIL 2006, THE TECHNICIANS WILL HELP US TO HAVE IN CYBERSPACE THE ELEMENTS THAT WILL ALLOW US TO POPULARIZE THE MASTERY OF THE -- OF POPULATIONS WITH THIS TOOL THAT WE CALL THE INTERNET.
AND SO AS WE COULD -- THE CREATORS AT THEIR OWN LEVEL AND ALL ESPECIALLY IN THE REMOTE AREAS WILL BE ABLE TO USE THESE TOOLS.
ANOTHER CHANNEL IS THAT THE ACADEMY IS WORKING WITH THE HELP OF THE ECONOMIC COMMISSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS FOR AFRICA, ELEMENTS WHICH WILL HELP THE WHOLE THING BE OPERATIONAL IN CREATING, YOU KNOW, PUT THE CYBERSPACE IN AFRICAN LANGUAGES.
AND THERE IS A NETWORK THAT HAS BEEN PUT IN PLACE.
AND IN THIS CONTEXT, MAXIME SOMÉ IS HERE, IS A MEMBER OF THIS NETWORK.
AND WE ARE TRYING TO WORK ON THE SITUATION OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES TO HAVE TECHNICALLY THE POSSIBILITY OF HAVING THEM IN THE -- AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL.
ANOTHER CHANNEL THAT -- IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE WORLD SUMMIT, WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT DIVERSITY OF -- CULTURAL DIVERSITY, AND THE ACADEMY IS GOING TO ORGANIZE WITH UNESCO, WITH ICANN, AND MICROSOFT AND OTHER ACTORS, ALL OF THE AGENCIES WHO SPEAK EUROPEAN LANGUAGES, A BIG CONFERENCE, THEMATIC CONFERENCE IN THE SECOND PART OF THE SUMMIT AT HEADQUARTERS OF MARCO.
AND THAT CHANNEL WILL DEFINITELY INCLUDE EXPERTS OF ICANN.
AND THEY WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW HOW WE COULD GO FASTER THAN -- EMPOWERING THE AFRICANS IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGES.
THE LAST CHANNEL THAT I WOULD LIKE TO RAISE HERE IS THE -- IN THIS THEMATIC CONFERENCE IS THAT THERE WILL BE AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE THAT WILL ALLOW EUROPEAN AGENCIES WORKING ON AFRICAN LANGUAGES, THE FRANCOPHONIE AGENCIES, SECRETARY OF -- IN CHARGE OF PORTUGUESE LANGUAGES, THAT WILL HAVE TO MEET AND TO WORK WITH THE ACADEMY TO SHOW HOW WE COULD DEVELOP IN AFRICA A REAL PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN AFRICAN LANGUAGES AND THE EUROPEAN LANGUAGES, AS I OFTEN SAID, AFRICA, BEFORE BEING AN ENGLISH-SPEAKING -- AND FRENCH SPEAKING IS AFRICAN SPEAKING AS SUCH.
AND THIS IS WHAT WE WILL HAVE TO PUT IN PLACE, ALL OF THIS PROCESS, WHICH WILL ALLOW US TO -- WAITING FOR THE WORLD SUMMIT, TO HELP US IN REGIONAL CONFERENCE IN ACCRA IN FEBRUARY TO TACKLE THIS QUESTION OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES IN CYBERSPACE, WHILE PREPARING CONFERENCE IN MAY AND WORKING ON THE FURTHER PROGRAM OF TUNIS.
AFRICA SHOULD BE PRESENT NOT ONLY WITH THE PROPOSALS THAT I MENTION OF THE FUNDING AND -- BUT ALSO GIVING YOU THE IDEA, WITH CONCRETE PROPOSALS AT THE LEVEL OF CONTENT, BECAUSE WE NEED THE INFORMATION AND THIS IS THE CONTENT WHICH IS IMPORTANT.
WE HAVE TO MASTER INTERNET, USING OUR LANGUAGES.
AND THIS IS A WAY FOR AFRICA TO BE PRESENT IN THIS FRAMEWORK INSTEAD OF BEING MARGINALIZED AS A MARGINAL SOCIETY IN A SOCIETY WHERE WE ARE.
TO CONCLUDE, AS I SEE THE WHOLE THING, AS MOUHAMET ASKED ME THE QUESTION, WELL, ICANN HAS ALREADY THOUGHT ON THE IDN AND THE TECHNICAL QUESTIONS ARE UNDERWAY, AND WE HAVE TO HAVE THE POLICIES TO IMPLEMENT THE WHOLE THING.
THE ACADEMY WILL BE OPERATIONAL IN 2005, AND WE WILL BE READY IN THE NAME OF THE CONTINENT TO PROMOTE THE REFLECTION ON THE CREATION OF IDN IN OUR LANGUAGES AND TO DEVELOP WITH ICANN A REAL PARTNERSHIP IN THIS QUESTION, WHICH WILL BE CONSTRUCTIVE AND WHICH WILL ALLOW US TO FACE THE SITUATION AS OTHER CONTINENTS.
AND THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU IN TERMS OF THREE VISIONS, PERSPECTIVES, AND DETERMINATION, BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE, APART FROM US, WILL HAVE TO CHANNEL THE WHOLE THING.
WE NEED YOU TO GO ALONG WITH US, AND WE ARE ALREADY WORKING.
AND I WAS JUST TRYING TO CONFIRM IT.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ATTENTION.

(APPLAUSE.)
>>MOUHAMET DIOP: THANK YOU, PRESIDENT.
I THINK THAT AT THE END OF THIS SESSION WE WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET THE FLOOR FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO INTERVENE OR I DON'T KNOW WHAT CAN BE THE MOST INTERACTIVE WAY THAT YOU WANT THINGS TO HAPPEN.
THE NEXT SPEAKER WILL BE MAXIME SOMÉ.
HE IS FROM THE UNIVERSITY.
HE IS A LINGUIST.
SO HE IS RUNNING DIFFERENT PROJECT NOW WITH THE FRANCOPHONIE AGENCE, BECAUSE THEY ARE REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT THE IDN ISSUE.
AND WE HAVE PIERRE OUEDRAOGO ALSO FROM THE FRANCOPHONIE AGENCE, FROM INTIF, WHO ARE REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT THE UNICODE AND THE IDN PROJECT IN AFRICA.
SO NEXT SPEAKER WILL BE MAXIME SOMÉ FROM THE UNIVERSITY, ACADEMY OF VERSAILLES.
MAXIME, YOU HAVE THE FLOOR.
>>MAXIME SOME: LET ME THANK ALL THE ORGANIZERS WHO ALLOW ME TO BE HERE.
ICANN, AND THE AFRICAN ACADEMY OF LANGUAGES AND ALL THE ORGANIZATIONS WHO ARE WORKING.
AND THAT'S WHY I'M HERE.
I'M VERY HAPPY TO BE HERE, YOU KNOW.
I'M HERE AS JUST A SINGLE PIECE OF HAIR IN THE SUIT.
BUT I HAVE HEARD -- FROM WHAT I HAVE HEARD, I HAVE CONFIDENCE.
AND IT DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING THAT I HAVE -- I WANTED TO SAY.
BUT I MAY PERHAPS FRUSTRATE SOME PEOPLE, COMPUTER SCIENTISTS OR LINGUISTS.
BUT I'D LIKE TO SAY WHAT I HAVE TO SAY.
AND SO WE CAN WONDER TODAY WHAT THE REFLECTION ON AFRICAN LANGUAGES IN THE DEBATE OF IT TODAY AS -- IN THE SITUATION WHERE WE ARE WITH THE CONVERSATION THAT WE HAVE THIS AFTERNOON AROUND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONTINENT.
TALKING ABOUT ECONOMY, DOMINANT ECONOMY, AND WE -- AS WE CAN SEE, WE ARE WORKING ON DUPLICATING WHAT IS HAPPENING AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL.
WE HAVE THE COMPUTER SCIENTISTS WHO ARE IGNORANT OF WHAT IS -- THEY ARE DOING.
AND THEY ARE NEGLECTING LINGUISTS.
AND THEY ARE RIGHT, AND THEY ARE WORKING IN THEIR RESERVED DOMAIN AND THEY ARE EXPERTS IN THEIR DOMAIN AND THEY HAVE SECRETS OF THE SCIENCE.
AND WHEN THE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT EXPERTS TRY TO COME CLOSER, THEY RUN THE RISK TO BURN THEMSELVES.
AND THE COMPUTER SCIENTISTS ARE RIGHT, BECAUSE THEY ARE CONSUMERS OF NEW TECHNOLOGY ARE NOT TERRIBLY LINGUISTS.
LINGUISTS, AS I CAN SAY, ARE RESPONSIBLE -- ADAMA SAMASSEKOU HAS HIGHLIGHTED THE ISSUE AS LINGUISTS.
YOU NEED TO GIVE THE LINGUISTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK ON THE LANGUAGES, BECAUSE THEY WILL GIVE YOU THE TIME AND THEY WILL GIVE YOU THE ABILITY TO WORK AND IT WILL PROBABLY LAST LONGER.
LINGUISTS ARE RESPONSIBLE, THEY DON'T MASTER THE SCIENCE OF IT.
BUT WHEN THEY ASK TO -- THEM TO GET CLOSER OR ASK TO EXPLAIN SIMPLY THINGS TO MAKE THEM CLEAR BY SO MANY PEOPLE, THEY WASTE THEIR TIME IN THE REFLECTION THINKING ON THE PEOPLE ARE TIRED, THOSE WHO WANT TO GO FASTER.
I AM NOT A PARTISAN, I AM A LINGUIST.
BUT LINGUISTS ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DELAY WHEN THEY HAVE TO WORK WITH THE EXPERTS.
BUT THIS VISION THAT I WANTED TO GIVE, WHICH IS A KIND OF DICHOTOMY, SHOULDN'T MAKE US -- DISCOURAGE US.
WE HAVE GOT POSSIBILITIES, ENORMOUS POSSIBILITIES.
AND THIS IS A HOPE THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH YOU THIS AFTERNOON.
AND ON THE ONE HAND, I CAN SAY THAT WITH PASSION, THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT IT'S POSSIBLE TO PUT TOGETHER COMPUTER SCIENTISTS AND LINGUISTS WHO CAN MAKE THINGS WORK.
AND THIS VISION, IF IT'S SHARED, IS THE REASON WHY I AM HERE TO SHARE WITH YOU HOW WE COULD WORK TOGETHER, WHY ARE WE WORKING, YOU KNOW, IN A SEPARATE WAY.
WE HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER TO RENEW AFRICAN RENAISSANCE, THE RENAISSANCE.
THERE ARE A LOT OF RESOLUTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM INDEPENDENTS AND WHICH HAVEN'T BEEN IMPLEMENTED BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE WORKING, YOU KNOW, IN ISOLATION, AND THEY ARE DOING WONDERS BUT IGNORING WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING.
WE NEED TO BREAK THE WALLS, AND WE HAVE TO WORK IN TRANSPARENCY AND WORK TOGETHER AND WORK -- AND TO REPORT SO THAT EVERYONE BENEFITS FROM OUR WORK.
SO TODAY, YOU KNOW, IT IS EMERGING, AND WE HAVE GOT PRESSURE, WE HAVE GOT TO MAKE PRESSURE ON GOVERNMENT.
AND IF IT HAD BEEN MASTERED LONG BEFORE THAN TODAY WE TALK ABOUT CIVIL SOCIETY, WHICH HAS A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE TO PLAY, THEN EXPERTS HAVE GOT A ROLE TO PLAY, NOT ONLY THE MASTERY, WHERE WE SAY EVERYTHING IS FINE, GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO DO EVERYTHING, AS HAS BEEN SAID.
ONLY WHEN GOVERNMENT WILL FEEL THE PRESSURE OF CIVIL SOCIETY AND EXPERTS WITH CONCRETE THINGS, THEN THE POLITICIANS WILL BE ABLE TO REACT, BECAUSE THEY WANT TO SEE CONCRETE THINGS.
BUT IF IT'S IDEAL, THEY WILL HAVE TO WAIT.
THEN THERE'S SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE DON'T LIKE.
WE ARE HAPPY TO BE COMPLACENT WITH OUR ROLE AND OUR TRADITIONS.
THIS IS REALLY GOOD.
BUT THIS IDEA IS AMUSING FOR EVERYONE.
BUT WE HAVE TO QUESTION THE SYSTEM, BECAUSE AS FAR AS WE ARE -- WE HAVE GOT TO KIND OF -- A KIND OF DELAY NOW ON THE CONTINENT, WHERE OLD TRADITION IS GOOD, BUT WE HAVE TO BE AWARE THAT IF WE -- THE CONTINENT HAD THE TOOLS SO RAPIDLY USED IN THE FORM OF WRITING, WHICH WOULD BE THERE EVERYWHERE, THEY WOULD HAVE DONE IT IN A DIFFERENT WAY.
IF I MAKE THIS COMPARISON, TODAY, WE HAVE TO PUT SOMETHING IN PLACE.
THIS IS THE IT.
AND IF WE DON'T THINK TOGETHER HOW THE LANGUAGES SHOULD NORMALLY BE -- ENRICH THEMSELVES, WE'LL BE REALLY FAR BEHIND.
I HAD A FRIEND, PIERRE OUEDRAOGO, WHO SAID THE GENERATION WILL BE ASKING US QUESTIONS WHEN WE HAVE TO IMPLEMENT THE TECHNOLOGY WHAT WE HAD DONE, AND WE WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE, BECAUSE WE HAVE NOT DONE ANYTHING, AND THE LANGUAGES WILL NEVER BE USED IN THE IT.
AND THIS SOCIETY OF IT SHOULD BE A SOCIETY WHERE THERE IS CULTURAL DIVERSITY.
WE HAVE TO FIGHT FOR CULTURES AND LANGUAGES NOT ONLY FACE TO FACE, WHICH IS BETWEEN FRANCOPHONE AND ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES, BUT WE HAVE TO LOOK INTO OUR LANGUAGES AS WELL.
WE CAN'T THINK WITHOUT TRYING TO ANALYZE THE SITUATION OF THE -- THE REAL SITUATION ON THE GROUND OF OUR LANGUAGES IN CYBERSPACE.
AND WE SUGGEST THAT WE HAVE TO LINK -- TO MAKE A LINK BETWEEN LANGUAGES AND THE SCIENCE INDUSTRIES.
I TOOK THE CRITERIA SUCH AS IN THE IT DOCUMENTATION, EQUIPMENT, AND AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENT. AND WE'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE A LIST OF THE WHOLE THING RAPIDLY.
WE CAN MAKE A ROUND AND SEE IN THESE DOMAINS WHICH WE CAN DO AND HOW OUR LANGUAGES ARE REPRESENTED.
AND THIS IS NOT TO REDUCE THE QUESTION TO A DOMAIN WHERE -- INTERNET DOMAIN.
WE HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT IT'S A GLOBAL VISION AND THE VALUE IT HAS AND HOW WE VALUE THESE OTHER LANGUAGES IN THE DOMAIN WHICH IS THE INDUSTRY OF LANGUAGES, DO WE TAKE INTO ACCOUNT OUR LANGUAGES.
AND THIS IS A QUESTION -- IN THE BUSINESS WORLD, THIS IS A REFLECTION THAT WE HAVE TO DRAW FROM.
AND I'VE GOT A TABLE, BUT FOR TECHNICAL REASONS, I AM NOT A SPECIALIST, I DIDN'T PUT IT IN A POWERPOINT, I CAN'T PRESENT THIS TO YOU.
BUT I AM JUST GOING TO MAKE A SUMMARY, SAYING THAT WHAT IS THE LEGAL STATUTE IN THE 24 COUNTRIES, FRANCOPHONE COUNTRIES.
AND IN 24 COUNTRIES, SIX COUNTRIES DON'T HAVE LINGUISTIC LAW IN -- WANT TO TALK ABOUT AFRICAN LANGUAGES, AND WANT TO TALK ABOUT NATIONAL LANGUAGES, BECAUSE WE HAVE GOT CROSS LANGUAGES.
AND IN THE 24 COUNTRIES, SIX HAVEN'T GOT ANY LAW WHATSOEVER.
BUT THIS DOESN'T MEAN THAT IN THE OTHER COUNTRIES THERE ARE -- IT'S WORKING PERFECTLY.
YES, THERE ARE LAWS, YOU KNOW.
WE DON'T NEED TO HAVE A GOOD LINGUISTIC LAW.
BUT WE NEED TO HAVE THE MECHANISM OF IMPLEMENTATIONS.
AND THE LAW DOESN'T COUNT, BUT THE WAY YOU APPLY THE LAW IS VERY IMPORTANT.
AND IF YOU LOOK AT IT, THE LEGAL STATUTE IS -- THEY WOULD NEED TO LOOK AT THE LEVEL OF IMPLEMENTATION.
AND WITHOUT THIS IMPLEMENTATION, WE CAN'T GO ANYWHERE.
WE CAN'T REALLY BLAME THE COMPUTER SCIENTISTS ONLY.
BUT, LEGALLY, WE HAVEN'T TAKEN -- WE WERE NOT PREPARED TO REALLY USE THESE LANGUAGES.
WE CAN'T COMPLAIN THAT ALL THE PEOPLE DON'T TAKE INTO ACCOUNT OUR LANGUAGES, SINCE LEGAL PEOPLE DON'T REALLY -- THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK IS NOT REALLY OPERATIONAL AT ALL.
WE HAVE TO LOOK INTO THE SITUATION IN EACH COUNTRY WHERE THERE ARE SO MANY LANGUAGES.
WE REALIZE THAT WE HAVE DOMINANT LANGUAGES.
IT CAN'T BE THE LANGUAGES OF THE MAJORITY SOMETIMES, BUT FOR SOME SIMPLY OTHER REASONS, THIS LANGUAGE MAY NOT BE SPOKEN BY SO MANY PEOPLE, YOU KNOW, BUT I CAN'T -- I'VE -- ALL THE EXAMPLES WE HAVE IN SENEGAL, THE WOLOF CASE, FOR EXAMPLE, THIS IS SPOKEN BY A FEW PEOPLE, BUT THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE SPEAKING THAT LANGUAGE.
AND MORE THAN 36 PEOPLE SPEAKING WOLOF, AND IT GOES BEYOND.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE, THE BAMBARA EXAMPLE, WE -- NOT MORE THAN 30,000 PEOPLE SPEAK THIS LANGUAGE.
BUT WE'VE GOT SO MANY -- MORE THAN 3 MILLION PEOPLE SPEAKING THESE LANGUAGES.
SO THAT MEANS THAT THERE HASN'T -- THE LANGUAGES HAVE GOT THEIR OWN DYNAMICS.
WE HAVE, JUST WITHOUT WASTING TIME, TO USE A LINGUIST TO REALLY DETERMINE THE INFLUENCE OF LANGUAGES.
AND THAT WILL ALLOW TO REALLY TACKLE THE ISSUE.
AND WE CAN SAY THERE ARE SO MANY LANGUAGES WE CAN'T USE THEM.
BUT WE REALLY CATEGORIZE THE WHOLE THING.
WE CAN SEE WHAT CAN BE DONE EVEN FOR COUNTRIES WHO HAVE GOT EVEN MORE THAN 60 LANGUAGES, AND WE CAN SEE WHAT LANGUAGES ARE SPOKEN.
AND THIS IS A STARTING POINT WITH THIS KIND OF SCHEME IN AFRICA, THAT'S A STARTING POINT.
WE HAVE TO LOOK AT THE CROSS-BORDER LANGUAGES.
AND THIS IS A KEY AS A STARTING POINT FROM EACH LANGUAGE, THOUGH EACH COUNTRY WILL LOOK AT THE LANGUAGES WHICH ARE THE MOST SPOKEN AND ACROSS-BORDER LANGUAGES, THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS THAT CAN BE DONE.
WE CAN'T JUST CONSIDER ALL THE LANGUAGES, BUT WE HAVE TO USE IN INDIAN CASE, FOR EXAMPLE, WHERE WE HAVE, FOR EXAMPLE, 18 CONSTITUTIONAL LANGUAGES AND HAVE GOT MORE THAN 1,000 DIALECTS.
BUT THEY'VE TRIED TO WORK ON THIS SITUATION.
AND I'LL COME BACK TO THIS SITUATION LATER.
BUT IN THESE COUNTRIES, WE TALK ABOUT THE SPIRIT AND LEGISLATIVE LAW.
AND THE SPIRIT IS THAT THE LANGUAGE SHOULD BE -- CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY.
BUT NO EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE SO FAR.
AND THAT MEANS THAT THESE LANGUAGES ARE JUST NOT MOVING ANYWHERE.
THEY ARE STAGNANT.
AND WE -- IF THE PEOPLE REALIZE THAT, BUSINESSMAN, POLITICIANS, AND THE BIG DECISION-MAKERS ARE NOT INTERESTED IN THE QUESTION, THEY WILL PRODUCE WHAT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM, AND WE WORK IN THE LANGUAGE, THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE, THE DOMINANT LANGUAGE, WHICH IS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE.
SO WHEN I AM TALKING ABOUT THE IDN IN A SIMPLE TABLE, WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE INDUSTRY OF LANGUAGES, WE HAVE THREE DOMAINS, SIMPLY: COMPUTER SCIENCE, DO WE HAVE A SITE, DO WE HAVE EDOCUMENTATION, OR DO WE HAVE EQUIPMENT?
AND I HAVEN'T FOUND ANYTHING MORE IN -- FOR THE TABLE IN THESE 24 COUNTRIES.
SO WE DON'T FIND IN ANY LANGUAGE IN ANY REALLY SATISFACTORY WAY A BENCHMARK FOR THE SITES WHICH EXIST.
AND THERE ARE A LOT OF SITES, BUT THERE ARE SO MANY ON AFRICAN LANGUAGES.
BUT THE SITES WHICH ARE FUNCTIONAL, IN PERCENTAGE, ARE IN ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES.
IN THE FRENCH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES, THERE ARE NOT MANY SITES AT ALL.
THE PRESENCE OF IT IS NONEXISTENT IN A FRANCOPHONE SITUATION.
WE HAVE GOT TO WORK VERY HARD.
THE OBSTACLE WE HAVE FACED, WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THEM, WHAT ARE THE STUMBLING BLOCKS IN THIS FRAMEWORK?
WE CRITICIZED THE COLONIAL SYSTEM A LOT.
BUT IN THIS SYSTEM, YOU KNOW, PUT IN PLACE, THE KIND OF TYPE OF SCHOOLS AND THE TYPE OF PEOPLE, THE ADMINISTRATION AFTER INDEPENDENCE DIDN'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TYPE OF PEOPLE AND TYPE OF SOCIETY WE HAVE TO PUT IN PLACE.
UNDER THIS ARE REALLY STUMBLING BLOCKS, BECAUSE THEY HAVE GOT SIDE EFFECTS ON OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.
AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS AS WELL.
AND AS YOU CAN SAY, FRANCOPHONE COUNTRIES HAVE GOT 20% OF PEOPLE SPEAKING FRENCH AND 10% OF PEOPLE SPEAKING PORTUGUESE, AND WE REPRODUCED THESE MISTAKES INDEFINITELY.
AND IN THIS CONTEXT, WE CAN WONDER WHAT TYPE OF SOCIETY OF IT WE WANT TO PUT IN PLACE, BECAUSE IT'S A QUESTION, ISSUE WHICH WAS NOT REALLY ANSWERED ON 3,000 SITES WHICH WERE UNDER STUDY, WHICH WERE VISITED.
HALF, YOU KNOW, OF THEM SPEAK TWO LANGUAGES.
AND 84 ONLY IN AFRICAN LANGUAGES.
AND I WOULD SAY, YOU KNOW, CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ANGLOPHONE SIDE, BECAUSE THEY'VE GOT THIS SITE IN SENEGAL.
ON THE FRANCOPHONE SIDE, THERE IS NO SITE WHICH IS OPERATIONAL SO FAR IN A LANGUAGE IN A FRANCOPHONE COUNTRY.
84, AS I SAID, OUT OF 3,000 CALCULATED.
AND, YOU KNOW, IF -- FOR ME, IT'S NONEXISTENT.
AND THE OBSTACLES ARE NOT HUMAN ONLY.
WE HAVE GOT THEM ON THE TECHNICAL SIDE.
WE HAVE LACK OF SOFTWARE AND, YOU KNOW, IT SOLUTIONS, AND WE WOULD SAY THE COMPUTER SCIENTISTS AND OTHERS HAVE TO REALLY WORK ON THIS QUESTION, ON THE QUESTION OF NATIONAL ALPHABETS AND AFRICAN ALPHABETS EXIST.
BUT IT WAS ADOPTED.
BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT IF THERE IS SOMETHING MISSING, WE HAVE TO COMPLETE IT.
WE DON'T HAVE TO WAIT INDEFINITELY AND SAYING THAT THERE WERE ALPHABET WHICH WERE ENCODED, THE AFRICAN ALPHABET WHICH WERE ENCODED.
BUT THE ONLY OBSTACLE IS THE QUESTION OF UNCODING THE ENCODING SYSTEM.
AND -- OF THE ALPHABET WHICH IS IN LATIN CHARACTER, WE HAVE TO WORK WITH THAT TO MOVE FORWARD, OR WE WORK WITH RESEARCH AND ACADEMICS TO REWORK ON THE ALPHABETS.
AND I SEE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS AND REINVENTED ALPHABETS, AND WE COULD JUST USE THEM.
AND WE ARE WAITING FOR THE YEAR BEFORE WE MOVE ON.
THIS IS KIND OF A STRATEGIC CHOICE THAT WE HAVE TO MAKE.
THIS IS JUST FOR THE CASE OF RESEARCH.
WE HAVE TO BE CONCRETE AND ADOPT SOME ALPHABETS.
WE HAVE TO ENCODE THEM USING THE EXISTING SYSTEM.
AND IF THERE IS NO ENCODING SYSTEM, THEN WE WON'T RECOGNIZE ANYTHING.
SO AFTER HIGHLIGHTING HUMAN AND TECHNICAL ASPECTS WHICH ARE THE STUMBLING BLOCK, THERE ARE SOME OTHERS.
AND TO START WITH, OR TO HELP THE AFRICAN LANGUAGES TO BE PRESENT, WE DO NEED TO LOOK AT THE LINK BETWEEN THE ETHICS AND THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.
WITHOUT ANY REFORM OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM, WE ARE USING BILINGUAL SYSTEM TO ENSURE AFRICAN LANGUAGES IN THE SYSTEM, THEN THERE IS NO VALIDATION OF THE LANGUAGE, WE CAN'T REALLY ENSURE PRESENCE OF THE LANGUAGES IN THE SYSTEM.
THERE IS AN EXAMPLE WHICH WAS GIVEN BY MAURICE DEPRIVIEU AND (INAUDIBLE) TO SHOW THAT THERE ARE SITES, THERE ARE SITES AND THERE ARE PEOPLE UNDERGOING DISCUSSION IN SWAHILI, LINGALA, FOR EXAMPLE, AND IF YOU SEE THAT, THERE ARE SITES WHERE DISCUSSIONS ARE CARRIED OUT IN THOSE LANGUAGES.
AND THESE LANGUAGES ARE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.
AND THESE LANGUAGES HAVE BEEN REALLY VALUED.
AND WE DON'T HAVE TO WORK ON ONE SIDE OF SAYING THAT OTHER LANGUAGES ARE JUST THERE TO HAVE SITES AND WE IGNORE THEM IN OUR DAILY LIFE.
IT'S NOT ONLY IN THE SOCIETY OF INFORMATION, BUT WE HAVE TO IMPLY ALL THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM AND THEN WE HAVE TO WORK VERY HARD AND MOVE FORWARD FURTHER.
AND WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
WE ARE NOT JUST GOING TO BE INTIMIDATED BY DIFFICULTIES, UNDERSTANDING AND STANDSTILL.
WE HAVE TO REALLY TRY HOW TO WORK HARD, WE HAVE TO SEE WHAT -- TO ANSWER THE QUESTION.
PEOPLE WONDER OH, WE COULD HAVE A SITE IN AFRICAN LANGUAGES, DOES IT WORK?
I THINK THAT IT DOES.
I THINK THAT IT WORKS.
WE HAVE TO REALLY ALLOW EACH COUNTRY TO PUT -- LINGUISTS SHOULD COME TOGETHER AND WORK ON THIS ISSUE, AND THEY HAVE TO CREATE SITES, TO WORK ON PRESENTATION OF A PAGE, FOR EXAMPLE, AND CHOOSE THEIR OWN CONTENT TO SHOW THAT IT WORKS.
ENTIRELY IN THE LANGUAGE OF THEIR CHOICE TO SEE THAT IT WORKS AND POLITICIANS TO SEE THAT IT WORKS, THEN IT WILL MAKE THINGS CHANGE.
ANOTHER ELEMENT THAT NEEDS -- THERE IS THE QUESTION OF HOW TO -- THE LOCATION OF THE SITES.
WE COULD JUST NORMALLY SEE A URL, THE SECRETARY OR THE ORGANIZATIONS.
AND TO HAVE WE HAVE THE SOLUTIONS TO LOOK AT THE SITES.
AND THIS HERE, ALL THE VISITED SITES IN IDN HAVEN'T GOT A NAME, AN IDN, AND WE HAVE -- AND THE NEW SITES THAT WE HAVE TO CREATE SHOULD BE -- SHOULD HAVE SPECIFIC NAMES ON THE LINGALA, FOR EXAMPLE, SWAHILI, AND POINT OF DOMAIN WHICH IS CLEAR. NOT A SITE WHICH GIVES US A DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS THAT ARE VERY DIFFICULT AND WE DON'T KNOW WHETHER THEY ARE REALLY, YOU KNOW, SATISFYING OUR CONCERNS, ET CETERA.
SO CREATORS ARE FREE TO DO ANYTHING, BUT TO ENSURE THE PRESENCE OF VISIBILITY IN THE SAME WAY AS WE SAY, WE DON'T HAVE TO HAVE FIGURES, JUST FIGURES, BUT WE HAVE TO HAVE VERY SIMPLE THINGS THAT HELP US TO RESPECT THINGS.
ACALAN AS I'VE HEARD, THE AFRICAN COMMISSION, ECONOMIC COMMISSION, HAS GOT ECAP, FOR EXAMPLE, AND HAVE WRITTEN THAT PRESENCE, ADAMA SAMASSEKOU TALKED ABOUT EIGHT, WE HAVE TO COORDINATE THE ACTIVITIES AND MAINLY TO HAVE OBJECTIVES THAT ARE CLEAR AND HOW TO MEET THE OBJECTIVES. AND WITH THIS, IT SHOWS A VISIBILITY THAT WE CAN REALLY HAVE. AND WE HAVE -- WE WON'T LOSE ANYTHING, AND PEOPLE ARE WONDERING WHETHER IT WORKS, AND WE WILL HAVE ONE ADDRESS, FOR EXAMPLE, AT THE ACADEMY OF LANGUAGES AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS AND WHAT IS GOING ON ON AFRICAN LANGUAGES AND WITH THE I.T. AND WHAT IS BEING DONE ET CETERA.
AND AS I JUST SAID, YOU KNOW, WE DON'T HAVE TO BE JUST LIKE THE PEOPLE HAVE GOT TO REINVENT THE WHEEL. WE CAN'T SAY THERE IS NO ALPHABET ADOPTED OR ENCODED IN EACH COUNTRY. THE THINGS EXIST, BUT THEY HAVEN'T BEEN ENCODED, AND THE STRUCTURES, AND WE HAVE TO STANDARDIZE THINGS.
THERE ARE POSSIBILITIES. THE PROBLEM IS THAT IS AN ISSUE TODAY. WE DON'T HAVE TO GO THAT WAY.
IF WE DON'T WANT TO GO THAT WAY, WHAT I WOULD SAY IS THE DECISION, DO WE HAVE TO CREATE ALPHABETS? IS IT AFRICAN? I DON'T THINK IT HELPS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICA TO SLOW DOWN IN THAT WAY.
IN CONCLUSION, AFRICAN LANGUAGES ARE NOT A BREAK TO THE DEVELOPMENT, THE ETHICAL DEVELOPMENT. THOSE WHO ARE WORKING ON THE QUESTION SAY IT'S NOT GOING TO DELAY THE PROCESS. PEOPLE ARE WORKING IN THE I.T. SHOULD BE CONVINCED THAT AFRICAN LANGUAGES, ON THE CONTRARY, BY STREAMING THEM IN THE VISION OF THE SITUATION AND THE PRACTICAL SIDE, WILL ALLOW A SHARE OF KNOWLEDGE, AND WILL ALLOW ACCESS OF A LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN THIS TECHNOLOGY. IT'S A QUESTION OF ORGANIZING THE WHOLE THING, AND THAT WILL ALLOW THE DEVELOPMENT OF EVERYONE. IT'S NOT THE DREAM OF LINGUISTS, BUT IT'S GOOD TO CLEARLY SHOW THE WHOLE THING, TO SHOW THAT EACH AFRICAN LANGUAGES, ESPECIALLY CROSS BORDER LANGUAGES BE ABLE TO SHOW THE CULTURAL DIVERSITY INSTEAD OF HAVING STERILE FACE TO FACE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
>>MOUHAMET DIOP: THANKS VERY MUCH, MAXIME. IT'S A VERY INTERESTING SESSION. WE'RE JUST TRYING TO PROVE OURSELVES THAT WE CAN SPEAK DIFFERENT LANGUAGES AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER.
QUITE A BIG CHALLENGE.
THE NEXT SPEAKER WILL BE ALIREZA SALEH, ROOZBEH POURNADER FROM THE PERSIAN EXPERIENCE.
SO WE WILL HAVE HERE A DESCRIPTION OF A PROJECT THEY HAVE ALREADY, AN IDN PRESENTATION, AND THEY HAVE BEEN THE DESIGNER OF THE PROJECT FOR THE LANGUAGE, AND IT'S VERY INTERESTING EXPERIENCE THAT WE'RE GOING TO LEARN FROM THEM.
SO YOU'VE GOT THE FLOOR.
>>>: OKAY. GOOD AFTERNOON, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MY NAME IS ALIREZA SALEH FROM IRNIC AND WE ARE REPRESENTING THE IDN PROJECT IN IRNIC AND THE WORK WITH FARSIWEB COMPANY.
WE ARE JUST GOING TO SKIP THE INTRO ABOUT IDN BECAUSE WE SUPPOSE EVERYONE IS FAMILIAR WITH IDN AND ITS CONCEPTS, SO WE START THE PRESENTATION.
ACTUALLY, THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN STARTED ON 2002, BUT IT'S DELAYED FOR A LITTLE BECAUSE OF CHANGING SOME POLICIES FOR REGISTERING DOT IR DOMAINS. IT'S FREE TO EVERYONE AND WE HAVE A DIFFERENT DISPUTE RESOLUTION POLICY ABOUT IT.
WE HAVE JUST FINISHED THE POLICIES OF THE TEST BED AND NOW THEY ARE FINALIZED AND WRITTEN, AND THEY WILL BE SOON AVAILABLE ON THE WEB SITE OF IRNIC TO BE -- THAT WILL BE USED IN -- THAT WILL BE USED FOR THAT.
SO WE ARE PLANNING TO START OUR IDN PROJECTS AT THE LATE IN DECEMBER. WE HAVE SOME TECHNICAL PROBLEMS WITH MERGING OUR IDN CODES WITH OUR REGISTRATION SOFTWARE. SO WE ARE NOW AT THE POSITION OF MERGING THESE CODES, AND WE HOPE THAT WE CAN START THINGS VERY SOON IN THIS MONTH. AND I THINK THAT -- WE THINK THAT MAYBE THE DURATION OF THE TEST BED WOULD BE AROUND SIX MONTHS. THAT IS STARTED RIGHT AFTER WE STARTING THE TEST.
THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IN IRAN IS PERSIAN, AND THIS IS THE ONLY OFFICIAL LANGUAGE THAT WE ARE USING IS PERSIAN, BUT WE HAVE DIFFERENT KINDS OF LANGUAGE ALSO THAT WE ARE -- THAT THEY ARE LIKE AZARBAIJANI, KURDISH, AND BALOCHI AND ARABIC. SO WE ARE WORKING ON ALL OF THESE LANGUAGES, AND NOW WE ARE TECHNICALLY BREAK OUT THE DRAFT OF HOW WE HAVE TO APPLY THESE LANGUAGES.
BUT FOR OUR RECENT TEST BED AND TEST PERIOD, WE OFFICIALLY START WITH PERSIAN LANGUAGE. THAT IS OUR OFFICIAL LANGUAGE. AND WE ARE THINKING ABOUT SOME ZONES THAT WE -- SOME ZONES THAT WE HAVE TO USE AT TOP LEVEL FOR IR.
THE IDEA FOR THE TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS IS THAT THE IDN ZONES IN PERSIAN, THE DOT COM, DOT NET AND DOT BIZ, THE IDEA IS THAT THE COMPANIES OR ORGANIZATION USING THIS IN -- IN IRAN. AND ALSO WE DO OUR RESEARCH ON THE MAJOR NAMES THAT CAN BE USED AS A IDN ZONES. AND WE CALCULATE IT AROUND 30 PERSIAN, THAT MOST OF THEM -- THAT ALL OF THEM ARE TEMPORARY AND JUST USE AT THE BEGINNING AND WE WILL CONTINUOUSLY -- WE WILL CONTINUOUSLY PROCESS THE FEEDBACK AND STATISTICS ABOUT THE THINGS THAT COMES TO OUR -- THE ENTRIES THAT PEOPLE LIKE AND THE SUGGESTION ABOUT THE PEOPLE OF IRAN.
ACTUALLY, I THINK THAT'S HOW WE CAN START THE -- HOW WE CAN -- HOW THE CLIENTS CAN USE THIS TOP LEVEL -- THIS PERSIAN ZONES. WE ARE SETTING UP SOME RESOLVERS TO RESOLVE FULLY PERSIAN DOMAINS. THE USERS CAN SET THEM AS THEIR RESOLVER AND THEN USE THAT FULLY IDN URL.
ALSO, THERE IS A POSSIBILITY FOR THEM TO ADD THE DOT -- THE DOT IR AT THE END OF THE URL, AND THEN THEY CAN USE ANY RESOLVER IN THE WORLD FOR RESOLVE THEIR DOMAINS. BUT ACTUALLY, THE IDEA BEYOND -- THE IDEA BEHIND THE IDN IS TO USE THE FULLY ONE SCRIPT, THAT THE URL SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN JUST ONE SCRIPT LANGUAGE, NOT JUST SWITCH THE KEYBOARD, BECAUSE WE ASSUME THE USER IS JUST USING THE MOTHER TONGUE OR ITS ORIGINAL LANGUAGE.
ALSO, AS YOU KNOW, MOZILLA-BASED BROWSERS LIKE NETSCAPE SUPPORT IDN INTERNALLY AND THE USERS CAN USE IT. WE ARE JUST -- WE -- IN OUR FAQ, IT WILL BE SOON AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB SITE, WE TRY THE CUSTOMERS TO USE IT, AND ALSO THEY CAN DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE PLUG-IN FOR IE. AND WE HOPE THAT MICROSOFT WILL SOON SUPPORT THE IDN.
OKAY. ACTUALLY, THE TEST BED IS FREE, AND NO MONEY EXCHANGED, WE HAD DURING THE TEST BED AND EVERYBODY CAN JUST COME AND SIGN UP FOR IDN DOMAIN. BUT WE JUST LIMITED THIS TO THE USER THAT HAD ALREADY -- THAT IS ALREADY -- IS A CONTACT OF AN ACTIVE DOMAIN, SUCH AS TECHNICAL HANDLE, BILLING HANDLE, OR ADMINISTRATIVE HANDLE OF THAT DOMAIN.
AND IT JUST SHOWS THAT WE CAN TRACK HIM AND WE CAN FIND HIM IF THEY DO SOMETHING THAT IS NOT -- IT JUST MAKES SOMETHING BAD FOR OUR SERVICE.
WE ASSUME THAT WE WILL DEFINITELY PURGE ALL THE DOMAINS THAT HAS BEEN REGISTERED DURING THE TEST BEDS, AND THEN WE ARE JUST USING IT FOR -- WE ARE JUST USING IT FOR DECISION. AND AFTER REAL -- AFTER REAL LABELS THAT WE HAVE -- WE HAVE TO USE. BUT IT'S JUST FOR AN EXPERIMENT, AND MAYBE THEY WERE NOT USEFUL AT ALL. BUT WE HAVE TO GO AND GO FOR IT.
THE PEOPLES THAT ARE PARTICIPATING IN THIS TEST BED HAS OFFICIALLY NO -- NO CHANCE BETTER THAN THE OTHERS, BUT MAYBE THEY HAVE SOME PRIVILEGES DURING THE SUNRISE PERIOD THAT WE PLAN TO HAVE A SUNRISE PERIOD FOR A SPECIAL WELL-KNOWN COMPANIES, AND ALSO THEY WILL HAVE THE SAME DOMAIN AND ASCII RIGHTS NOW. THEY WERE INFORMED BEFORE THE OTHERS, AND THIS IS THE CHANCE FOR THEM.
OKAY. WE ARE JUST REACHING TO THE TECHNICALITIES THAT I ASK MR. POURNADER TO CONTINUE THERE.
>>ROOZBEH POURNADER: OKAY. THANK YOU. IS THIS TOO HIGH? OKAY.
SO I'M GOING TO FOLLOW ON WITH THE TECHNICALITIES INVOLVED IN THE DETAILS.
THE BASIC LABELS, AND THIS IS RELATED TO LINGUISTIC ISSUES INVOLVED THAT WE'RE TRYING TO SOLVE HERE, WE DECIDED TO LOAD JUST PERSIAN LETTERS, PERSIAN DIGITS AND THE FAMOUS HYPHEN MINUS CHARACTER SO PEOPLE CAN HAVE SOMETHING LIKE A SPACE FOR THE DOMAINS.
OF COURSE, IN PERSIAN THERE'S ALSO ANOTHER CHARACTER LOOKING LIKE A SPACE, BUT NOT A SPACE. WE CALL IT A ZERO WIDTH NONJOINER. SOME PEOPLE CALL IT A PSEUDO SPACE OR ZERO WIDTH SPACE. THERE'S NOT ACTUALLY A CHARACTER KNOWN AS THAT BUT THE NAME IS NONJOINER FOR THAT.
BUT STILL, HYPHEN MINUS WOULD BE GOOD. PEOPLE ARE USED TO SEEING IT IN DOMAIN NAMES.
WE WILL NOT BE ALLOWING DIACRITICAL MARKS IN THE PERSIAN LANGUAGE. IT IS STILL TECHNICALLY CORRECT. AND IT'S LIKE THAT FOR HEBREW.
AND THERE ARE TWO CHARACTERS I TOLD YOU ABOUT, ZERO WIDTH JOINER AND ZERO WIDTH NONJOINER. IT'S NOT REALLY IGNORING, BUT YOU CAN ASSUME THAT IT'S IGNORED. AND THERE WILL BE THE IDNA BIDIRECTIONAL RESTRICTIONS WHICH DICTATE WEIRD THINGS, REALLY. FOR EXAMPLE, THAT'S LABELS SHOULD START AND FINISH WITH LETTERS, IF THEY ARE RIGHT TO LEFT, WHICH IS THE CASE OF THE PERSIAN LANGUAGE.
SO WE ARE FOLLOWING THAT.
WE'VE ADDED A CERTAIN RESTRICTION ABOUT LABELS WITHOUT ANY LETTERS. SO LABELS ONLY MADE OF PERSIAN DIGITS AND HYPHENS WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED. THIS IS SOMETHING WE CAME BY AFTER LOTS OF DISCUSSIONS, AND IT LOOKS SIMPLE BUT IT WASN'T REALLY THAT SIMPLE. EVEN DETERMINING WHAT IS THE REAL RANGE OF PERSIAN LETTERS WASN'T EASY FOR US. WE NEEDED TO DISCUSS MATTERS. THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO WERE AGAINST CERTAIN LETTERS BECAUSE THE LETTERS HAD CERTAIN FOREIGN FEEL TO IT. YOU WON'T BELIEVE THE POLITICAL PROBLEMS. FOR EXAMPLE, THERE IS THIS LETTER WHICH IS -- WHICH PEOPLE USUALLY CONSIDER ONLY AN ARABIC LETTER, AND THAT -- IT'S ONLY USED IN A VERY FEW PERSIAN WORDS, AND THOSE WORDS, BECAUSE OF THEIR ARABIC ORIGIN, THEY'RE ALSO CONSIDERED A LITTLE ARABIC. BUT THEY'RE PROPER PERSIAN WORDS, THE PERSON SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO USE THEM. THEY'RE EVEN USED IN CERTAIN ORGANIZATION NAMES. SO WE CAN'T IGNORE THEM. ORGANIZATION NAMES IN IRAN. BUT PEOPLE USUALLY DON'T LIKE TO -- LETT!
ERS, I MEAN LIKE THE LETTER IN THE ALPHABET. YOU GET WHAT I MEAN.
SO THE REASON FOR NOT ALLOWING LABELS WITH NO LETTERS, I MEAN, THEY WILL BE PERSIAN DIGITS ONLY, AND THAT WILL BE A LITTLE PROBLEM BECAUSE THERE MAY BE A CONFUSION WITH THE SAME NUMBER WRITTEN WHOLLY IN ASCII, WHICH WILL BE NON-ALLOWED IN ANOTHER WAY.
SO WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE IS WE'RE TRYING TO DISCONNECT ANY CONNECTION BETWEEN THE DOMAIN WHICH IS IN LATIN SCRIPT AND THE PERSIAN DOMAIN NAME WHICH IS IN THE ARABIC SCRIPT.
SO WE'RE PROBABLY THE FIRST COUNTRY REGISTRY TO IMPLEMENT BUNDLES FOR AN ALPHABETICAL LANGUAGE. I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT JAPANESE, KOREAN. PEOPLE USUALLY TRY TO CALL THIS THE ABJABS, AND IT'S SOMETHING LIKE AN ALPHABET. AND OUR BUNDLES IS MAINLY TRYING TO SOLVE A CERTAIN PROBLEM. THE PROBLEM IS THAT MANY OF OUR USERS HAVE NONSTANDARD KEYBOARDS, NONSTANDARD KEYBOARDS FOR THE PERSIAN LANGUAGE, BECAUSE THEY'VE NOT BEEN FOLLOWING UNICODE PROPERLY AND THEY'VE BEEN USING CUSTOMIZED CHARACTER SETS OR CUSTOMIZED FONTS, WHICH ARE NOT STANDARD.
FOR EXAMPLE, THEY USE A CERTAIN PERSIAN LETTER INSTEAD OF -- THEY USE A CODE FOR A CERTAIN ARABIC LETTER INSTEAD OF THE PROPER PERSIAN LETTER USED FOR THAT THING.
I WILL GIVE YOU MORE VISUAL EXAMPLES FOR THIS, BUT THIS IS THE GENERAL IDEA THAT PEOPLE ARE USING NON-STANDARD FONTS AND KEYBOARDS VERY FREQUENTLY. WE WILL TRY TO USE THE IDN OPPORTUNITY IN ORDER TO MAKE THEM MORE CONFORMING TO THE STANDARDS. I MEAN, INSTALL PROPER FONTS, INSTALL UNICODE CONFORMING FONTS OR OF COURSE RENDERING TECHNOLOGY. BUT WE WILL TRY TO MAKE SURE THAT IF THE USER IS NOT AWARE OF THE SITUATION AND -- LET'S SEE, HE MAY SEE SOMETHING ON A BOSS OR ON A VOL AND IT MAY BE A DOMAIN NAME IN VERSION. AND THEN HE GOES INTO HIS COMPUTER AND TIES THAT IN AND HE'S USING A STANDARD KEYBOARD. OKAY. NOTHING COMES OUT AND THE USER DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT. WHY IS THIS FAILING? HE CAN'T GET A CLUE.
SO WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO DO HERE IS FIX THE SITUATION FOR THE END USER BUT NOT THE MIDDLE -- NOT POSSIBLY THE REGISTRANT OR PEOPLE LIKE THAT WHO MAY FIND OUT ABOUT THE SITUATION BY VISITING OUR WEB SITE.
SO THIS IS A BUNDLE, AND THERE'S ALSO THE SECURITY PROBLEM. BECAUSE AN ARABIC LETTER OF YE, FOR EXAMPLE, WHICH IS USED IN CERTAIN FONTS, IN CERTAIN NONSTANDARD FONTS, MAY LOOK EXACTLY LIKE A VERSION YE BECAUSE THE FONT IS NOT A STANDARD. SO IT'S REALLY SOMEHOW USING A "B" TO DISPLAY A "C." AND IF THE USER IS SEEING "C"S EVERYWHERE, HE MAY THINK THIS IS REALLY A C. BUT TO THE COMPUTER AND UNDERNEATH THAT, IT'S A B.
SO WE WILL TRY TO MAKE CERTAIN THERE IS NO SECURITY PROBLEM AND THE USERS WILL BE ABLE TO USE THESE DOMAIN NAMES. WE ARE USING THESE TABLES FOR ARABIC INDIC DIGITS WHICH ARE DIFFERENT FROM PERSIAN DIGITS AND IN SHAPE OF COURSE AND FOR EUROPEAN DIGITS WHICH IS WHAT YOU KNOW IN THE WHOLE WORLD AS DIGITS. BUT THEY'RE ONLY USED RARELY IN PERSIAN CONTEXT. ONLY MOSTLY IN SCIENTIFIC CONTEXT.
SO IF THOSE THINGS ARE USED IN THE DOMAIN, WE WILL TRY TO NORMALIZE THEM FIRST. SO IF YOU DO ARABIC DIGIT OR A EUROPEAN DIGIT 4, PEOPLE CONVERT IT TO A PERSIAN DIGIT 4 IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE THAT IT'S THE REGISTERED THING. AND IN ORDER TO ALLOW THAT THING, WE'LL ALLOW A BUNDLE OF AT MOST SIX LABELS SO WE CAN HELP THE INTEGRATION. THIS LIMITATION WAS MAINLY DONE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT HUGE -- I MEAN, SIZES OF BUNDLES. AND I WILL EXPLAIN IT TO YOU A LITTLE LATER.
SO THIS IS THE TABLE I'M TALKING ABOUT, AND THIS IS THE SIX THINGS YOU SEE HERE.
DO YOU HAVE ME? OKAY.
SO THIS, ACTUALLY, IS THE PROPER THING (INDICATING). THE ROWS AND COLUMNS, YOU CAN SEE, THESE ARE THE TWO LETTERS KOF AND YE WHICH ARE A LITTLE DIFFERENT IN THEIR SHAPE AND BEHAVIOR IN PERSIAN AND IN ARABIC. BUT THESE DIFFERENCES ARE SO IMPORTANT THAT THE UNICODE HAS ASSIGNED DIFFERENT CHARACTER CODES TO THESE TWO.
I REALLY BELIEVE THAT MANY OF THE COUNTRIES WHO HAVE NOT BEEN -- I MEAN, IN REALLY GOOD CONNECTION WITH THE BIGGER WORLD WILL HAVE SOME OF THESE PROBLEMS. I WOULD REALLY EXPECT THIS WITH SOME AFRICAN COUNTRIES, SOME EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. I'M NOT SURE WHERE THE WHOLE LIST WILL GO, BUT THIS HAS CREATED -- THESE HAVE BEEN PROBLEMS. IT'S NOT ONLY, OF COURSE, THE COMMUNICATION PROBLEM WITH THE WHOLE WORLD. IT SOLVES THE COMMUNICATION PROBLEM INSIDE THE COMMUNITY.
SO IF YOU HAVE SEPARATE COMMUNITIES USING DIFFERENT KIND OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE WHICH MAY HAVE BECOME NOT A STANDARD IN THE MEANWHILE, YOU'LL POSSIBLY HAVE SUCH KIND OF PROBLEMS.
SO LET ME GET BACK TO THE SHAPES.
THIS IS ALSO -- AND THESE ROWS, AGAIN, YOU CAN SEE THE NUMBERS IN PERSIAN, ARABIC. THEY SOMEHOW LOOK THE SAME, BUT FOUR OF THEM HAVE DIFFERENT SHAPES, ACTUALLY. ALTHOUGH THESE WILL ALSO BE ACCEPTABLE IF THESE SHAPES TO A PERSIAN READER OR USER, THE UNICODE CODE POINTS FOR THOSE SIMPLY ARE DIFFERENT BECAUSE THEY'RE ALSO BEHAVIORAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THESE TWO SETS. AND THE LAST ROW IS OF COURSE THE EUROPEAN NUMBERS THAT YOU ALL KNOW.
SO THIS IS MAINLY -- WE WILL CONSIDER THIS -- WE'LL CONSIDER THIS THE MAIN -- DOMAIN NAME BUT WE WILL ALSO GIVE YOU THESE OTHER FIVE WHICH ARE THE COMBINATION OF ROWS AND TABLES, TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF YOUR USERS, DEPENDING ON THEIR CERTAIN CONFIGURATIONS, CAN WORK PROPERLY.
AS AN EXAMPLE, MICROSOFT CURRENTLY HAS THIS ON THEIR KEYBOARD. (INDICATING). UNFORTUNATELY, BECAUSE OF TECHNOLOGY RESTRICTION, THEY DON'T HAVE PERSIAN DIGITS ON THEIR KEYBOARD. ON A PERSIAN KEYBOARD LAYOUT THEY USE EUROPEAN NUMBERS. SO IF SOMEBODY IS USING A MICROSOFT KEYBOARD ON SAY WINDOWS, FOR EXAMPLE, THEY WILL BE ONLY ALLOWED -- THEY WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO ENTER THIS (INDICATING).
MOST OF THE NONSTANDARD PERSIAN IMPLEMENTATIONS OR SOMETHING WE CALL FARSI-FICATION PACKS WILL BE USED ON THE COMPUTER. THEY HAVE NO IDEA THEY ARE USING ARABIC KOFS AND YES AND EUROPEAN DIGITS. SO WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE THIS TRANSLATES TO THIS AND THEY BELONG TO THE SAME GUY. OKAY. SO THE PROCESS OF DOMAIN NAME IS SOMETHING LIKE THIS. WE FIRST CHECK THE VALIDITY. IF THIS IS A VALID INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES. WE WILL BE ADDING MORE NAMES TO IT WHEN WE FIND INFORMATION.
AND THERE ARE ALSO OTHER ISSUES, WHEN WE MIX LANGUAGES, WE WILL TRY TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THEM.
BUT WE HAVE THE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THAT.
BUT SINCE WE ONLY HAVE THE INFORMATION FOR PERSIAN, WE'RE NOT DOING MUCH IN THAT YET.
OKAY.
AND CHECKING THE VALIDITY IS VERY EASY.
AND WE ARE ONLY HERE IF THE LABEL IS NOT IN THE FAMOUS LDH FORM, FAMOUS LETTER, DIGIT, HYPHEN.
IF IT'S NOT LDH, WE ALREADY HAVE A GOOD PROCESS FOR TAKING CARE OF THAT.
WE ONLY GET HERE IF THE LABEL IS NOT LDH.
CHECKING IS EASY BECAUSE POLICY TAKES CARE OF MOST OF THAT.
WE CAN MAKE SURE THAT, I MEAN, IF ALL THE LETTERS ARE IN A CERTAIN SET THAT WE'VE MENTIONED, THEY WILL POSSIBLY MEET ALL OF THE STRINGPREP AND NAMEPREP REQUIREMENTS. AND THE CHECKS ARE MAINLY FIRST WE CHECK THAT ALL OF THE LETTERS IN THE LABEL ARE IN THE PROPER ORDER AND THAT THE LETTERS SHOULD START AND END WITH LETTERS.
THE PROCESS, FIRST OF ALL, WHEN NORMALIZED TO PROPER LETTERS AND DIGITS, SO IF YOU'RE ANYWHERE IN THIS TABLE, FOR EXAMPLE, OR EVEN YOU'RE MIXING DIFFERENT THINGS, FOR EXAMPLE, AN ARABIC KOF WITH A PERSIAN YE, YOU WILL GET TO THIS THING AS THE MAIN REGISTERED LABEL.
AND THIS THING WILL BE CONSIDERED THEIR MAIN REGISTERED LABEL.
AND THEN WE'LL REMOVE WHAT STRINGPREP REMOVES, WHICH ARE MAIL TO (INAUDIBLE) WHICH ARE USED IN PERSIAN.
BUT THEY'RE ALLOWED IN THE LABELS.
SOMETIMES THESE ARE REQUIRED IN THE SPELLING.
SPELLING IN A LABEL OR NAME WITHOUT THIS WILL BE A MISSPELLING.
AND THEN WE WILL GO TO COMPUTING THE BUNDLE, WHICH IS AT MOST 6, BUT USUALLY LESS.
THERE MAY BE A CASE THAT YOU DON'T HAVE ANY KOF OR YES OR ANY DIGITS IN YOUR LABEL.
SO THE BUNDLE MAY ONLY BE ONE LABEL.
AND THEN WE WILL COMPUTE THE ASCII EQUIVALENTS USING THE TOASCII THING INTO IDN, IDNA PROCESS.
IF THE MAIN REGISTERED LABEL IS TOO LONG AFTER THIS TOASCII, THAT, ACTUALLY, DNS WILL REJECT IT.
AND IF THE ALTERNATE BUNDLE MEMBERS ARE TOO LONG, WE WILL DO A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS.
IF EACH OF THEM FAILS, WE WILL REJECT THAT.
FINALLY, JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT THE USER IS SEEING THE RIGHT THING AND IS DOING WHAT HE OR SHE WANTS TO DO, WE WILL SHOW HIM A PICTURE, AN IMAGE OF WHAT IS BEING REGISTERED, NOT ONLY AS TEXT.
SO WE CAN MAKE SURE THAT THIS IS -- THEY CAN MAKE SURE THAT THIS IS WHAT THEY ARE REALLY REGISTERING AND THIS IS WHAT THEY REALLY WANT, SO THEY CAN STOP IT IF THAT'S NOT IT.
AND THIS IS ALMOST ALL OF THE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES.
THERE ARE LOTS OF OTHER DETAILS INVOLVED THAT I CAN GET IN LATER MEETINGS OR AT THE QUESTION PART.
SO AFTER THE TEST BED, WE WILL BE -- WHAT WE ARE REALLY PLANNING TO DO, BASED ON THE EXPERIENCE, WE'LL POSSIBLY CHOOSE SOME OF THESE LABELS AND THEN START TALKING TO ICANN TO GET SOME OF THOSE ACCEPTED AS PERSIAN GTLDS.
THIS IS A CHOICE, OF COURSE.
OR WE MAY TRY TO LOBBY FOR A DOT IRAN THING, WRITTEN IN ARABIC SCRIPT, OF COURSE, OR SHORTHAND OR ABBREVIATION FOR THAT.
WE DON'T KNOW.
WE WILL DECIDE ON THAT BASED ON THE FEEDBACK WE GET FROM THE USERS.
AND THOSE ZONES THAT WE GAVE TO OUR USERS, THEY COULD NOW BE USED UNDER THE -- SUCH A COUNTRY TLD, NOT A COUNTRY CODE TLD REALLY.
IT'S WHAT I LIKE TO CALL A CTLD.
OR WE DECIDE, NO, IT'S NOT WORKING.
OUR USER WOULDN'T LIKE THAT.
IT'S NOT WORTH OF EFFORT.
I MEAN, SOMEBODY ELSE SHOULD START THE WORK BASED ON WHAT THEY DO.
USUALLY THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO DO GTLD -- TRY TO HAVE GTLDS IN LOCAL NAMES.
WE DON'T KNOW YET, OF COURSE.
AND EVERYTHING WILL DEPEND ON THAT EXPERIENCE, WHAT WE FIND ABOUT THE USERS AND THE STATISTICS WE ARE GOING TO GATHER DURING THE WHOLE PROCESS.
WE WILL BE TRYING TO FOLLOW EVERYTHING, I MEAN, WHATEVER USER MISTAKES, WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO DO, AND WHAT HAPPENS, REALLY.
AND I GUESS IT WILL BE EASY MONITORING.
OKAY.
I BELIEVE I'M FREE FOR QUESTIONS NOW, IF ANYTHING -- COULD WE HAVE QUESTIONS?

>>MOUHAMET DIOP: YES.
>>ROOZBEH POURNADER: AND HOW MUCH TIME DO WE HAVE FOR THAT?
SORRY?
I'M ALREADY OVER TIME?
OH, SORRY.
>>MOUHAMET DIOP: WHAT I SUGGEST IS WE HAVE -- WE HAD A PRESENTATION.
WE'RE GOING TO TAKE 15 MINUTES FOR QUESTIONS AFTER THE PRESENTATION.
AND WE'RE GOING TO GO FOR THE BREAK BEFORE THE SECOND SESSION ON THE IDN APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
AND, SO -- SO PIERRE OUEDRAOGO WILL MAKE A PRESENTATION ON THE UNICODE, AS THE NEXT SPEAKER.

(APPLAUSE.)
>>MOUHAMET DIOP: I GUESS I'M GOING TO ASK TINA TO HAVE THE PRESENTATION AFTER THAT TO MAKE THEM AVAILABLE ON THE WEB SITE FOR PEOPLE WHO....
>>PIERRE OUEDRAOGO: OKAY.
THANK YOU.
I'LL BE SPEAKING OF DOING MY PRESENTATION IN FRENCH.
AND I HOPE THAT YOU'VE GOT YOUR HEADSETS FOR INTERPRETING.
NO ONE HAS GOT ANY.
IS WE'VE GOT HEADSETS OUTSIDE.
I'M GOING TO GIVE FOUR POINTS THAT ARE IMPORTANT IN THE ORGANIZATION PROCEDURE UNDER -- AT THE LEVEL OF THE MEMBERSHIP, THE TIP TOP OF MEMBERS THAT WE HAVE, AND IN THE CONTEXT -- IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT.
I WAS A LITTLE BIT EMBARRASSED BY THE OFFER THAT WAS MADE TO ME TO DO MY PRESENTATION, BECAUSE HERE THERE ARE BETTER SPECIALISTS THAN ME WHO KNOW BETTER ABOUT THIS ISSUE.
I AM A NEW MEMBER OF THE CONSORTIUM, AND I JOINED IN JUNE 2004 WHEN WE STARTED PARTICIPATING ACTIVELY IN THE MEETINGS.
BUT I UNDERSTAND THAT I'M ALSO THE FIRST AFRICAN TO SIT IN THE PRELIMINARY CONTACT.
THAT'S WHY THEY ASKED ME TO DO THE PRESENTATION.
BUT I KNOW THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THIS ROOM WHO KNOW NOT MUCH BETTER THAN ME.
THAT'S WHY I AM GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE PRESENTATION BEFORE TALKING ABOUT WHAT IS INTERESTING FOR AFRICA ON THE QUESTION DEALING WITH THIS ORGANIZATION.
WE KNOW THAT THERE ARE FIGURES, WHAT WE HAVE AS A SIGN, AS THEY ARE NOT FIGURES, THEY ARE NOT UNDERSTOOD AT ALL.
BUT WE KNOW THAT THERE WAS A KIND OF ANARCHY SOMETIMES BECAUSE SOMETIMES THERE WAS SOME NUMBER WHO COULD NOMINATE, YOU KNOW, A LETTER OR A LETTER WHICH COULD INDICATE TWO LETTERS, ACCORDING TO SYSTEMS OF -- ENCODING SYSTEM, THERE WAS A RISK THAT -- FROM A SYSTEM TO ANOTHER PLATFORM, THERE WAS A REALLY DISTORTION OF THE DATA.
THEN IT WAS CLEAR THAT COORDINATION BE MADE IN THIS DOMAIN.
AND THAT'S WHY UNICODE WAS BORN, UNDER THE IMPULSION OF THE INDUSTRY, THE IT INDUSTRY.
MAINLY, THERE ARE BIG INDUSTRY -- IBM, MICROSOFT, ET CETERA -- AND WE'VE GOT IN THIS ROOM ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE CONSORTIUM WHO IS PRESENT, MICHEL FROM MICROSOFT, WHOM WE MET WHEN WE HAD A MEETING DEALING WITH (INAUDIBLE) UNICODE.
IT'S USELESS TO TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF UNICODE.
BUT WE KNOW THAT IF WE HAVE TO COMMUNICATE, WE NEED TO HAVE THE INTEROPERABILITY.
THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE THE SAME CODE.
AND THERE ARE, YOU KNOW, A REDUCTION OF COST BECAUSE IT'S LESS COMPLEX, AND WE DO LESS TO GO FROM ONE SYSTEM TO ANOTHER.
THERE IS SOMETHING THAT IS ADDED, AND WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THAT THERE WERE ADDITIONS EVEN IN LANGUAGE THAT ARE CONSIDERED TODAY AS NOT BEING USED, THERE WERE ADDITIONS STILL.
AT THE LEVEL OF THE ORGANIZATION, RAPIDLY, IT IS AN ORGANIZATION WHICH IS A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION-MAKING WHICH HAS GOT A BOARD WITH EIGHT DIRECTORS, AND ARE COMING FROM BIG COMPANIES.
AND THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO REALLY WORK IN THE UNIFORMIZATION OF THE WHOLE THING.
AND THE HEADQUARTER IS IN CALIFORNIA.
AND THE OBJECTIVE OF UNICODE IS TO DEVELOP AND TO PROMOTE THE USE OF THE LISTENING STANDARD.
AND AS FAR AS THE STRUCTURE IS CONCERNED, WE HAVE TWO TECHNICAL COMMITTEES, UTC, WHICH IS IN CHARGE OF THE NORMS AND THE STANDARDS OF UNICODES, AND THE LDC, WHICH IS IN CHARGE OF LOCATION.
AND WE ARE GOING TO BE INTERESTED IN THE UTC.
THIS IS WHERE DECISIONS ON CODES OF CHARACTER -- CHARACTER CODES ARE MADE.
AND THE UTC ARE NOT ONLY IN CHARGE OF DEVELOPMENT, BUT ALSO THE MAINTENANCE OF TECHNICAL STANDARD OF THE UNICODE.
AND ALSO THEY PUBLISH REGULARLY.
THEY MEET FOUR TIMES A YEAR, AND THE REPORTS ARE ONLINE.
AND THE PARTICULARITY IS THAT MEMBERS CAN VOTE, NOT ONLY FULL MEMBERS, AS IS WRITTEN IN ENGLISH, BUT ALSO THE ASSOCIATED MEMBERS.
UTC RECEIVED PROPOSALS OF NEW CHARACTERS.
AND THESE ARE SUBJECT TO -- THEY SHOULD COME IN A FORM WHICH IS PREDEFINED.
I GIVE YOU THE WEB SITE TO SEE WHERE THEY ARE INTERESTED, K 1 SCRIPT PUBLISHED IN UNICODE, WE DON'T REMOVE IT, THIS CAUSES PROBLEMS FOR STABILITY, AND THERE IS SOME POSSIBILITY THERE IS NOT BETTER THAT WE'VE GOT 4.0, THERE IS A BOOK WHICH IS PUBLISHED, AND IT'S A BIG BOOK, GOOD WE HAVEN'T BROUGHT, IT'S TOO BIG.
AND WE ALSO HAVE A BOOK WHICH IS IN A FORM OF FILES.
SO WE HAVE AT THE LEVEL OF REPORTS THREE TYPES OF REPORTS.
WE'VE GOT THE SAME JARGON THAT WE FIND IN THE -- FROM ICANN.
AND THIS IS THE TECHNICAL REPORTS.
THESE -- OUR UNICODE STANDARD ANNEXES THAT IS PART OF THE STANDARD, UNICODE STANDARD, AND ALL THE ACRONYMS ARE THERE.
AND WE'VE GOT XUTS AND WE'VE GOT A URL WHICH WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE PRESENTATION, BECAUSE IT WILL BE ONLINE TO ALLOW YOU IF YOU WANT TO DEEPEN -- YOU KNOW, TO KNOW MORE.
AND THE QUESTION THAT I'M ASKING MYSELF IS, WHEN I JOIN THEM, I WONDER HOW IT WAS WORKING.
WE HAVE TO LOOK AT THE CODES.
AND I DISCOVERED THAT, WORKING TOGETHER, IT WAS VERY GOOD.
AND THE VERSION WAS SYNCHRONIZED.
ALSO, UNICODE ADDS SOME CONSTRAINTS OF SPECIFICATIONS WHICH ALLOW THE CHARACTERS TO HAVE A UNIFORM -- A KIND OF UNIFORM APPLICATION.
AND THESE, THE APPLICATIONS WHICH ARE REALLY CLEAR, AND YES.
NOW, AS FAR AS THE TYPE OF MEMBERS THAT THERE ARE OR ARE CONCERNED, THE MEMBERS WHO CAN PARTICIPATE, IT'S AN OPEN ORGANIZATION, AND PEOPLE SOMETIMES DON'T KNOW.
THIS IS WHAT I DISCOVERED WHEN I DISCUSSED WITH MANY PEOPLE IN AFRICA, THEY DIDN'T KNOW THAT IT WAS OPEN.
THEY DIDN'T KNOW THAT IT EXISTS.
THEY SAW IT IN THE MACHINE BUT THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WAS BEHIND IT.
IT'S AN ORGANIZATION WHERE WE HAVE DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS, AND THERE ARE SOCIETIES, THERE ARE GOVERNMENTS, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.
AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS AND INDIVIDUALS AS WELL.
AND TO BE A MEMBER, WHATEVER CATEGORY, YOU HAVE TO PAY A PARTICIPATION FEE FOR -- TO ALLOW CONSORTIUM TO BE RUN.
THERE ARE FULL MEMBERS, THERE ARE 16 AT THE MOMENT.
AND AMONG THEM, THERE ARE THREE ONLY WHICH ARE NOT A CORPORATION IN THE SECTOR OF IT.
AND THEY ARE GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN AND INDIA, AND THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGENCE OF FRANCOPHONIE, WHICH I HAVE PRESENTED HERE. AND THESE ALL HAVE GOT THE RIGHT, AND THEY HAVE NO RESTRICTION.
THERE IS A SMALL BUSINESS WHERE THERE IS ONLY ONE MEMBER.
I DON'T KNOW WHY.
AT THE LEVEL OF ASSOCIATE MEMBERS, THERE ARE 36 MEMBERS.
AND INDIVIDUALS, THERE ARE EVEN MORE.
IN THE LAST CATEGORY, WE HAVE THE LIAISON CATEGORY, WHICH ALLOWS THE ORGANIZATION, THE TECHNICAL ORGANIZATION, LOOKING AT THE STANDARDS IN THE UNICODE, THE DOMAIN, TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MEETING AND THEIR INVITATIONS.
AND IT'S JUST LIKE ANY OTHER ORGANIZATION WITH THE TEXT, ET CETERA.
AND AT THE LEVEL OF MEETINGS, WE HAVE -- I HAVE NOTED THREE TYPES OF MEETINGS: ANNUAL MEETINGS.
THIS IS STATUTORY MEETINGS WHERE MEMBERS, FULL MEMBERS, PARTICIPATE.
WE'VE GOT TECHNICAL COMMITTEE, WHERE EVERYONE CAN PARTICIPATE, AND NOT EVERYONE VOTE IN THE SAME WAY.
WHEN YOU HAVE FULL MEMBERS, YOU'VE GOT FULL VOTES, POWER.
IF YOU COME FROM A SMALL BUSINESS, YOU'VE GOT HALF A VOTE.
AND THE VOTE IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE CONTRIBUTION.
THEN THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS.
IT WORKS AS THE SHARES, HAVING SHARES.
THERE ARE PUBLIC MEETINGS, NOTABLY, A CONFERENCE, INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF UNICODE WHICH TAKES PLACE IN AMERICA, NORTH AMERICA.
AND THE 27TH ONE WILL TAKE PLACE IN BERLIN, IN GERMANY, FROM 5TH TO 8TH APRIL.
WE HAVE TO PAY A MEMBERSHIP IF YOU HAVE TO ATTEND THERE TO HELP.
THERE ARE A LOT OF SERVICES WHICH ARE INCLUDED IN THE FEE.
THOSE WHO WANT TO GO THERE WILL GET INFORMED ABOUT THE PARTICIPATION.
AND NOW I'D LIKE TO TALK ABOUT THE AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE, AND NOTABLY, THE INITIATIVE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGENCE OF THE FRANCOPHONIE.
THE FRANCOPHONIE, AS YOU KNOW, IS AN AFRICAN INITIATIVE.
IT'S NOT A FRENCH OR BELGIAN INITIATIVE.
THE THREE HEAD OF STATES, AFRICAN STATES (INAUDIBLE) FROM TUNISIA WHO REALLY LAID A FOUNDATION OF FRANCOPHONIE, AND IT'S IN -- THE IN THE FRANCOPHONIE CHARTER, IT'S CLEARLY STIPULATED THAT NATIONAL LANGUAGES OF THE COUNTRY MEMBERS ARE PARTNERS OF FRENCH.
IT'S NOT RESERVED TO FRENCH PEOPLE IN ISOLATION; IT'S VALID FOR COUNTRY MEMBERS.
TAKING THIS PRINCIPLE INTO ACCOUNT, THERE IS A SUPPORT TO THESE LANGUAGES TO DEVELOP THEIR SUPPORT ON INTERNET AS FAR AS ENCODING IS CONCERNED.
UNDER THE NAME OF THIS PRINCIPLE, SO THIS IS THE ACTION OF FRANCOPHONIE IN THE CONTEXT OF AFRICA.
WE HAVE, THEN, HIGHLIGHTED ON THE NETWORK, WHICH WAS BAPTIZED IN A (INAUDIBLE) AND CONCENTRATE ON THE ISSUE OF ENCODING.
FRANCOPHONIE HAS BEEN A MEMBER NOW TO ALLOW AFRICAN, YOU KNOW, AGENDA AT THE LEVEL OF UNICODE AND INCREASE THE TECHNOLOGICAL AUTONOMY OF AFRICA IN THE FIELD OF THE ENCODING.
THE FIRST AFRICANS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE UTC HAVE BEEN STARTED IN 2004 WITH THE HELP OF FRANCOPHONIE.
AND IT WAS IN WASHINGTON.
AND THE UTC AT TORONTO FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE AFRICANS WERE PRESENT IN THIS FORUM. AND IT WAS VERY SURPRISING FOR AFRICANS, WHEN AFRICA IS INTERESTED IN THESE KINDS OF ACTIVITIES ON THIS NETWORK, WORK CLOSELY IN RELATION WITH ICANN TO FACILITATE THE UPDATING AND FINALIZATION OF THE ALPHABET, AFRICAN ALPHABET, BASED ON THE LATIN CHARACTER, WITH THE BASIS -- AS BASIS OF WORK REALIZED IN 1998 IN NIAMEY WITH THE AFRICAN ORGANIZATION WHICH HELPED AFRICA TO HAVE ALPHABET, WHICH WAS ON A TEMPORARY BASIS, WHICH IS THE ALPHABET THAT YOU HAVE.
THERE IS A NUMBER OF CHARACTER THAT IS YOU HAVE SEEN IN THE LAST UTC COMMITTEE WHICH ARE NOT IN.
Q WITH A KIND OF TAIL, INVERTED TAILS, AND ALL SORTS OF CHARACTERS.
AND I WOULD LIKE TO STOP AT THIS LEVEL AND -- PERHAPS TO SAY THAT WE ARE LUCKY IN AFRICA, BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING -- NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE FULLY.
OUR FRIEND FROM IRAN HAS TALKED ABOUT DIFFICULTIES THAT WE HAVE WITH THE CHARACTERS, AND WE'RE AMAZED IN JULY IN KUALA LUMPUR TO SEE THE MALAY WRITING.
IT'S VERY IMPORTANT, WRITING IN A SPECIFIC WAY.
WE HAVE TO USE CHARACTERS, AND THEY ARE NOT BIGOTRY, THEY ARE USED TO EXPRESS PHONEMES, I THINK THIS IS THE EXPRESSION USED BY LINGUISTS THEMSELVES.
IF THAT WAS THE CASE, FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE ENGLISH, FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN WE LEARNED ENGLISH, THERE WAS PHONETICS IN ENGLISH.
AND WITH CHARACTERS, THAT WAS -- THEY WERE VERY DIFFICULT.
AND WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO WRITE ENGLISH IF WE HAD TO WRITE WITH PHONETICS.
AND AS I USUALLY SAY, IF IN ENGLISH WE TRIED TO LOOK AT ALL OF THE DIFFERENCES IN THE WAY THE PEOPLE SPEAK AND THE WAY IN ASIA PEOPLE SPEAK, WE WOULD BE ABLE TO REALLY GET TO A VERY COMPLEX, I THINK, AND VERY COSTLY, AND SIMPLIFICATION HAS ALLOWED TO HELP LEARNING, AND ALSO AT THE LEVEL OF INDUSTRY, THERE IS A DIMENSION, THERE IS A SCALE OF ECONOMY WHICH HAS BEEN PERCEIVED.
AND THIS IS OUR DEBATES THAT SHOULD NORMALLY BE TACKLED NEXT YEAR IN THE AFRICAN LEVEL.
AND THEN WE HAVE TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE PLAN OF ACTION AT THE LEVEL OF UTC IN BRINGING ALL THE PROBLEMATICS OF AFRICA AT THIS LEVEL.
AND ALSO WE HAVE TO ORGANIZE TO SENSITIZE EVERY -- IF POSSIBLE, ALL THE FORUM, AFRICAN FORUM. AND THERE IS A PROJECT TO HAVE WORKSHOP WITH ACALAN AND THE REGIONAL CONFERENCE AT THE PREPARATORY MEETING AT THE WORLD SUMMIT.
AND THIS WILL TAKE PLACE IN ACCRA.
AND FROM THE 29TH TO THE 4TH OF FEBRUARY, NO -- NO, 24TH JANUARY TO 4TH FEBRUARY, THAT WILL BE -- THERE IS ANOTHER ONE WHICH WILL BE ORGANIZED IN APRIL.
AND WE'LL JUST CARRY OUT THIS ACTION WITH ALL THE EXPERTS AND THE DECISION-MAKERS.
AND WE ALSO HAVE TO PUT -- TO PUT -- TO MAKE -- TO PUT THE FOCUS ON THE ALPHABET.
THAT WON'T COMPLICATE THE WHOLE THING.
THESE ARE THE POLITICAL DECISIONS, AS SUCH, AND THE -- SOME TECHNIQUES WILL BE DONE WITH THE AU.
AND WE HOPE THAT THIS WILL HELP THE STREAMLINING TO AVOID DIVIDING AFRICA, IN A DOMAIN WHERE WE CAN AVOID IT.
BORDERS EXIST, BUT WE CAN'T REALLY DIVIDE AFRICA WITH THE KEYBOARDS.
AND THE TECHNICAL SUPPORT IS VERY IMPORTANT, AFRILANG, WITH WHOM WE WORK.
AND WE'VE GOT TO SUPPORT AND TO IMPROVE THE AFRICAN INITIATIVES WITH THE SOFTWARE, WHICH SHOULD BE ADAPTED BASED ON THE CODE.
AND WE HAVE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF -- THE REINFORCEMENT OF THE CAPACITY IN THE IDN AND ON THE GROUND WITH THE ORGANIZATIONS THAT HAVE, YOU KNOW, MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY, ICANN, FOR EXAMPLE.
IN CONCLUSION, I WOULD LIKE TO SAY FOUR POINTS.
FIRST OF ALL, UNICODE IS VERY IMPORTANT.
IT'S VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE STREAMING OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION OF AFRICA.
WE DON'T HAVE TO CREATE DIVISIONS.
WE HAVE TO MAKE DECISIONS, AND IN FRONT OF HISTORY WE HAVE TO DO A FOLLOW-UP.
AND THE AFRICAN CHARACTERS NEED TO BE NORMALIZED.
BECAUSE FROM 1978, THERE WERE WORK IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, AND THERE WAS NO SUMMARY TO GIVE A NEW VERSION WHICH COULD BE ACCEPTABLE BY ALL AFRICANS.
AND I THINK THAT RESEARCHERS HAVE WORKED VERY HARD, AND IT'S TIME THAT THEY PUT EVERYTHING TOGETHER AND TO TRY TO WORK AND TO -- THIS IS MY OWN WISH.
AND I WOULD LIKE TO CONVINCE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, AFRICAN SISTERS WHO ARE HERE TO HELP US IN THIS VISION.
AND WE'VE GOT THE IP, AND IT IS BASED ON CODES.
AND WE HAVEN'T FINISHED YET AT ALL.
WE ARE NOT SURE.
AND MAYBE WHEN WE DECIDE ABOUT THE ALPHABET, WE WILL HAVE THE CHARACTERS OF UNICODE IN THESE CONDITIONS AND THE PROBLEM WILL BE DEFINITELY SOLVED.
BUT IF THERE ARE SOME WHICH ARE NOT, THEN WE HAVE TO DO THE WORK.
AND THIS IS WHAT I WANTED TO SAY.
AND AT OUR LEVEL, WE ARE OPEN.
AND WE WANT ALL THE VOLUNTEERS TO JOIN US TO HELP US IN THIS ACTION IN THE IT DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA.
AND I THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

(APPLAUSE.)
>>MOUHAMET DIOP: THANK YOU VERY MUCH, PIERRE.
I THINK THAT WE GOT, SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THIS PRESENTATION, EVERYTHING IS GOOD NEWS.
I THINK THAT WE'LL HAVE ENOUGH RESOURCES TO INTERACT AFTER THIS SESSION.
VALENTIN NEMETH FROM SOUTH AFRICA, YOU ALSO HAVE A PRESENTATION TO MADE ON CHARACTERS AND CERTIFICATES.
>>VALENTIN NEMETH: HELLO.
VERY GOOD AFTERNOON, EVERYONE.
WE HAD A VERY LONG AFTERNOON SO FAR.
AND I THINK IT'S TIME TO HAVE SOME FUN AND TALK ABOUT SOME SERIOUS SUBJECT.
LET'S TALK ABOUT SECURITY.
AND WE'RE GOING TO SET UP THE MACHINE IN A SECOND.
OKAY. WELL, WHILE THE MACHINE IS BOOTING UP, CAN EVERYONE HEAR ME OKAY? IS IT ALL RIGHT?
WE HAVEN'T REALLY -- WE TALKED ABOUT A LOT OF ASPECTS AROUND IDN, HOW DOES IT WORK, WHAT ARE THE LANGUAGE ISSUES, WHAT OTHER ISSUES ARE THERE. WE HAVEN'T REALLY SPOKEN ABOUT SECURITY.
IF WE LOOK AT THE INTERNET, THE BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET IS REALLY DRIVEN BY SECURITY. YOU WANT SECURE TRANSACTIONS, YOU WANT YOUR INTERNET BANKING SECURE, E-COMMERCE NEEDS TO BE SECURE.
SO HOW DOES IDN FIT INTO THIS PICTURE?
WHAT DO THE -- WHAT DO WE NEED TO LOOK AT AND TALK ABOUT?
OUR MACHINE IS STILL BOOTING UP.
RIGHT. SO....
YEAH, WE HAD A LITTLE -- YEAH. DO WE HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE OF MICROSOFT HERE WHO COULD COMMENT ON IT?
(LAUGHTER.).
>>VALENTIN NEMETH: OKAY. SO A LITTLE BIT OF A BACKGROUND ON IDN. NONE OF THE TALKS UNTIL NOW HAVE REALLY SPOKEN ABOUT HOW IDN WORKS AND WHAT IT IS. SHALL WE HAVE A TWO-MINUTE SORT OF BACKGROUND ON IT?
THE BASIC IDEA IS IDN MEANING INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAME, IT ALLOWS YOU TO HAVE THE INTERNET IN YOUR OWN LANGUAGE, MEANING THAT THE DOMAIN NAME, THE HOST NAME AND THE URL, THE WEB SITE, IT CAN BE IN YOUR OWN NAME. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE ENGLISH, AND IT CAN BE CHARACTERS THAT ONLY PEOPLE LIVING IN ASIA AND OTHER PLACES KNOW.
NOW, HOW DOES THAT WORK?
THE TECHNICAL REALIZATION IS REALLY A TRANSFORMATION. THE IDN LIVES IN TWO FORMS. IT LIVES IN THE NATIVE LANGUAGE FORM, WHICH IS WHAT PEOPLE TALK ABOUT AND WHAT PEOPLE USE, AND THERE'S A TECHNICAL REPRESENTATION AS WELL, A MACHINE READABLE REPRESENTATION, WHICH IS REALLY USED FOR TRANSACTIONS.
SO THAT'S THE KEY POINT, IN MY OPINION, WHAT MAKES -- NO, THAT'S NOT THE SAME. I THINK I'VE GOT A --
>>ROOZBEH POURNADER: IT'S HERE NOW.
>>VALENTIN NEMETH: FANTASTIC.
SO AFTER ALL THE GETTING STARTED, TREMENDOUS.
SO JUST TO CLOSE OFF THE CHAIN, WITH IDN WE HAVE TWO REPRESENTATIONS. WE HAVE THE NATIVE LANGUAGE REPRESENTATION AND WE HAVE GOT THE MACHINE READABLE REPRESENTATION WHICH DOESN'T LOOK ANY SIMILAR TO THE NATIVE LANGUAGE REPRESENTATION. AND THAT IS NEEDED FOR THE NAME RESOLUTION, THE DNS TRANSACTION, AND FOR THE INTERNET TO WORK, REALLY.
SO I'VE BEEN TALKING SO MUCH, BUT I HAVEN'T REALLY INTRODUCED MYSELF, AND OUR COMPANY. SO WHO ARE WE?
WE ARE THAWTE CONSULTING BASED IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, HENCE THE AFRICAN CONTEXT. WE ARE THE SECOND LARGEST CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY WORLDWIDE. WE STARTED OPERATING IN 1995 AND ISSUED THE FIRST DIGITAL CERTIFICATE IN 1996.
WE ARE THE FIRST CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY TO ISSUE A CERTIFICATE OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES. AND SO FAR, IN THE LAST EIGHT YEARS, WE ISSUED ALMOST HALF A MILLION SSL CERTIFICATES, INCLUDING CODE SIGNING CERTIFICATES AND THREE QUARTER MILLION PERSONAL CERTIFICATES IN 172 COUNTRIES.
SO I THINK THAT PROVES THAT WE ARE PRETTY INTERNATIONAL.
WE EMPLOY OVER 100 STAFF. WE SUPPORT 28 LANGUAGES ACTIVELY, AND WE ARE DEDICATED TO THE OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY.
AND IN 1999, THE COMPANY HAS BEEN ACQUIRED BY VERISIGN, BUT WE STILL OPERATE AS THAWTE AND AS AN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS UNIT.
AND OUR MARKETING FOLKS PUT TOGETHER A VERY NICE MISSION STATEMENT, WHICH EVERYONE CAN READ. I WOULD LIKE JUST TO MOVE ON.
SO WE TALKED ABOUT IDN. LET'S TALK ABOUT SECURITY.
HOW DOES TRUST WORK? HOW DOES SECURITY WORK TODAY? HOW DO WE TRUST THE WEB SITE WHERE WE PAY MONEY, WHERE WE BUY THINGS, WHERE WE DO OUR BANKING?
WELL, THE NUTS AND BOLTS ARE THAT AN ORGANIZATION, BE IT A BANK, BE IT A COMPANY, AN E-TAILOR, YOU WOULD GO TO A CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY AND REQUEST A DIGITAL CERTIFICATE. THE CA, THE CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY, WILL VERIFY THAT THE DOMAIN THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SECURE INDEED BELONGS TO HIM AND THE CA ALSO MAKES SURE THAT THIS PERSON REPRESENTS A VALID ORGANIZATION AND HE IS REALLY THE PERSON OR THE ORGANIZATION HE SAYS HE IS, WHICH IS CALLED AUTHENTICATION.
ONCE A DIGITAL CERTIFICATE IS ISSUED, IT'S INSTALLED ON A WEB SITE, AND USERS CAN VISIT THE SITE.
WHEN A USER ACTUALLY HITS THE SITE, WHAT HAPPENS? THE BROWSER WILL DOWNLOAD THE DIGITAL CERTIFICATE AND THE DIGITAL CERTIFICATE HAS THE DOMAIN NAME EMBEDDED IN IT. THE BROWSER COMPARES THE EMBEDDED DOMAIN NAME WITH THE DOMAIN NAME OF THE DOWNLOAD PATH. SHOULD THERE BE A MISMATCH, THEN THE BROWSER WILL SAY, HEY, I HAVE A PROBLEM. I DON'T THINK WE SHOULD TRUST. AT THAT POINT, THE USER TYPICALLY DOESN'T TRUST. THE BROWSER DOESN'T SHOW THE CLOSED PADLOCK AS YOU'VE PROBABLY SEEN, AND THERE'S NO TRANSACTION, WHICH MEANS NO BUSINESS, REALLY.
AND SHOULD THERE BE A MATCH, SHOULD THE DOWNLOAD AND THE DOMAIN NAME PART AND THE DOMAIN NAME IN THE CERTIFICATE MATCH, THEN THE BROWSER IS HAPPY, NO WARNING, CLOSED PADLOCK AND THE USER CAN MOVE ON AND DO HIS TRANSACTION.
NOW, WHAT IS REALLY THE PROBLEM WITH IDN? I MENTIONED THAT IDN, INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES, LIVE OR HAVE TWO FORMS. THE NATIVE LANGUAGE FORM AND THE PUNYCODE ENCODED FORM WHICH IS THE MACHINE READABLE, YOU COULD CALL IT -- THERE IS THAT WORD BUT THERE WE ARE.
SO THE COMPARISON BETWEEN EASTERN EUROPEAN, WESTERN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES, ASIAN, AND WHAT IS THE NATIVE LANGUAGE FORM AND WHAT IS THE PUNY ENCODED FORM. IF YOU LOOK AT IT WHICH ONE CAN YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND OR READ?
I WOULD SERIOUSLY ARGUE THAT IT'S THE LEFT-HAND SIDE, NOT THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE.
SO IF WE MAKE SECURITY AND TRUST ON THE INTERNET WORK, AND KNOWING THAT THE TRANSACTIONS ON THE INTERNET NEED TO USE THE PUNYCODE ENCODED FORM, THAT WOULD MEAN THAT WE NEED TO PUT THE PUNYCODE ENCODED FORM INTO A DIGITAL CERTIFICATE WHICH IS NOT READABLE TO THE USER. THE USER DOESN'T RECOGNIZE IT AS A VALID DOMAIN NAME AND HE DOESN'T TRUST. AND IF HE DOESN'T TRUST HE DOESN'T DO THE TRANSACTION AND WHERE IS THE BUSINESS GROWTH?
SO JUST LET'S LOOK AT AN EXAMPLE.
RIGHT. SO LET'S LOOK AT -- I THINK THINGS ARE JUMPING HERE, BUT WE CAN JUMP, TOO.
SO LOOKING AT WHAT IS THE PROBLEM, AGAIN, THE TWO FORMS, WE CAN PUT THE TWO FORMS INTO THE DIGITAL CERTIFICATE AS WELL. WE CAN MAKE THE HUMAN READABLE FORM OF THE CERTIFICATE OR THE MACHINE READABLE PART OF THE CERTIFICATE.
NOW, WHAT HAPPENS? IF YOU MAKE THE NATIVE LANGUAGE FORM PART OF THE CERTIFICATE, THE USER WILL TRUST. THE PROBLEM IS IT DOESN'T WORK. WE NEED THE PUNYCODE FORM IN THE CERTIFICATE FOR IT TO WORK. BUT IF WE DO THAT, THE USER DOESN'T TRUST BECAUSE HE DOESN'T RECOGNIZE THE DOMAIN NAME. SO AGAIN, NO TRUST, NO TRANSACTION.
SO HERE IS THE EXAMPLE I WAS LOOKING FOR. THIS IS A WEB SITE, THE USER TYPED IN THE NATIVE LANGUAGE NAME. THE BROWSER HAD THE NECESSARY PLUG-IN. IT RESOLVED, LOADED THE PAGE, AND WE INSTALLED THE DIGITAL CERTIFICATE THAT WORKS SO THE PADLOCK IS ON.
BUT LET'S GO AND CHECK THE DETAILS.
IF YOU LOOK AT THE DETAILS, THE CERTIFICATE HAS BEEN ISSUED TO THE ENCODED FORM, WHICH WE DON'T RECOGNIZE. QUITE FRANKLY, THE NAME I TYPED IN AND THIS ARE DIFFERENT, SO I WOULDN'T TRUST. WOULD YOU?

SO CLEARLY THERE'S A PROBLEM IN THE SECURITY SPACE WITH IDN. NOW, IS IT REALLY WORTHWHILE TO LOOK AT IT AND MAKE IT WORK? WELL, I WOULD ARGUE THAT IT IS WORTH OUR WHILE. LOOKING AT SOME FACTS, 92% OF THE WORLD SPEAKS A PRIMARY LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH. 48% OF INTERNET USERS ARE NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS.
IN 2003, NON-ENGLISH SPEAKERS REPRESENTED TWO-THIRDS OF ALL INTERNET USERS, AND A PROJECTION THAT BY 2007, CHINESE WILL BE THE NUMBER ONE WEB LANGUAGE.
SO DO WE NEED IDN? WELL, I THINK WE DO.
AND LOOK AT THE TRUST FACTOR AGAIN. WE SEE IT'S A TRUST THING. IT'S REALLY ALL ABOUT TRUST. IF YOU'RE IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENT, YOU TRAVEL, YOU CERTAINLY DON'T UNDERSTAND AND CAN'T READ EVERYTHING.
NOW, IF YOU ARE AT HOME IN YOUR ARM CHAIR SURFING THE INTERNET, YOU ARE WITH IDN IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENT. YOU NEED TO TRUST. AND YOU CAN TRUST USING SECURITY AND YOU CAN TRUST USING DIGITAL CERTIFICATES.
AND A HOT SUBJECT TODAY IS DEFINITELY PHISHING. I HOPE EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT PHISHING IS, USING A CLEVER ENGINEERING TO GET PRIVACY DATA. AND WHAT THESE GUYS DO IS THEY SET UP WEB SITES WITH A SIMILAR URL, A SIMILAR DOMAIN NAME TO A LEGITIMATE SITE, BE IT A BANK, BE IT GOVERNMENT, AND TRY TO CAPTURE USER DATA.
NOW, AGAIN, WE NEED TO TRUST. THE DIGITAL CERTIFICATE IS A FANTASTIC WAY TO ESTABLISH THE TRUST AND THE CERTIFICATE IS THERE TO MAKE SURE -- WE HAVE TECHNOLOGY TODAY, DON'T WE?
SO DO WE NEED TO SECURE IDN? I THINK WE DO.
HAVING SPOKEN TO A COUPLE OF FOLKS IN THE PASSAGE, THEY ALREADY MENTIONED THAT IDN IS AN EARLY ADOPTER MARKET. PROCESSES AREN'T NECESSARILY SUPPORTED, NOT EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT IT. NONETHELESS, WE CAN SEE THAT THERE ARE ROUGHLY ONE MILLION DELEGATIONS WORLDWIDE TODAY. A MILLION IDN DOMAINS ACTIVE ON THE INTERNET. THAT'S QUITE A NUMBER. SOME STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT ABOUT TWO TO THREE PERCENT OF ALL INTERNET DOMAIN NAMES ARE SECURED WITH SSL CERTIFICATES, SO TWO PERCENT OF A MILLION IS A GOOD NUMBER. I THINK IT'S A GOOD NUMBER.
WHY DO ORGANIZATIONS USE IDN? THE ONE FACTOR WHICH HAS BEEN DISCUSSED A LOT IS THE LANGUAGE, NATIVE LANGUAGE AND UNDERSTANDING THE LANGUAGE AND READING IT. BUT THERE'S ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT FACTOR WHICH IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.
THINK OF -- THINK OF COCA-COLA. IT DOESN'T REALLY SOUND IDN BUT IT'S A VERY GOOD EXAMPLE OF A NAME BEING A TRADEMARK AND BEING USED AS A TRADEMARK ON THE INTERNET AS A DOMAIN NAME.
THINK OF CYBERSQUATTERS. THEY ARE TRYING TO GET COCA-COLA.COM.
WELL, IN LANGUAGES THAT ARE NOT USING THE ENGLISH OR LATIN ALPHABET, THERE ARE A LOT OF BRAND NAMES AND THE COMPANIES VERY MUCH WANT TO KEEP THOSE BRAND NAMES AND TRADEMARK THEM. AND REPRESENT THEM ON THE INTERNET. IN ORDER TO DO THAT THEY NEED TO REGISTER IDNS AND IN ORDER TO USE THEM AND MAKE PEOPLE TRUST, THEY NEED CERTIFICATES.
SO I THINK EVERYONE AGREES WITH ME THAT SECURITY IS A GOOD IDEA. DO I SEE A YES?
OKAY. SOUNDS GOOD.
RIGHT. SO WE HAVE LOOKED AT THE WHOLE PROBLEM AND WE DECIDED LET'S GO FOR IT. LET'S SECURE IDN. WHAT IS REALLY THE CORNER CASES HERE? WHAT ARE THE BASICS THAT WE CAN BUILD ON, BUILD THE SECURE IDN ON?
WELL, FIRST OF ALL, VERY OBVIOUS, THE USER INSTINCTIVELY TRUSTS THE NATIVE LANGUAGE IDN. THAT'S ONE FACT.
NETWORK TRANSACTIONS, HOWEVER, NAME RESOLUTION, ARE DONE IN THE PUNYCODE FORM. THAT'S ANOTHER FACT.
THOSE ARE THE BAD NEWS, REALLY. THE GOOD NEWS IS THE CERTIFICATE DEFINED BY THE X 509 STANDARD, THEY DO AND WE CAN ALSO PUT DOMAIN NAMES INTO X 509 CERTIFICATES. SO WE CAN DEAL WITH THE MULTIPLE FORM.
WE SET OURSELVES A NUMBER OF DESIGN GUIDELINES. NUMBER ONE IS GET TRUST. GET PEOPLE TRUST THE IDN, THE SECURE IDN. AND WE CAN DO THAT BY MAXIMIZING THE REPRESENTATION OF THE NATIVE LANGUAGE NAME, AND MINIMIZING THE MACHINE READABLE OR PUNYCODE ENCODED FORM. AND OF COURSE WE NEED TO PROVIDE SUFFICIENT PUNYCODE, IF YOU WILL, TO MAKE THE TRANSACTION WORK.
AND A VERY IMPORTANT POINT THAT SECURE IDN NEEDS TO WORK IN THE CURRENT EXISTING BROWSER ENVIRONMENT. IT SHOULD NOT RELY ON ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE, IT SHOULD NOT RELY ON ADDITIONAL PLUG-IN, BECAUSE IF IT DOES, THEN IT WON'T WORK FOR EVERYONE IMMEDIATELY.
NOW, HAVING SAID THAT, TODAY THE CURRENT BROWSER ENVIRONMENT DOES REQUIRE ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE. AND I'M PRETTY SURE THERE'S GOING TO BE LOTS OF DISCUSSION ABOUT THAT, WHO SUPPORTS WHAT, THE MOZILLA FOLKS AND (INAUDIBLE) FOLKS AND THE MARKET LEADER.
SO I DON'T GO INTO THAT, BUT THE POINT IS THAT ONCE IDN WORKS IN YOUR BROWSER, SECURE IDN WILL WORK, TOO.
SO LET'S LOOK AT AN EXAMPLE, BECAUSE THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT WE MADE SECURE IDN WORK. IS IT GOOD NEWS?
SO LET'S LOOK AT THIS SITE WE VISITED. THIS IS A TEST BED, OBVIOUSLY, USED AN IDN DOMAIN TO GET TO A SITE. SSL CERTIFICATE WITH OUR NEW IDN CAPABLE CERTIFICATE INSTALLED. PADLOCK IS DISPLAYED, WHICH IS GOOD NEWS. THE FIRST STEP OF THE TRUST HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED. AND LET'S DO OUR DOUBLE CLICK ON THE PADLOCK, AND LOOK AT THE DETAIL.
DETAIL SHOWS THAT THE CERTIFICATE HAS BEEN ISSUED TO THE IDN DOMAIN NAME, WHICH IS THE SAME WHAT WE HAVE ENTERED, SO DO WE HAVE TRUST? I THINK WE DO HAVE TRUST. AND WE TOOK IT A STEP FURTHER, AND BECAUSE THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO ARE VERY INTERESTED IN SECURITY, AND REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DEALING WITH AND WHO THEY'RE DEALING WITH. SO LET'S LOOK AT THE CERTIFICATE DETAILS. AND THE INTERESTING PART IS THE SUBJECT NAME, WHICH REALLY CONTAINS THE EMBEDDED DOMAIN NAME, AND WE STILL HAVE THE NATIVE LANGUAGE FORM IN THERE. AND WE ALSO ADDED A LITTLE NOTE THAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT AN IDN CERTIFICATE, SO THAT THE USER CAN BE EDUCATED WHAT IT IS AND CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT IT.
SO I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS NEWS. WE HAVE GOT SECURE IDN WORKING, AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO FIND OUT MORE OR GET ONE, VISIT WWW.THAWTE.COM/IDN AND YOU WILL FIND FULLY INTERNATIONALIZED SSL CERTIFICATE ENROLLMENTS, CODE SIGNING CERTIFICATES.
THANK YOU THANKS VERY MUCH, AND IN CASE OF ANY QUESTIONS WE WILL HAVE TIME FOR THAT LATER AND WE ALSO HAVE A STAND AND YOU'RE MORE THAN WELCOME TO VISIT US THERE AND ASK ME OR THE FOLKS WHO ARE THERE TO HELP. THANK YOU.
>>MOUHAMET DIOP: THANK YOU VERY MUCH VALENTIN.
I'M GOING TO CALL THE LAST SPEAKER, MOEGSHIEN JABAAR, FROM IZIKO MUSEUMS OF CAPE TOWN. I'LL CALL UP, AFTER HE HAS FINISHED, ALL THE PREVIOUS SPEAKERS TO BE AVAILABLE FOR 15 MINUTES EACH, AND MAYBE WE'LL GIVE THE FLOOR AND PEOPLE WILL ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT THAT.
SO ALL THE SPEAKERS PLEASE MAKE YOURSELF AVAILABLE FOR THE NEXT COMING MINUTES.
>>MOEGSHIEN JABAAR: GOOD AFTERNOON, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. I WAS ASKED TO DO THE PRESENTATION ON IZIKO JUST TO COVER THE BASIS OF HOW DOES MUSEUMS FIT IN THE FRAMEWORK OF IDN, AND I'VE DONE SOME RESEARCH JUST TO LOOK AT LANGUAGES THAT WE'VE GOT IN OUR COLLECTION, AND I CAME ACROSS SOMETHING INTERESTING AND I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE THAT WITH YOU THIS AFTERNOON.
JUST TO INTRODUCE MYSELF, THE NAME IS MOEGSHIEN JABAAR, AND WITH THE ASSISTANCE ON THIS PRESENTATION WAS DONE BY PROFESSOR BRELEKAMP. HE COULDN'T MAKE IT THIS AFTERNOON SO HE ASKED ME TO STAND IN FOR HIM. THE AGENDA WILL COVER WE'LL COVER THE IZIKO MUSEUM MISSION STATEMENT AND I'LL TALK ABOUT THE BOKAAP MUSEUM AND HOW WE ARE SITUATED, I'LL TALK ABOUT ARABIC DOCUMENTS WE'VE GOT IN OUR COLLECTION AND THEN I'LL BRIEFLY SPEAK ABOUT OUR INTRANET, OUR KIOSK THAT WE'VE GOT IN ONE OF THE MUSEUMS AND THE INTERNET FACILITIES THAT WE DO PROVIDE. AND THEN I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK ABOUT THE WAY FORWARD. FOR IDSN.
THE MISSION STATEMENT, IZIKO MUSEUMS OF CAPE TOWN ARE AFRICAN MUSEUMS OF EXCELLENCE THAT EMPOWER AND INSPIRE ALL PEOPLE TO CELEBRATE AND RESPECT OUR DIVERSE HERITAGE. WE'VE SEEN THE DIVERSE HERITAGE THIS AFTERNOON IN QUITE A FEW SPEAKERS, AND THAT IS SOMETHING THAT WE WANT TO DO AS WELL AS A MUSEUM.
THE DIVERSE HERITAGE WITHIN CAPE TOWN ITSELF IN TERMS OF LANGUAGES, WE'VE GOT 11 OFFICIAL LANGUAGES, AND THAT CREATES IN ITSELF A HUGE CHALLENGE FOR ALL OF US. IF WE LOOK AT THE MISSION, TO MANAGE AND PROMOTE IZIKO'S UNIQUE COMBINATION OF SOUTH AFRICAN HERITAGE COLLECTIONS, SITES AND SERVICES FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS.
THE SUM OF OUR COLLECTIONS THAT SERVES ALL OF US THAT SITS HERE, YOU WILL SEE IT IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT ONCE YOU HAVE SEEN THE PRESENTATION FURTHER ON.
THIS IS THE BOKAAP MUSEUM, IT'S SITUATED UP WELL STREET, AND THIS IS PART OF 15 MUSEUMS OF IZIKO. MORE FAMILIAR TO YOU WOULD BE THE CASTLE BECAUSE THERE'S A PRESENTATION HAPPENING THERE TOMORROW NIGHT. BUT THIS MUSEUM IS SITUATED IN THE CENTER OF A HUGE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY, AND THIS COMMUNITY, THEY HAVE DEALT WITH ARABIC SCRIPT IN A DIFFERENT FORM, AND THAT ARABIC SCRIPT I WILL EXPLAIN TO YOU AFTER THE SLIDE.
THE ARABIC THAT THEY HAVE DEALT WITH IN TERMS OF SLAVERY, THEY CAME ACROSS THE SLAVES, AND A LOT OF THEM HAD A KNOWLEDGE OF ARABIC BUT THE LANGUAGE WAS AFRIKAANS. THEY COULDN'T RIGHT IN THE LANGUAGE THEY SPEAK TODAY.
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE I HAVE EXTRACTED FROM OUR COLLECTION. THE FIRST FEW LINES, ACTUALLY THE SCRIBES FORMATTED IT ON A FRIDAY FOR THOSE ISLAMIC PEOPLE THAT IS MORE FAMILIAR AND THAT'S SITTING AROUND IN THE AUDIENCE, THEY WOULD BE VERY FAMILIAR.
NOW, IF YOU LOOK AT THE ARABIC SCRIPT, YOU WILL HAVE TO BEAR WITH ME, I'M NOT A GOOD READER OF ARABIC BUT I'LL TRY TO READ JUST THE FIRST FEW LINES.
(SPEAKING ARABIC.)
BASICALLY WHAT IT'S SAYING IS THAT THE PRAYER OF FRIDAY, THERE IS ANOTHER PRAY CONNECTED TO THAT. THIS IS A DOCUMENT WRITTEN WAY BACK IN THE SLAVERY TIME AND THIS DOCUMENT IS HIDDEN IN OUR COLLECTION BECAUSE WE CANNOT EXPOSE IT TO THE PUBLIC. WE CANNOT LAY THIS DOCUMENT OUT TO THE REST OF THE WORLD BECAUSE WE ARE FORCED TO EXTEND OUR KNOWLEDGE ONLY IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ON THE INTERNET AND THAT IS SOMETHING WE WANT TO LOOK AT IN THE NEAR FUTURE. AND THIS IDSN SEEMS TO BE THE SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM. I'VE SEEN OTHER SPEAKERS EXPLAIN HOW ARABIC LANGUAGE AND ARABIC SCRIPT CAN BE EXTENDED TO THE REST OF THE WORLD. AND I APPLAUD THEM FOR THE EFFORTS.
IF WE LOOK AT OUR FACILITIES, IZIKO'S POLICIES NEEDS TO BE EXPOUNDED IN 11 LANGUAGES. AT THE MOMENT, BECAUSE OF FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS WITHIN SOUTH AFRICA, BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS, WE CANNOT DELIVER ALL THESE LANGUAGES ON OUR INTERNETS, ON OUR LOCAL-AREA NETWORKS, SO BASICALLY WE ARE FORCED TO STICK TO ONE LANGUAGE, WHICH IS THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. THE KOSA LANGUAGE WHICH IS PREDOMINANTLY SPOKEN IN OTHER AREAS OF AFRICA AND SOUTH AFRICA, WE CANNOT SUPPORT THESE PEOPLE. AND IN TERMS OF LEGISLATION, WE HAVE TO COMMUNICATE IN THE LANGUAGE PREFERRED BY THE INDIVIDUAL, AND THAT IS SOMETHING THAT WE CANNOT SUPPORT AT THIS STAGE.
WE'RE LOOKING -- JUST TO SPEAK ABOUT THE IBM KIOSK, WE'VE GOT IT SITUATED AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY ART MUSEUM THAT IS IN THE GARDENS. NOW, WHAT IS THE RUSSIANS HAVE GONE, IS IBM IN CONNECTION OR IN RELATION WITH THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM, THEY'VE GIVEN US A KIOSK WITH THE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES EXPOSED IN THIS KIOSK. PEOPLE CAN SELECT THE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. MORE RECENTLY, THEY'VE ALSO GONE INTO THE AREA WHERE THEY LOOK AT THOSE LANGUAGES AND GIVE PEOPLE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SELECT THE LANGUAGE WHICH IS MORE PREFERRED TO THEM, AND THIS IS SOMETHING THAT DEFINITELY WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT.
IF WE LOOK AT THE EDUCATION, WE HAD AN INCIDENT AT OUR MUSEUMS WHERE WE DELIVERED A TRAINING SESSION ON HOW TO SEARCH THE WEB. THERE WAS AN INDIVIDUAL WHO COULD ONLY SPEAK KOSA. SHE WAS AN EDUCATOR AT THE SCHOOL, BUT SHE WAS TEACHING KOSA AS A LANGUAGE. AND THIS PERSON WAS SITTING THERE EVENTUALLY NOT INTERESTED IN THIS PARTICULAR SUBJECT, BUT LATER ON, BECAUSE HE COULD COMMUNICATE TO COLLEAGUES THAT WAS ALSO SEARCHING THE INTERNET AT THAT STAGE, SHE STARTED CRYING BECAUSE SHE SAW THE BENEFITS OF THE INTERNET AND HOW SHE CAN ACTUALLY USE IT TO EDUCATE THE PEOPLE WITHIN HER AREA.
AND THIS IS SOMETHING WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT AS WELL. ACCESS.
ARE WE GOING THOROUGH ACCESS TO OUR PEOPLE? ARE WE DEPRIVING OUR VERY COMMUNITY THE ACCESS THAT THEY SHOULD BE GIVEN?
WHAT IS OUR WAY FORWARD?
WE DEFINITELY, IZIKO NEEDS TO DEVELOP OUR INTERNAL INTRANET, AND THAT IS SOMETHING THAT WE'VE SORT OF ENGAGED IN AT THE LOCAL LEVEL. BUT BECAUSE OF FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS, WE HAD TO CUT BACK AND JUST FOCUS ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. IF WE LOOK AT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, YES, DEFINITELY, WE NEED TO GO OUT TO COMMUNITIES TO EXPRESS WHAT WE ARE DISCUSSING NOW TODAY IN TERMS OF IDSN AND HOW WE CAN BENEFIT PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE.
EMBRACING ALL OUR CULTURAL ACTIVITIES, WE'VE SEEN PREVIOUSLY THE CULTURAL ACTIVITIES THAT HAPPENED DURING THIS PERIOD OF SLAVERY. SHOULDN'T WE EXPLAIN THIS TO OUR CHILDREN AND TO THE FUTURE THAT'S COMING. WE NEED TO INFORM THEM OF THE STRUGGLES HERITAGE, NOT JUST OF SOUTH AFRICA. OF AFRICA AS A WHOLE, AND AFRICA TRULY HAS A GREAT HERITAGE TO SPEAK ABOUT.
REPRESENTATION -- REPRESENTING THE LANGUAGES IN WHICH IT IS EXPRESSED, THAT IS CRITICAL FOR US, THAT WE STAY IN THE LANGUAGE AND WE COMMUNICATE IN THE LANGUAGE THAT IS HOME TO THE PEOPLE. NOT HOME TO THOSE THAT WRITES THE LANGUAGES ON THE INTERNET.
WE NEED TO TAKE THE MESSAGE HOME AND WE NEED TO KEEP IT AT HOME. AND I THINK THAT WAS EXPRESSED BY THE PREVIOUS SPEAKER AS WELL.
TO BUILD REPOSITORIES AND LOCALIZE OUR CONTENT. WE'VE TRIED TO A HUGE EXTENT AS THE MUSEUM TO DO THAT FOR THE COMMUNITY. WE ARE PROUD TO SAY THAT WE'VE GOT A HUGE COLLECTION, A SOCIALISTIC COLLECTION, AN NATURAL COLLECTION, AN ART COLLECTION, AND THESE ARE IN LANGUAGES THAT CAN BE MADE AVAILABLE, BUT THEIR AVAILABILITY IS DENIED TO SOME EXTENT.
IDENTIFY EACH DOCUMENT WITH ITS OWN LANGUAGE. THAT IS CRITICAL. WE'VE SEEN THE ARABIC LANGUAGE IN AFRIKAANS SCRIPT. NOW, I'M SURE THERE'S VERY FEW PEOPLE IN THIS AUDIENCE WHO HAVE SEEN A DOCUMENT LIKE THAT, AND THAT IS THE TYPE OF DOCUMENT THAT NEEDS TO BE GIVEN TO EVERYBODY IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE; NOT IN A LANGUAGE THAT REDUCES THE QUALITY OF THE INFORMATION. THE QUALITY NEEDS TO BE EXTENDED IN TERMS OF THE LANGUAGE THAT IT WAS CREATED IN.
IDN IS REQUIRED. THE REQUIREMENT IS TO DO ALL OF THIS. I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK TO THOSE THAT ARE CAPABLE OF SETTING UP THIS FOR US, AND TO ASK THEM THAT THEY DO GIVE US THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO FORWARD WITH THIS.
I THANK YOU.
(APPLAUSE.)
>>MOUHAMET DIOP: SO I CALL FOR THE PREVIOUS SPEAKER TO COME AROUND THE TABLE FOR A COUPLE OF 15 MINUTES OF EXCHANGE.
SO PIERRE OUEDRAOGO, MAXIME SOMÉ, CAN YOU JUST JOIN THE FLOOR.
AND TAKE A SEAT, PLEASE.
PRESIDENT ADAMA.
SO NOW I CALL FOR 15 MINUTES OF QUESTIONS, AND EVEN PEOPLE WHO WANT TO INTERVENE IN ORDER TO ADD SOME COMMENTS.
MAYBE I WILL TAKE ALSO ON MY PRESIDENCY POWER TO CALL MAYBE FOR SOME COMMENT, BECAUSE WE HAVE A CHANCE TO GET SOME REALLY KNOWLEDGEABLE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY INVOLVED IN THE IDN ISSUE FOR MANY YEARS.
AND ESPECIALLY JOHN KLENSIN AND THE OTHER PEOPLE HERE.
OKAY?

>> GOOD EVENING.
MY NAME IS STEPHANE BRUNO.
I REPRESENT (INAUDIBLE) FROM HAITI.
I HAVE TWO QUESTIONS, ONE FOR PIERRE OUEDRAOGO AND ONE FOR --
TALKING ABOUT THE IDN, SOMETIMES I -- IT SEEMS THAT WE CONFUSE THE ISSUE OF USING NATIVE LANGUAGE TO TYPE DOMAIN NAME ADDRESSES, FOR EXAMPLE, TO FIND A WEB SITE.
WE SEEM SOMETIMES TO CONFUSE THIS ISSUE WITH THE ISSUE OF CONTENT OF THE WEB SITE IN A NATIVE LANGUAGE.
IS IT BECAUSE THOSE TWO THINGS ARE RELATED OR IS THERE A MISTAKE?
BECAUSE I BELIEVE THAT EVEN WITH ASCII DOMAIN NAMES, WE COULD HAVE WEB SITES WITH CONTENT WRITTEN IN NATIVE LANGUAGES.
SO I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE SOME QUESTIONS ON THAT.
THE SECOND QUESTION I HAVE IS ABOUT THE UNICODE ORGANIZATION.
YOU SAID THAT DEPENDING ON THE AMOUNT OF MEMBERSHIP FEES THAT YOU PAY, YOU HAVE A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF VOTE.
HOW DO YOU PREVENT SOMEONE TO JUST BUY, YOU KNOW -- BUY THE ORGANIZATION TO MAKE HIS VOTE PASS, FOR EXAMPLE?
>>JOHN KLENSIN: SINCE YOU ASKED ME TO COME UP AND SAY SOMETHING, LET ME ADDRESS THE FIRST QUESTION THAT WAS JUST ASKED.
YOU'RE QUITE CORRECT, THE ISSUE OF REPRESENTATION OF CHARACTERS ON A WEB PAGE AND TYPING INTO IT AND SENDING A NATIVE CHARACTER E-MAIL IS QUITE SEPARATE FROM THE DOMAIN NAMES ASSOCIATED WITH THAT MATERIAL.
WE'VE HAD A FAIRLY DECENT, IF NOT PERFECT, CAPABILITIES OF DOING THAT IN BOTH E-MAIL AND THE WEB FOR ABOUT TEN YEARS.
AND ITS ADVANTAGE OVER THE DNS IS THAT WE'VE GOT ENOUGH INFORMATION IN AN E-MAIL MESSAGE OR A WEB PAGE THAT WE CAN ACTUALLY SPECIFY THE CHARACTER SET THAT'S BEING USED.
SO, FOR EXAMPLE, GETTING TO SOME OF THE COMMENTS WHICH WERE MADE IN SOME OF THE TALKS TODAY, IF WE'VE GOT A SITUATION IN WHICH UNICODE IS NOT QUITE RIGHT BUT THERE IS A NATIONAL CHARACTER SET OR A LOCAL CHARACTER CODING SYSTEM THAT IS WIDELY USED BETWEEN GROUPS WHO ARE COMMUNICATING WITH EACH OTHER IN A PARTICULAR LANGUAGE, IT'S QUITE EASY WITH E-MAIL OR A WEB PAGE TO ACCOMMODATE THAT CHARACTER SET, EVEN THOUGH IT MIGHT NOT BE UNIVERSALLY READABLE.
ITS NOT BEING UNIVERSALLY READABLE IS ONE OF THOSE INTERESTING ISSUES FOR US, BECAUSE IF I CAN'T READ THE LANGUAGE, WHETHER OR NOT I CAN RENDER THE CHARACTER SET IS PROBABLY NOT VERY IMPORTANT TO ME.
SO THE FIRST ANSWER IS, I HEARD THAT DISTINCTION IS PRESENT AND IT'S IMPORTANT.
AND I HEARD THAT DISTINCTION BEING MADE IN SEVERAL OF THE CONVERSATIONS TODAY.
AND I WOULD ENCOURAGE PEOPLE WHO ARE WORRIED ABOUT LANGUAGES AND PRESENTATION AND MAKING INFORMATION CULTURALLY AVAILABLE TO CONCENTRATE ON THAT PROBLEM OF CONTENT.
BECAUSE WHILE THE IDN ISSUE IS VERY IMPORTANT, IT'S ULTIMATELY THE SECONDARY ONE.
IF YOU CAN'T GET THE CONTENT IN A FORM IN WHICH PEOPLE CAN READ IT, THEN HAVING IDNS IN THE APPROPRIATE SCRIPT IS REALLY OF VERY SECONDARY IMPORTANCE.
GENERAL COMMENT, I AM DELIGHTED BY THE PRESENTATIONS TODAY.
I AM DELIGHTED THAT THIS WONDERFUL WORKSHOP IS GOING FORWARD WITHOUT MY HAVING TO DO ANYTHING.
AND I THINK I CAN LOOK FORWARD TO RETIRING FROM THIS BUSINESS.
THANK YOU ALL.

>>MOUHAMET DIOP: I DON'T THINK THAT THAT MESSAGE HAS BEEN TAKEN WELL.
WE NEED YOU, AND YOU'RE STILL HERE WITH US FOR MANY YEARS AGAIN, AND BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE THE CHANCE TO GET MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE GONE THROUGH DECADES AND DECADES OF THE HISTORY AND FOR THE REPRESENTATION OF THIS CHARACTER SET.
>>MICHEL SUIGNARD: MY NAME IS MICHEL SUIGNARD. I AM WITH MICROSOFT.
I WILL ANSWER THE QUESTION OF THE UNICODE FEE STRUCTURE.
LARGE MEMBERS DON'T REALLY GET MORE VOTES.
ONLY GET ONE.
HOW BIG DOESN'T MATTER, BECAUSE YOU ONLY GET ONE VOTE.
IT'S TRUE THAT YOU HAVE TO BE A FULL MEMBER TO GET A FULL VOTE.
BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW BIG YOU ARE FROM THAT POINT.
THERE'S BASICALLY A LOW THRESHOLD.
SO ALL OF THE 15 OR 16 MEMBERS TODAY HAVE THE SAME WEIGHT, AND SOME ARE VERY BIG AND SOME ARE PRETTY SMALL.
SO IT DOESN'T MATTER.
YOU CAN'T BUY UP ABOVE THE SINGLE MEMBER LEVEL.
>>MOUHAMET DIOP: PIERRE, CAN YOU GIVE COMMENT ON THE FIRST?
>>PIERRE OUEDRAOGO: I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO MICHEL FOR HELPING THE NEWCOMER.
I THINK THAT THE QUESTION OF (INAUDIBLE) MEANS MAYBE THAT I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING.
IT IS NOT ONLY MONEY.
AND FOR EVERY MONEY ASPECT, I THINK THE ANSWER OF MICHEL IS VERY CLEAR.
YOU HAVE ONE VOTE.
AND, IN FACT, IF YOU GO ON THE WEB SITE RIGHT NOW, YOU WILL SEE THAT THE OFFICIAL VOTE IS $12,000 U.S. FOR A FULL MEMBER AND 6,000 FOR A SMALL BUSINESS.
FOR THE ASSOCIATE, IT IS 2,000 FOR PROFIT AND 1,200 FOR NONPROFIT, AND $120 FOR INDIVIDUALS.
NOW, THIS IS WHAT -- I THINK I HAVE THE RIGHT FIGURE.
AND THIS IS NOT A LOT OF MONEY AT THE LEVEL OF THE INDUSTRY, YOU KNOW.
SO -- BUT, ANYWAY, IT SHOWS THE INTERESTS OF ORGANIZATIONS IN THE WORK OF THE UNICODE.
AND THIS INTEREST IS ALSO SHOWN THROUGH THE NUMBER OF ENGINEERS THEY PUT ON THE PROJECT TO HELP BUILD THE INTEROPERABILITY OF THE SYSTEMS, TO HELP MAINTAIN THE CHARACTER DATABASE.
AND THERE ARE MANY ENGINEERS AT MICROSOFT, IBM, ADOBE, WHO ARE WORKING.
SO THE 12,000 IS NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT THESE COMPANIES ARE MAKING -- ARE DOING FOR THE UNICODE.
SO IT IS SOMETHING LIKE A VOLUNTEER ACTION.
AND I THINK THAT IN SOME OTHER FIELDS OF THE HUMAN ACTIVITY, IF THERE WAS SUCH COORDINATION, WE ARE GOING NOT TO BE BOTHERED BY SOME, YOU KNOW, LACK OF INTEROPERABILITY.
BUT HERE, WE HAVE A CHANCE THAT THE INDUSTRY LEADERS GET TOGETHER TO WORK TOGETHER AND TO HAVE EVERYTHING TO WORK, YOU KNOW, FINE.
I WOULDN'T SAY THE SAME THING FOR EVERY ASPECT OF THE INDUSTRY.
AND FOR THE NATIVE LANGUAGE, BRUNO AND KLENSIN ARE, I THINK, RIGHT.
BUT YOU SHOULD MENTION THAT IN THE CASE OF AFRICA, WE NEED TO NORMALIZE FIRST.
AND THIS IS NOT DONE YET.
AND THIS -- AND AGAIN AND AGAIN, WE WILL SAY THAT AFRICANS HAVE TO DO THEIR JOB.
THEY HAVE TO DO THEIR OWN WORK.
THEIR OWN WORK IS TO UPDATE THE CHARACTER SET.
THEIR OWN WORK IS TO BUILD UP A CHARACTER SET THAT IS SIMPLE AND ACCEPTED BY ALL AFRICAN PEOPLE WHO USE THE LATIN CHARACTERS TO WRITE THEIR LANGUAGES.
AND THIS IS SOMETHING WE CALL FOR, AND THIS IS SOMETHING THAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE CONTENT DEVELOPMENT.
IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT FOR IDN.
AND THIS IS WHY WE HAVE BROUGHT THIS ONE HERE.
OKAY, THANK YOU.

>>MOUHAMET DIOP: OKAY.
NEXT PERSON ON THE FLOOR.
>>JOHN KLENSIN: I JUST WANTED TO RESPOND A LITTLE BIT TO THAT SINCE MY NAME WAS MENTIONED.
I AGREE COMPLETELY.
THE CHARACTER SET UPDATING WORK IS VERY IMPORTANT.
AND NONE OF US FROM THE OUTSIDE CAN DO IT FOR YOU.
IF WE TRIED, WE WOULD MAKE A TERRIBLE MESS, I'M SURE.
WE DO HAVE AN ADDITIONAL DIFFICULTY WITH IDN, WHICH IS THAT AS A CONSEQUENCE OF SOME ISSUES ABOUT THE WAY IN WHICH THE UNICODE STANDARD IS UPDATED, IF WE COME IN AND ADD CHARACTERS NOW TO THE -- TO SOME FUTURE VERSION OF THE UNICODE STANDARD, IT ISN'T COMPLETELY CLEAR WHAT THE PROCESS IS GOING TO BE OF MAKING THAT ACCEPTABLE TO IDNS, BECAUSE THE IDN, IDNA STANDARD RIGHT NOW IS FROZEN AT UNICODE STANDARD 3.2.
I'M SURE IF ADDITIONAL WORK IS DONE THAT WE WILL FIGURE OUT HOW TO FIX THAT PROBLEM.
BUT IT'S NOT EASY AND STRAIGHTFORWARD.
BY CONTRAST, IN THE E-MAIL AND THE WEB PAGES AND THE CONTENT PRESENTATION, HANDLING NEW CHARACTERS WHEN THEY'RE DEFINED IS QUITE EASY.
SO, AGAIN, LET'S THINK ABOUT THE CONTENT ISSUES AND THE IDN ISSUES SEPARATELY.
THEY BOTH NEED TO BE SOLVED.
BUT THE CONTENT ISSUES ARE, FORTUNATELY, BOTH THE MORE IMPORTANT AND THE EASIER.
AND I LOOK FORWARD TO THE RESULTS OF YOUR WORK, AND I HOPE I CAN UNDERSTAND IT WHEN YOU PRODUCE IT.

>>MOUHAMET DIOP: THANK YOU, JOHN.
OKAY, NEXT SPEAKER.
>> VICTOR WILSON: GOOD AFTERNOON.
VICTOR WILSON.
IN THIS STANDARDIZATION OF CHARACTER SETS FOR LANGUAGES THAT PREVIOUSLY HAVEN'T BEEN WRITTEN, I WOULD HOPE THAT THOSE INVOLVED USE STANDARD 7-BIT REPRESENTABLE CHARACTERS WHERE POSSIBLE.
FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE 11 SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGES, I KNOW OF ONE CHARACTER USED, AN S WITH AN INVERTED CARET, WHICH I WONDER WHY ANYBODY WROTE THAT, BECAUSE IT'S PRONOUNCED JUST LIKE AN SH.
YOU CAN'T EXPECT THE GERMANS TO STOP USING UMLAUTS AND WRITE UE.
BUT IN NEWLY WRITTEN LANGUAGES, WE CAN AVOID USING SPECIAL CHARACTERS.

>>MOUHAMET DIOP: THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
IT'S REALLY IMPRESSIVE WHEN WE ARE TALKING ABOUT MULTILINGUALISM, WE AL

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