October 26, 2000

RE:  SUPPORT NEEDED FOR DOT-MUSEUM: COMMENTS TO THE INTERNET CORPORATION FOR
ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS (ICANN) DUE BY NOVEMBER 5, 2000

Dear Colleague:

With the enthusiastic support and encouragement of the American Association
of Museums (AAM), the International Council of Museums (ICOM), a co-founder
with The J. Paul Getty Trust of the newly formed Museum Domain Management
Association (MDMA), is seeking a top-level domain (TLD) for museums on the
Internet. To this end, in early October, MDMA submitted an application to
the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to establish
".MUSEUM" as a designation for museum Web sites.

The creation of a new TLD, like .org, .com, or .edu, specifically for
museums offers the U.S. museum community and museums across the world an
extremely important opportunity to lay a rock-solid foundation for a more
vital and secure future in cyberspace.

A museum-specific TLD will benefit the museum community and the Internet
itself, giving museums the possibility of registering Internet addresses
with a distinct museum identity and allowing users of the Internet to
recognize .MUSEUM as a sign of authenticity.

However, this opportunity may be lost without a strong showing of support
from U.S. museums and the associations that represent them.

AAM is asking you to express your strong support for the creation of .MUSEUM
to ICANN by November 5, 2000.  The note below from Ken Hamma of the J. Paul
Getty Museum contains additional background information on this important
endeavor and how to submit comments to ICANN.

Two points I want to clarify:

One, the establishment of .MUSEUM will have no effect on your current domain
name.  You will be able to use your current address as you do now and
continue to use it even if you register for a .MUSEUM domain name.  Of
course, you would be able to abandon your current domain name in favor of a
.MUSEUM name, if you choose.

Two, the new top level domain will be open to museums, but also to the
associations that represent them, including, for example, national,
regional, state, and local museum associations.  I especially urge these
museum associations to signal their support to ICANN.

Again, this is an extremely important opportunity and I encourage you to
express your support.

Sincerely,

Edward H. Able, Jr.
President and CEO
American Association of Museums

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A major change in how museums can be presented on the Internet may occur
very soon. As an influential member of the museum community, you could
affect the outcome by sending your comments to the powers that be -- and I
would like to urge you to do just that by the end of next week.

A Domain on the Net for Museums

We are all familiar with top-level domains (TLDs) on the Internet: .com,
.net, .org, .edu and the two-letter country codes. Approximately ten new
domains will now be selected from a larger number of proposals -- including
one for a TLD for museums submitted by the Museum Domain Management
Association (MDMA), a jointly sponsored effort of the International Council
of Museums (ICOM) and the J. Paul Getty Trust.

A summary of the MDMA proposal as well as the complete text may be viewed at
www.musedoma.org.  All of the TLD proposals and the public commentary may be
found at www.icann.org/tlds/ and www.icann.org/mbx/tldapps/.  The museum
proposal is listed as: ".mus, etc. Application by Museum Domain Management
Association."   The quality of commentary on the TLDs varies widely, which
means that simple, sensible, supporting commentary will stand out.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the
decision-making body in this area, and has set a very tight timetable for
deciding which domain names will be added and under what conditions.  The
public comment period began October 13th and will end on Sunday, November
5th.  This is certainly the most important opportunity to offer support and
may well be the last chance to influence the decision!  It's very easy to
do.  Instructions for commenting appear at the end of this message.

Why a Museum TLD is a Big Step Forward

1. At present, anyone can acquire a domain with the letters "museum."
Anybody wishing to appear to be a museum, for whatever reason, can readily
do so.

2. Although Internet resources provided by well-known museums may easily be
recognized, no general means exist to distinguish between bona fide museum
activity and misleading fabrication.

3. Museums supply rich information that can support a massive amount of
Internet activity towards both cultural and commercial ends. The multimedia
industry has repeatedly demonstrated its interest in deriving profit from
our institutions. Even though this may result in financial gain for museums,
the price paid is substantial loss of control over the process.

4. The Internet is not yet a genuinely global phenomenon; museum activity
is. A clear net-wide identity for our worldwide community will spur the
increasing participation of regions not yet significantly involved in the
Internet. Any financial excess that may be generated by the operation of
.museum will be used specifically to abet this process.

Establishing a clear sectoral identity will maximize the benefit of our
activities to the public by providing a clear and easy path to any and all
participating museums. An obvious way to do this would be through a shared
domain, not only containing the letters "museum" but also clearly defining
them.  For such a domain to be global, it would need to be created on the
top level -- .museum, or some easily recognized variant. (The linguistic
aspects of this are discussed at length in the FAQ section on the MDMA
site.)

Choosing a Restricted over an Open Domain

A top-level domain can be either open or restricted.  An open .museum would
worsen the present situation.  It would still provide no means for the
public to differentiate between genuine museums and pretenders, and it would
radically compound the confusion, with anyoldthings.museum proliferating on
the net.  It would also provide a basis for speculation in the acquisition
of attractive domain names.  Who would likely be the highest bidder for
national.museum if it were auctioned off?  Who would be best served if it
were simply sold to the first person requesting it?

A restricted domain has a publicly accessible document that states the
requirements for registration in that domain. The MDMA proposes that the
ICOM definition of museum serve as the basis for the registration policy in
the museum TLD.  The MDMA membership -- which will be established if and
when the domain is created -- may then further develop domain policy.  The
MDMA is structured such that ICOM will have substantial influence in such
matters for as long as it wishes. It is clearly not in the interests of the
museum community for an open museum TLD to be set up, and the only means for
preventing this is to establish a restricted museum TLD.  To create true
value for our sector, we must establish this domain ourselves and determine
its policy.

How You Can Support This Proposal

Although the number of supporting statements will prove important, a
statement from a leader within the museum field may be profoundly more
significant than one from the general public.  If you wish to support the
MDMA initiative, it would be of enormous value if you could voice that
support by taking the following action:

1. Please register at www.icann.org/mbx/tldapps/ to contribute to the
discussion, using a name that can't be dismissed as frivolous.  The
notification e-mail address you provide will neither be made public nor used
beyond this purpose.  If you choose, you may voluntarily indicate a public
e-mail address.

2. Further down on that page there is a heading, ".mus, etc. Application by
Museum Domain Management Association".  Click on it and click again on the
link "Post a reply". Your choice of subject line is of key importance, since
the subject line may in fact be all that some reviewers can manage to note.
I would suggest "Support for .museum" or some very close equivalent.

The main text in your message need contain nothing more than a single
sentence stating your support for the proposal.  If possible, please
indicate both your title and the organization you represent. Demonstrating
the genuine globality of the museum community is a key purpose of this
action.

That's about it!  If you find commenting through this procedure a hindrance,
please don't hesitate to forward your message directly to me.  I will
collectively register all material I receive prior to the end of the public
comment phase.

Thank you very much for your kind attention to this matter.   Please send
your expression of support by Sunday, November 5th.

Kenneth Hamma
Asst. Director
J. Paul Getty Museum
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