ALBA/SCOTLAND: SALMOND BOOST FOR dotSCO BID
The First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, gave his and his Government's backing last week to the bid for a top-level internet domain (TLD) name for the Scots community online.
A Government working group was set up earlier this year, in response to a petition that was submitted by the dotSCO campaign group, to decide on the best way forward. To date the internet string or code '.sco' had been campaigned for, but following subsequent research by the working group, 59% of those asked preferred '.scot', compared to only 14% preferring '.sco'. The campaign group, dotSCO, who have been spearheading the campaign, have now announced that they will continue their campaign for a new TLD using the new preferred code.
Alex Salmond released the figures from the research last week, before setting off for Catalunya where he will hear about the success of the '.cat' domain name that was gained in 2005. Speaking ahead of his trip First Minister Salmond said:
«The time is ripe for the worldwide family of Scots to have their own domain reflecting an online community defined by a shared commitment to Scottish identity, culture and economic promotion.
»It is not only for Scots who live in Scotland but for our extensive diaspora and it will be particularly appropriate for a bid to be made during the 2009 Year of Homecoming.«
The dotSCO campaign success to date has also been emulated in Wales with dotCYM also receiving Welsh Government support, with the announcement that £20,000 would be released towards the dotCYM TLD name bid in October 2008. Similarly, the dotBZH campaign for Brittany has also received massive public support and even some acknowledgement from the French Government.
At the Celtic League's 2008 AGM in the Republic of Ireland earlier this year, the campaign for a '.ker' domain was also supported and in October 2008 the Development Manager of the Cornish Language Partnership, Jenifer Lowe, stated that she was in favour of a '.ker' TLD.
The dotKER campaign, which is the newest of the internet initiatives within Celtic countries without a designated TLD and was only set up this year, has been in communication with CORE - Internet Council of Registrars, who are the registry operator for '.cat' (Catalunya) and have an ongoing relationship with dotCYM, dotBZH and dotGAL, among other 'newTLDs'. The dotKER team hopes to further the campaign and build on the success of the groups in the other Celtic countries and by applying for the TLD name '.ker' in the near future.
The Celtic League 2008 resolution can be found in full below:
»This AGM supports the campaign to secure a .KER internet domain name for Kernow and encourages closer cooperation between the .SCO, .BZH, .CYM and .KER campaigns to secure internet domain names for Alba, Breizh, Cymru and Kernow respectively."
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(Article prepared for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot)
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J B Moffatt Director of Information 16/12/08
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