After months of collaborative efforts, I am happy to announce the launch of the KISA-ICANN Language Localisation Toolkit.
As members of the ICANN community would know, ICANN carries out its work based on the bottom-up, multi-stakeholder model. As such, the Language Localisation Toolkit is developed with this in mind – providing a basic set of 'tools' to allow our local community "ambassadors" (i.e. you!) to reach out to the wider community to share about ICANN – what we do, and why our region should be involved in ICANN's work.
The Asia Pacific is a diverse region with many languages and, understandably, the 6 official UN languages do not fully cater to this region. We know that the most effective way to communicate is if all parties speak the same language. And the best way to reach out to our diverse community is with people like you, from our own community, speaking in our respective, local languages. In this regard, to facilitate ICANN's engagement with the region, we need our ICANN community's assistance to develop localised materials.
The Language Localisation Toolkit aims to do just that by providing key basic material about ICANN which community members are free to use and translate to your local languages, adapting them based on your audiences' understanding, interests and culture. The Toolkit also provides tips on organising outreach events to engage with your communities, including template survey forms which you can use.
Whichever stakeholder group you belong to in ICANN – technical community, business, government, civil society, or simply an individual internet user – if you share ICANN's core values to maintain a free and interoperable Internet, and want to share this important work with your community, this is for you.
Please just drop by the site and follow the guide step-by-step, and share your feedback with us! We will continue to refine and update the Toolkit accordingly.
KISA-ICANN
The development of the Language Localisation Toolkit is a joint collaboration between KISA and ICANN. This is another key milestone for us since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and ICANN in November 2013, the establishment of the ICANN Seoul Office in January 2014, and our CEO Fadi Chehadé's first official visit to Korea in April.
I hope that with the launch of the KISA-ICANN Language Localisation Toolkit, our engagement with, and outreach to, the local Korean community (and broader in the Asia Pacific) will continue to strengthen.
To test the pilot Toolkit in its development, the ICANN Seoul Office hosted an ICANN-KISA Roadshow for Korean Registrars on May 30, where we 'localised' the ICANN material for the first time, in Korean. From the feedback received, we continued to refine the Toolkit to suit our users' needs. We are happy that after months of hard work, the Toolkit is ready to launch.
Our presence and engagement in the region might be like toddlers, but we are on a steep learning curve. We hope to be able to "grow up" quickly to service the APAC community, and we hope to be able to walk hand-in-hand with you as we grow.
Kelly HyeYoung KANG is Head of Korea for ICANN's APAC region