Public Comment

Public Comment is a vital part of our multistakeholder model. It provides a mechanism for stakeholders to have their opinions and recommendations formally and publicly documented. It is an opportunity for the ICANN community to effect change and improve policies and operations.

How Do We Raise Global Awareness of New gTLDs?

Comment Period Important Information Links
Open Date: 24 June 2011
Close Date: 15 July 2011 Public Comment Announcement To Submit Your Comments (Forum Closed)
Time (UTC): 23:59 View Comments Submitted Report of Public Comments
Originating Organization: ICANN Communications Department
Purpose: To solicit the public's suggestions on strategies that will help us leverage our limited budget and the strengths of ICANN's volunteer community. This document [PDF, 486 KB] is a working draft of the Communications Plan that the ICANN Communications Department will follow in seeking to raise global awareness of new gTLDs during the remainder of 2011.
Current Status: On 20 June 2011 ICANN's Board of Directors approved a plan to dramatically increase the number of generic top-level domains (new gTLDs). The Board had previously specified that if the plan were approved, there must be a "minimum of four months" spent in raising global awareness of the new opportunity before applications for new gTLDs could be accepted. When passing the New gTLDs plan on 20 June 2011, the Board also extended the communications period to roughly six months. The ideal is that during the application window, which runs from 12 January to 12 April 2012, no organization comes forward and says "We would have liked to apply for a new gTLD, but we didn't know we could." Budget limitations make achieving the ideal quite challenging.
Next Steps: Staff will evaluate the ideas and suggestions submitted in the Forum and determine the extent to which they might be incorporated into the Communications Plan.
Staff Contact: Michele Jourdan Email: michele.jourdan@icann.org