Taino Confederation Expands Online Networks

UCTP Taino News - The United Confederation of Taino People (UCTP) has added Facebook to its internet communications network. In its effort to increase the visibility of Taino and other Caribbean Indigenous Peoples, the Confederation continues to devote attention to the development of its online outreach capabilities.

“Along with ongoing development of our web portal at www.uctp.org, we have been making use of internet resources like Blogger, Yahoo, You Tube, My Space, and now Facebook to expand our outreach potential.” stated Ericc Ausubonex Diaz, the UCTP Director of Technology.

Using these types of resources the Confederation has successfully developed a web presence for the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples (COIP) with its headquarters in Trinidad as well as for the Consejo General de Tainos Borincanos and the UCTP’s Liaison Office in Puerto Rico.

“While the UCTP Facebook page has a little catching up to do with the pages on other networks, the trends are indicating that online social networks are becoming a more important source of media communication.” observed Diaz.

Beyond social networks, the Confederation is looking towards improvements on its webportal, the acquisition of its own dedicated server, and being involved in some ground-breaking technology initiatives with other indigenous partners. As part of the International Indigenous ICT Taskforce (IITF), the UCTP is the Caribbean content editor for www.indigenousportal.com.

Through its participation with the IITF, the Confederation is also supporting the campaign for a self-governing domain name for Indigenous Peoples. The “Dot Indigi” campaign a partnership between the IITF and the New Zealand Maori Internet Society (NZMIS) with the conditional support of World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO). The aim is to assist Indigenous Peoples around the world to be represented on the Internet in a space that is self governing, representative and restrictive of Intellectual Property abuses.

“The internet and the online revolution is here whether our communities are prepared for it or not” noted Diaz. “Recognizing this reality, the UCTP will continue to use internet and communications technologies as our ancestors have used other tools for the benefit of our people and all our relations.”

Self-governing domain name for Indigenous Peoples

UCTP Taino News - A dynamic campaign, Dot Indigi, is underway to secure a new internet domain-name that would assist Indigenous Peoples around the world by creating an online space that is self-governing, representative and restrictive of Intellectual Property abuses. About 1.5 billion internet users are accustomed to being affiliated to domain-names such as “.com, .org, .edu, .gov” etc. The “Dot Indigi” campaign would produce a new domain or gTLD like a “.com” but it would be recognized as “.indigi”.

The Dot Indigi partnership is formed between the International Indigenous ICT Task Force (IITF) and the New Zealand Maori Internet Society (NZMIS) with the conditional support of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The IITF will act as the advisory board to the organization while Māori ICT advocate Karaitiana Taiuru, the recently appointed leader of the Dot Indigi group, will manage the daily affairs of .indigi while growing the organization.

The campaign organizers assert that .indigi will cater to the plethora of Indigenous Peoples who do not have the resources to apply for their own gTLD. The use of .indigi would also remove existing Indigenous representation issues of the predominantly English Internet naming system. The ability to include non English characters will be a priority at the 2nd and subsequent levels.

The .indigi domain will offer registration at the 2nd Level Domain to indigenous organizations who would then govern their own domain name space and resell/distribute 3rd Level Domain names or retain a general project type name at the 2nd Level via the official .indigi registrars.

“Caribbean Indigenous Peoples such as the Taino would be able to apply for taino.indigi for example and create a new set of domain names to accommodate their specific needs” stated Roberto Borrero, a member of the IITF who represents the United Confederation of Taino People.

The Dot Indigi organization also plans to make available several other 2nd Level Domains, which would be made public to cater to indigenous individuals or smaller groups who may not be able to justify the expense and set up of their own 2nd Level Domain. The organization is now promoting the campaign via social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo as well as on Twitter and Google Groups.

The application for the new .indigi domain name will be presented to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). A multi-stakeholder organization dedicated to coordinating the Internet's addressing system, ICANN is now seeking to expand the domain-name system.

ICANN’s rationale for the expansion is that new domains will allow for more innovation, choice and change to the Internet's addressing system, which is now constrained by only 21 generic top-level domain names.

Photo: Asia Pacific Internet leader and pioneer of Māori Internet and Software technologies, Karaitiana Taiuru is the head of the Dot Indigi organization.

UCTPTN 02.09.2008