ICANNWiki Frequently Asked Questions

This page lists frequently asked questions about ICANNWiki. If you do not find your question answered here, please feel free to contact us.

What is ICANNWiki?

ICANNWiki is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Internet community's collaborative development of wiki articles on ICANN and Internet Governance-related topics. The wiki provides neutral, third-party information for ICANN meeting attendees and Internet citizens at large. It is an open platform governed by wiki values, such as Neutral Point of View, transparency, assuming good faith, and building together. ICANNWiki is not ICANN. This website is operated by the ICANNWiki organization and any donations made to the ICANNWiki website are for the ICANNWiki organization only.

Why sponsor ICANNWiki?

Sponsor ICANNWiki

• To contribute to a community good
• Because it aligns with your company's purpose
• To highlight your company as supporting the industry in a very positive manner

What does ICANNWiki do?

The Internet Governance space is known for being highly technical and obscure, making it difficult to develop a general understanding of the issues involved. These issues are pertinent to the daily lives of all Internet users, as well as those on the other edge of the digital divide, still waiting for Internet access. ICANNWiki works with the community to break these complex concepts down into understandable, fully-referenced, fact-based, and neutral articles. Since 2006, ICW has provided information about the people, entities, and policies that comprise ICANN and IG in general, explained developments in the ICANN and domain name industry, and sparked conversation and community engagement with

• popular articles,
• articles about key figures in the community like Marilyn Cade, and
• topical articles.

What has ICANNWiki been up to lately?

Since January 2021, we have focused on expanding and updating our content, especially around ICANN policies, stakeholder leadership, and DNS regulatory issues

• On the Main Page:
  • Featured articles
  • In the news section
• Via the Portals:
  • Entities, People, and Terms
  • ICANN Meetings, a timeline of ICANN eras, and thorough description of ICANN's review process, inputs, and outcomes
  • ICANN community, Board, and Org
  • ICANN Accountability
  • Current topics: DNS, DNS Abuse, and DNS Abuse Responses
• In-depth discussion of ICANN's recent developments and policy work:
  • Evolution of the Multistakeholder Model
  • ATRT3-recommended and board-approved pilots of the Prioritization Framework and ICANN Holistic Review
  • Community engagement with and outcomes from ICANN's accountability mechanisms: Reconsideration, Documentary Information Disclosure Policy, and Independent Review Process
  • Development of Subsequent Procedures for New gTLD Application rounds
  • PDP Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs

What are the plans for ICANNWiki's future?

Broadly speaking, to continue keeping knowledge freely available, preventing censorship, and upholding free expression. Specifically, to continue ensuring information about internet governance policies, the domain name industry, and the community are synthesized, modular, and easily understood.

• More great content
  • expanding Internet Governance, Web Evolution, Cybersecurity, and Alternative Roots into portals
  • comprehensive tables that can only be found here
• More community engagement
  • Getting ICANN Fellows and the next generation of ICANN community leaders involved
  • Working with academic and technical communities to develop articles on trends in the DNS industry, internet governance, cybersecurity, cyber-geopolitics, and web3 technologies

Why do you need the money?

• Sustainability, day-to-day operation of content creation and editing, and staff work on our community support
• New staff would help us include grantmaking and enhance partnerships with global organizations

Where does the money go?

• Compensation for 2 full-time staff members
• Travel and Giveaways at ICANN Meetings
• Legal and accounting

How does it work?

Like Wikipedia, it relies on wiki technology and everyone can access information that has been synthesized, clarified, made up-to-date, and written from a neutral point of view.

Like the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, it serves a niche audience and uses editors and a community of contributors with specialized knowledge. It is designed so that each entry is maintained, verified, and sometimes refereed by editors and community members, all of whom have some interest or connection to internet governance, the DNS industry, or technical standards.