- Image via Wikipedia
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced that for the first time in the history of the Internet, non-Latin characters are being used for top-level Web addresses. This development is widely seen by experts as the biggest change to the way the Internet works since its creation about 40 years ago. The decision to allow the first Internationalised Domain Name country-code top-level domains (IDN ccTLDs) to appear online is as a result of earlier agreements made at its annual meeting in Seoul, South Korea on 30 October 2009, to begin Fast Track Processing.
At present, requests in the Fast Track Process stands at 21 spanning 11 languages which include Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Sinhalese, Tamil and Thai. Consequently, Internet users now have the option of typing Web addresses or domain names in non-Latin texts from around the World.
So far reactions have been mixed. While some believe that the Internet will now become more global and accessible to non-English speakers, others believe the Internet will lose its International feel as Websites will become even more localised to their languages and community.
Meanwhile, ICANN has warned users that the IDNs may not work on all computers immediately. This is because users may have to update their computer software with additional language packs and fonts in order to view the domains.
Talking Point
Which side of the divide do you belong? Will the Internationalised domain names make Internet browsing easier and more understandable for speakers of other languages or will it create a divide, make access to International information difficult and cause confusion?