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.museum is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) used exclusively by museums, museum associations, and individual members of the museum profession, as these groups are defined by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). In joint action with the J. Paul Getty Trust, ICOM established the Museum Domain Management Association (MuseDoma), headed by Cary Karp, for the purpose of submitting an application to ICANN for the creation of the new gTLD, and to operate it if the application was approved. The .museum domain was entered into the root of Domain Name System on 20 October 2001, and was the first sponsored top-level domain to be instituted through ICANN's action.
The idea behind this domain is that it will be beneficial for Internet users to have a segment of the TLD namespace reserved for the use of museums; a namespace whose conventions are defined by the museum community. The .museum TLD will grant users a quick and intuitive way to verify the authenticity of a museum site. Conversely, since it is a type of formal third-party certification, museums using this namespace obtain a way to assure visitors of the site's validity.
In addition to the eligibility requirements specified in the .museum charter, a number of naming conventions apply to the labeling of subdomains. Extensive support is also being introduced for internationalized domain names, as described at about.museum. |
