[kictanet] The KeNIC we want: Stakeholder engagement and Operations

Fri Oct 5 10:42:05 EAT 2018

Hi all,

Some very quick thoughts about just two of the questions you posed:

> 5. Accountability: How accountable is KeNIC? To whom does it account 
> to?

The question of accountability of ccTLDs is handled in a number of ways.
Surely there is some accountability to ICANN. To registrars. And then of
course domain users. One interesting consideration is perhaps KeNIC
should conduct a human rights impact assessment (HRIA) on a periodic
basis. Some other ccTLDs are doing this, and ICANN is doing one itself.
HRIAs are a good way to systematically engage in a feedback process with
all stakeholders.

> 1. A great effort has been made to popularise the .ke brand,
> including some popular advertisements, using patriotism to encourage
> Kenyans, and opening up the second level. But numbers don't lie.
> Currently, we are at around 80,000 .ke domains, while South Africa is
> at 1.3million. Is there more work that can be done to make .Ke
> popular?

It's common for many TLDs to offer some kind of additional services or
perks for domain owners. Some examples are: .ngo domain holders have
access to a community of all other domain holders and have their
organisation's information published on a public database. They can also
receive charitable donations through the platform.

Perhaps there are some best practices from the industry in providing
perks to domain users. Perhaps some of that research has already been
done. But good to think creatively about what KeNIC might offer to
domain users beyond just the domain.

Or maybe there are perks that domain owners already receive with the
KeNIC domain? I would be interested to know what they are.

-Mallory

On 05/10/2018 10:12, Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet wrote:
> The debate on revitalising our .ke ccTLD registry continues today. 
> Yesterday, we tackled Governance issues. Suggestions were made, the 
> major ones dealing with Transparency at the .ke registry, and 
> Equality on representation. Thank you for contributing, reading, and 
> listening. Please feel free to continue contributing to that thread, 
> as we go to the theme of the day.
> 
> Today we will tackle Stakeholder Engagement and Operational Issues.
> 
> 
> Public / Stakeholder Engagements 1. Should KeNIC hold Annual General 
> Meetings? Is there value in holding the AGMs? 2. When was the last 
> AGM held? 3. Can the annual reports, and deliberations of the AGMs
> be published on the KeNIC website? 4. Should the AGM be open to the 
> public? 5. Accountability: How accountable is KeNIC? To whom does it 
> account to?
> 
> Operational Issues 1. A great effort has been made to popularise the 
> .ke brand, including some popular advertisements, using patriotism
> to encourage Kenyans, and opening up the second level. But numbers
> don't lie. Currently, we are at around 80,000 .ke domains, while
> South Africa is at 1.3million. Is there more work that can be done to
> make .Ke popular? 2. What are the challenges in selling the .ke
> brand? What are the opportunities? 3. Is there a challenge in
> generating content for the KeNIC website? Some pages as noted
> yesterday have not been updated for some years now. 4. What support
> does KeNIC give to Registrars?
> 
> 
> Here are some statistics that I had shared on Tuesday, that may help 
> in stimulating the debate.
> 
> Germany population 82.67 million .de domains: 16 million domains
> (one domain for every 5 people) Percentage Domain penetration: 19%
> .de is the third largest registry in the world and is ran by DENIC
> which is a non-regulated not-for-profit cooperative owned by
> registrars.
> 
> South Africa Population 56 million .za domain: 1.3 million domains 
> (one domain for every 46 people) Percentage Domain penetration: 2.3%
>  .za is the largest ccTLD in Africa, managed and regulated by ZADNA 
> which is an agency of South African government under the Department 
> of Telecommunications and Postal Services.
> 
> Kenya population 50 million .ke domain: 79,773 domains (one domain 
> for every 627 people) Percentage Domain penetration: 0.16% .ke is 
> managed by KeNIC which is envisioned as a Public Private Partnership 
> (PPP) entity
> 
> Looking forward to a fruitful debate.
> 
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-- 
Mallory Knodel
May First/People Link :: mayfirst.org
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