[governance] Cigar Box Governance
Norbert Bollow
nb at bollow.ch
Sat Feb 28 08:18:45 EST 2015
A great read.
Thanks, Tom!
Greetings,
Norbert
On Fri, 27 Feb 2015 19:49:49 -0500
Thomas Lowenhaupt <toml at communisphere.com> wrote:
> While most attention here is on global governance, I thought you
> might be interested in what it's sometimes like at the bottom. Here's
> a post we made today reviewing the first 6 months of the .nyc TLD's
> operation: http://connectingnyc.org. (I've copied it below for the
> convenience of some.)
>
> While I entitled it /Digital.nyc - A Status Report/, with the .nyc
> TLD's operation lacking transparency, accountability, or a governance
> process it might better be called Cigar Box Governance.
>
> Best,
>
> Tom Lowenhaupt
>
>
> Digital.nyc – A Status Report
> <http://www.connectingnyc.org/digital-nyc/>
>
> Posted by: Editor <http://www.connectingnyc.org/author/editor/>
>
> <http://www.connectingnyc.org/digital-nyc/half-candle/>Jackson Hts.,
> New York, February 24, 2015 – We’re a 1/2 candle into the life of our
> city’s TLD and an appropriate time for an evaluation. But with .nyc’s
> success metrics undefined, an assessment is challenging. Hoping that
> we might contribute to a long term analytical framework, we decided
> to undertake this first review.
>
> Fundamentally, there are two competing perspectives on a TLD’s
> success, the standard and community. The metric used for assessing
> standard TLDs such as .com, .net, and .org is based on the number of
> names sold. We honor that tradition by presenting a statistical
> review.
>
> For community TLDs, the operational approach we’ve advocated, success
> comprises a positive impact on the delivery of city services,
> economic enhancement, and an improved quality of life. We took a
> first stroke at identifying community metrics on our wiki
> <http://www.coactivate.org/projects/campaign-for.nyc/city-tld-metrics-checklist>
> some time ago. With community enhancements emerging from long term
> development efforts, an assessment at this early stage is
> challenging. What we do here is look at some early actions and how
> they might influence those long term goals.
>
>
> Traditional Metrics
>
> Let’s start with some stats on the number of .nyc domain names sold.
>
> * As of February 22, the city’s contractor reported 72,103 names
> sold with sales at a rate of about 90 registrations per day. (See more
> current stats here <https://ntldstats.com/tld/nyc>.
> <https://ntldstats.com/tld/nyc>)
> * Of those, 74.27% or 52,672 were “parked.” A parked domain is one
> purchased but without any meaningful content (see keys.nyc
> <http://keys.nyc/> for an example). Names purchased for
> speculative purposes might be parked. And with .nyc being a new TLD,
> many are surely parked while under development.
> * That 74% of parked domains has been inching down over the months.
> For comparison .berlin has 73% parked, .london 36%, .paris 48%,
> and .tokyo 55%. (Might we induce a level of speculative purchases from
> these?)
> * Doing some subtraction (72,103 – 52,672) one might conclude that
> 19,431 .nyc domain names are providing some level of content. But…
> * A February 21 Google search using the “Site:.nyc” command revealed
> only 458 websites. (Google reported a total of 940 finds, a number
> consisting of both primary names and their duplicates.) We’re
> looking for an explanation for this discrepancy.
> * We looked at the first 100 of those 458 “Site:.nyc” sites and
> found 40% used the .nyc domain name to present content. The other 60%
> merely linked to a .com or .org site.
>
> In addition to these 72,103 sold names, 21,000 names have been
> created but not allocated. The unallocated fall into three categories.
>
> * 800 Reserved Names
> <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZXMFe-C2PU6KIRPbZKfLkk63i2k5u7Uz2wDikqWPeZg/edit?usp=sharing>
> – Names set aside to serve the public’s benefit. Three fourths of
> these names are those of neighborhoods or Business Improvement
> Districts (BIDs), e.g., see 125thstreet.nyc
> <http://125thstreet.nyc>. Included also are some generic and
> category names, e.g., taxi.nyc, tours.nyc, and digital.nyc, about
> which we have more to say below.
> * 3,092 Premium Names
> <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qeEPuuPQ3MxzDtUjNpWZy5milRVISvt-4QqBmHRgENQ/edit?usp=sharing>
> – These names were set aside for distribution through high-bid
> auctions, scheduled to begin in early 2015. We’ve advocated for
> attaching Public Interest Commitments (PICs) to many of these
> names, believing social and economic equity and a stronger TLD will
> result. A recent panel report
> <http://www.connectingnyc.org/report-premium-nyc-domain-names-public-interest-commitments-12-18-2014/>
> detailed these recommendations.
> * 17,000 Collision Names
> <https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YYFOrvpZzwpb-gHHAzxBPhEa7etN6EiHomNASTSgH1A&authuser=0>
> – The “Collision” names were excluded from allocation pending a
> review of their impact on the operation of existing networks.
> Mayor.nyc and our own connecting.nyc are two of the good names
> stuck in this batch. The vast majority of collision names are of
> little consequence, but all are expected to become available in mid
> 2015.
>
> While we have some statistics to guide our Traditional Metrics
> evaluation, doing so for the Community-TLD perspective is a bit more
> challenging.
>
>
> The Community View
>
> Early in 2014 Mayor de Blasio announced that it had reserved nearly
> 400 neighborhood names for development by entities representing the
> public interest. And it created a path for their allocation – see
> neighborhoods.nyc <http://neighborhoods.nyc>. We tested the proposed
> allocation process recently by encouraging local civic entities to
> apply for the JacksonHeights.nyc name. We chose Jackson Heights
> because it represented the home team – we’re based there – and it has
> a young entrepreneurial population engaged with tech.
>
> The response was lukewarm at best. Only one organization indicated it
> might take on the site’s development. And that commitment was on an
> “as time allows” basis. Also, no existing organization matched the
> proposed governance standard.
>
> We concluded that if a suitable application was to be filed for
> JacksonHeights.nyc, it would best be submitted by a new entity, one
> having the website as its primary mission. And we concluded that the
> neighborhood names might best be issued to contracted parties,
> committed to the principals set out on neighborhoods.nyc, with
> periodic reviews to establish compliance. A scenario of this sort
> would require an investment for start up and oversight.
>
> The adoption of a resident-focused nexus policy was another positive
> action by de Blasio. Properly administered and enforced nexus can
> foster a range of benefits from civic pride to security and economic
> development. Our review of registrations revealed some questionable
> registrant addresses and we look forward to the initiation of planned
> random audits and for a public reporting of results.
>
> A key sign of community success will arrive when .nyc names are
> being used to create new civic and business connections. Over the
> last several months we’ve sought to understand who is registering the
> domain names. Are names being registered to make new connections and
> new markets? Are New Yorkers shifting their registrations to .nyc
> from .com, .net, .org and other foreign TLDs? While we await a
> sophisticated analysis, an associate has reviewed the daily log of
> new registrants. The dominant impression is that registrations are
> largely for generic names, as opposed to those of existing
> businesses. Looked at in concert with the high rate of parked names,
> this might indicate a multitude of speculative purchases. But one
> might see a positive side to this: the names of existing businesses
> are apparently not being squatted upon and remain available.
>
>
> Community Opportunities
>
> One of the key benefits we foresaw for New Yorkers and visitors alike
> was an intuitive Internet where our everyday language would be our
> guide. Using the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissioners%27_Plan_of_1811> as
> inspiration, we advanced the model of viewing .nyc as a digital grid
> where ease-of-use and clarity would result from the thoughtful
> allocation of names – bikes.nyc, bakeries.nyc, drugstores.nyc,
> schools.nyc, etc. But the city opted for the speed and simplicity of
> a Land Rush
> <http://www.connectingnyc.org/the-nyc-landrush-auctions-adding-injury-to-insult/>
> distribution process (first-come first-served), which released
> thousands of intuitive names for unknown uses. The results are
> trickling in.
>
> Today, New Yorkers typing hardwarestores.nyc
> <http://hardwarestores.nyc/> will be presented with the services
> offered by a single locksmith, not an organized presentation of the
> desired stores. They’ll need to sift through Google’s global results
> to locate their local hardware store. The local hardware store will
> need to pay Google if it hopes to be found there. And a job will not
> be created for the local operator of hardwarestores.nyc. It’s a
> loose-loose-loose situation for New York.
>
> But there’s still an opportunity to foster an intuitive .nyc, where
> language holds its traditional meaning. Within the 21,000 unallocated
> Reserved, Premium, and Collision names the city can identify widely
> understood names (words would be a better descriptive) and require
> Public Interest Commitments (see our recommendations
> <http://www.connectingnyc.org/report-premium-nyc-domain-names-public-interest-commitments-12-18-2014/>)
> by the developers of these domain names.
>
> If .nyc is to gain a reputation as a reliable and useful TLD – where
> people are confident that typing a domain name will deliver the
> desired result, names like pizza.nyc and hotels.nyc can’t simply
> market traditional brands. That is, pizza.nyc can’t lead to Pizza Hut
> and hotels.nyc can’t provide the choice of all the city’s Hilton
> Hotels. This will be the likely consequence if a high bid auction
> determiners development rights.
>
> For .nyc to succeed these domain names need to aide residents and
> visitors alike in learning about the history, variety, and depth of
> our pizza and hospitality industries. This can only be achieved via
> contractual Public Interest Commitments.
>
> Additionally, Mayor de Blasio can select a few of the unallocated
> names and provide those on the other side of the digital divide with
> the opportunity to apply their entrepreneurial talents to developing
> the .nyc TLD.
>
>
> Concerns
>
> Since 2009, when the city announced its intent to acquire .nyc, there
> have been few meaningful opportunities for public engagement
> in .nyc’s planning and oversight process. Access was virtually
> nonexistent during the Bloomberg years. Initially the de Blasio
> Administration was more receptive to public engagement, indeed,
> during 2014 a .NYC Community Advisory Board met on a monthly basis,
> with two from our organization appointed as members. However, when
> that Board ceased operating in December, public access to the
> oversight process ceased.
>
> The importance of governance and access was brought to mind recently
> when we received an invitation to attend a Digital.nyc Five Borough
> Tour
> <http://www.digital.nyc/events/digital-dot-nyc-five-borough-tour-number-bronx>.
> Curious about the event and its genesis we visited the digital.nyc
> website where the sponsors were described:
>
> Digital.NYC is the official online hub of the New York City startup
> and technology ecosystem, bringing together every company, startup,
> investor, event, job, class, blog, video, workspace, accelerator,
> incubator, resource and organization in the five boroughs. It is the
> result of a unique public/private partnership between the office of
> Mayor Bill de Blasio, the New York City Economic Development
> Corporation, IBM, Gust, and over a dozen leading NYC-based technology
> and media companies.
>
> Curious, we reviewed the Reserved Names and found digital.nyc listed.
> Not having been privy to this development while on the Advisory
> Board, we wondered about the process by which they had obtained the
> domain name. With this in mind we recalled a recent conversation
> predicting that fashion.nyc would be developed in a similar manner to
> digital.nyc. Some research revealed fashion.nyc to be on the Premium
> Names list and as having been registered to Neustar, the contractor
> overseeing .nyc’s marketing and operation, last week.
>
> Without transparency and a governance process, people may begin to
> think the city’s TLD is being operated out of cigar box, or worse.
> And with public trust central to its becoming a grid for our digital
> resources, such perceptions can be highly detrimental.
>
> City Hall needs to add transparency and accountability to the
> operation of the .nyc TLD. And it needs a representative and
> accessible governance process that informs the public about how
> allocation decisions are made, for what purpose, and by whom. And we
> need a process and timetable for evaluating these allocations of the
> public’s resources.
>
> Soap Box: Our view is that a thoughtfully developed TLD provides the
> infrastructure for a secure local Internet. That upon that base one
> can build privacy, identity, and community. And that these will speed
> economic growth and the creation of a more prosperous and livable
> city.
>
>
> A Hollywood Ending
>
> This review turned out to be far longer than we anticipated. Those
> who’ve stuck with it to the end get 7 .nyc treats. Enjoy.
>
> * Archives.nyc <http://archives.nyc> – This site shows city
> information presented in an esthetically pleasing manner.
> Congratulations to the Municipal Archives.
> * MurdersIn.nyc <http://MurdersIn.nyc> – If we were giving awards
> this one would get the Bagel for creative use of a .nyc domain name.
> * Greenestreet.nyc <http://Greenestreet.nyc> – A wonderful
> presentation of the 400 year history of one small section of a
> city street. But we do have some qualms about ownership of this
> resource as detailed here
> <http://www.connectingnyc.org/of-master-plans-greenstreet-nyc/>.
> * Straphangers.nyc <http://Straphangers.nyc> – We love this
> organization and as one might expect its an early occupant of the
> .nyc domain.
> * Visualizing.nyc
> <http://visualizing.nyc/bus-riding-the-best-kept-secret-of-nyc-transit/>
> – Be patient while this one loads. For map lovers.
> * Mammamia.nyc <http://Mammamia.nyc> – Broadway’s first play to make
> it to the big time.
> * Prty.nyc <http://prty.nyc/sperm-visualizer/> – Dancing like you’ve
> never seen it before.
>
>
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