The first APAC Space session of 2023 was held virtually on 31 Jan 2023. It focused on activities by the Universal Acceptance Local Initiatives (UA LI) in China, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. 31 participants (including speakers) attended the session.
The UA LIs spoke about past activities and their plans for the upcoming UA Day (28 March 2023). Ajay Data (Chair, UA Steering Group) facilitated the open community discussion and encouraged the community to host and/or participate in UA Day events in their local region/economy. Highlights from each speaker are as follows:
- Zhong Rui/ China UA LI shared that the China UA LI (Chinese Domain Names Initiative) had been actively engaging different stakeholders in the past year and focusing on different aspects of IDN and UA promotion, from organizing the Symposium on Development of Chinese Domain Names to various training programs and advising the Chinese government on related policies. For 2023, the China UA LI plans to continue with such efforts, and exchange best practices with other UA LIs.
- Harsha Wijayawardhana/ Sri Lanka UA LI shared that since the launch of the Sri Lanka UA LI (Theekshana) in December 2022, Theekshana has been actively promoting awareness through their local newspaper (the Lakehouse), providing training, and developing tools and platforms to catalyze the uptake of IDNs and Internationalized Email Addresses (EAIs). Theekshana plans to involve local bloggers, internet service providers and technical representatives for their UA Day 2023 activities. To drum up awareness before that, Theekshana plans to conduct a hackathon and a writing competition on UA.
- Anawin Pongsaboripat/ Thailand UA LI shared that they (THNIC) have been focusing on capacity building and training programmes for high school and university students over the past year. THNIC also involves other stakeholders such as the THNIC Resellers in these workshops. For UA Day 2023 and the year ahead, THNIC has plans to hold a public seminar on “How to Create a Business Digital Identity without Social Platforms”, as well as workshops and hackathons on EAIs and UA-ready applications.
- Sarika Gulyani/ India UA LI shared that the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry - Indian Language Internet Alliance (FICCI-ILIA) have focused on the development of technical competency and government engagements, as part of their efforts to raise awareness and build capacity on UA in the past year. Upcoming activities in 2023 include a Curtain Raiser program ahead of Global UA Day and an annual national symposium on Language Technology (Bhashantara 2023). They are keen to welcome experts and global partners for knowledge exchange and collaboration opportunities.
Brajesh Jain (NomCom) also called on the regional community to apply for available leadership positions in the ICANN ecosystem. Applications must be submitted via the online portal before 23 March 2023 (UTC).
For more details, please refer to the session recording and the presentation slides. The list of UA Day events will also be published on the UASG website.