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- Mtandao Afrika : News and Events :
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SchoolNet Africa has been certified as an ICANN At-Large Structure (ALS)
In recognition of the role played by SchoolNet Africa in promoting the use of information technology and the Internet for
the advancement of education in Africa, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN) "At-Large" has certified SchoolNet Africa as a certified member.
WHAT IS ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is an internationally organized, non-profit corporation
that has responsibility for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD)
and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain name system management, and root server system management functions. These services
were originally performed under U.S. Government contract by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and other entities.
ICANN now performs the IANA function.
As a private-public partnership, ICANN is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet; to promoting
competition; to achieving broad representation of global Internet communities; and to developing policy appropriate to its
mission through bottom-up, consensus-based processes.
What is the Domain Name System?
The Domain Name System (DNS) helps users find their way around the Internet. Every computer on the Internet has a
unique address called its "IP address" (Internet Protocol address). Because IP addresses (which are strings of numbers)
are hard to remember, the DNS allows a familiar string of letters (the "domain name") to be used instead. So rather than
typing "192.0.34.163," you can type "www.icann.org ."
WHAT IS "AT-LARGE"?
"At-Large" is ICANN's name for individual Internet users who want to be involved in issues that affect individuals'
use of the Internet's domain name system. ICANN At-Large consists of an international "At-Large Advisory Committee" (ALAC)
and user groups throughout the world working together to form five "Regional At-Large Organizations" (1 in each geographic
region; "AFRALO" in Africa) that inform and involve the world's Internet end-users in issues that affect the future of the
Internet. ICANN At-Large provides crucial contributions to ICANN's work on such matters as:
- guidance on how internationalised domain names ("local language" domain names) are implemented;
- how new top-level domains (i.e. .info, .name, .museum, etc.) are introduced;-
- How to manage the implementation of a new IP addressing system to make sure there are enough unique addresses
so the Internet can grow without constraints or instability
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