ISOC, ICANN, W3C

Internet Society (ISOC)
• Nonprofit organization founded in 1992
• Provide leadership for Internet-related standards, education, & policy
• International website (headquarters in US, Switzerland)
• Vint Cerf, Bob Kahn,& Lyman Chapin released original concept of the Internet Society
• Board of Trustees – members are appointed to this governing body; time in office lasts for 3 years
• Various staff members and advisors around the globe
• Ensure open development, evolution, and use of the Internet around the globe
• Discusses the future of the Internet
• Hold training sessions for use of the Internet for developing countries
• Over 20,000 members in 80 different chapters around the world
• Goal is to enhance the availability & utility of the Internet on the widest possible scale
• Media Information – people can contact staff for interviews, conferences, and programs; links to related organizations (Internet Architecture Board [IAB]; Internet Engineering Steering Group [IESG]; Internet Research Task Force [IRTF]; Internet Assigned Numbers Authority [IANA])
• References: http://www.isoc.org/isoc/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Society

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
• Nonprofit organization founded in 1998
• Located in California and Brussels, Belgium
• Coordinates unique identifiers across the world for global Internet communication
• Created to oversee Internet-related tasks that were once performed by the U.S. Government
• Dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable
• Promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet’s unique identifiers
• ICANN doesn’t control content or spam … but has an important impact on the expansion and evolution of the Internet
• ICANN' s tasks include responsibility for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code Top Level Domain name system management, and root server system management functions\
• Assignment of domain names and IP addresses
• Paul Twomey = President/CEO of ICANN
• Peter Dengate Thrush = Chair of the Board of Directors (he replaced Vint Cerf)
• Made up of the Board of Directors & ICANN staff
• Press can contact ICANN for questions
• Able to translate website in other languages
• References: http://www.icann.org/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICANN

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• Develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential
• A forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding
• Members and visitors are allowed to contribute to the website
• Website is composed to recent articles that discuss technological updates and events
• An international consortium where Member organizations, staff, and the public collaborate to develop Web standards
• Established in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee (the director & inventor of W3C) at MIT Laboratory for Computer Science with support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
o Berners-Lee coined the term “the world wide web” in 1989
• Headquartered in France & Japan
• World offices in 16 regions around the globe ( from Austria to the United Kingdom)
• 434 members as of February 2008
• Work with their regional Web communities to promote W3C technologies in local languages, broaden W3C's geographical base, and encourage international participation in W3C Activities
• Nurture liaisons with international organizations
• Developing standards for the Web or Internet in order to enable clear progress
• Financially supported by membership dues, research grants, public/private funding, and the Supporter’s Program
o Membership dues vary by country
• Collaborate with media to advertise their website
• Able to translate the website in other languages
• References: http://www.w3.org/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Consortium