Wales Seeks Own Identity on the Web
By EIFION WILLIAMS
Websites in the Welsh language or those promoting Welsh culture, including Welsh societies in North America, may soon be able to use a .cym address. The root relates to Cymru, the Welsh name for Wales.
There is currently an on-going campaign in Wales to get .cym accepted as a top-level domain name (TLD) on a par with the well-known .com, .net and .org root names. The change can only be made by persuading the California-based International Corporation for Assigning Names and Numbers (ICANN) that there is a widespread demand for the right to use .cym on Welsh-related websites.
The so-called dotCYM campaign has already gained widespread support from prominent Welsh leaders in commerce, publishing and the law. Support has also come from the house committee of the Welsh National Assembly, whose members believe that the use of .cym would boost Welsh culture and identity.
According to the Assembly Presiding Officer, Dafydd Elis-Thomas, "As well as Welsh language sites, it could be used for sites in another language which are of Welsh interest." It would also be available to Welsh organizations and ex-pats throughout the world.
The campaign has recently received a boost following ICANN's decision to grant the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia a .cat domain name. Catalan is the language of the majority in Catalonia, which includes Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain.
Elis-Thomas points out that there has been a 33 percent increase in the number of Catalan-language sites since .cat has been introduced and he sees the adoption of .cym as an effective way of promoting the Welsh language and Welsh identity.
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