BYE, BYE BERLIN: LONG LIVE THE INTERNET
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I spent my last day in Berlin working on an event to promote .ORG websites, like the domain that our Mediachannel.org proudly uses. .ORG is a top level domain name as set up by the people who created the internet—not Al Gore. More than six million .org sites are run by the not for profit Public Interest Registry which I and Globalvision have been pleased to help.

Last night, several German internet registrars from companies like 1 & 1 Internet GMBH, InternetX , Key Systems and Strato along with some notable .orgs including Mediachannel and Human Rights Watch, Wikipedia Germany, Netzpolitik. Bundesrepublic and the, OECD were part of the discussion. The idea is to strengthen and make more visible the non-commercial pro-social change sites on line, and then encourage them/us to multiply, collaborate and build a broader community. In many ways, the .orgs are what make the internet so unqiue—its heart and soul.

ALEXA SPEAKS

Alexa Raad, the dynamo CEO of .ORG, The Public Interest Registry, was the featured speaker. She also did an op-ed which will be carried on Indymedia Germany and other outlets.

When the Canadian singer Leonard Cohen sang “First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin,” it was one more way of showcasing how artists the world over were impressed by the flourishing arts scene in Germany.

When I lived in Berlin a few years back, I was struck by how generous people were in supporting charities and international causes. Germany’s Green Party may have sparked the country’s interest in environmentalism but today being Green in Germany is more about ecology than politics.

And yet when I returned to the US to become more deeply engaged in the business of the Internet, I was surprised how little my friends back home were aware of what was happening in a city as dynamic as Berlin.

Blame it on Anglo-American control of news, or Hollywood’s stranglehold on global culture but so much of what’s happening here is promoted more by the Goethe Institutes wordwide than on the Internet where so many people could experience it. Language is not the only barrier.

Many of us don’t recognize that we can tear down the virtual walls as well as the way Germans tore down real ones.

I came to see the potential for more international outreach when I became the CEO of .ORG, the Public Interest Registry, the home of 6.7 million websites that define themselves as .Orgs. Think of the ones you use—Wikipedia.org or craigslist.org, or here in Germany, Transparency Interenational.org, and Human Rights Watch.

A dot.org is more than an address—it’s a way of signaling an interest in reaching a wider global audience, of joining an international community of people who see .Org as a brand for change and integrity.

We know that Germany is an internet leader. It has Europe’s largest telecommunications market. Web use is higher that the EU average, though broadband and mobile penetration lags far behind. A year ago, the statistics were impressive: 50,426,117 Internet users, , 61.1% of the population. Worldwide, there are said to be 922 million to 1032 million internet users, all countries combined.

Ercim News reports: “more and more German radio and television stations, newspapers and press agencies looking for new audience and publicity go on-line … The time where Internet was a big playground for adults and children is almost over. Individuals, organizations and governments use the Internet for a wide range of professional and commercial activities”

At the same time, German organizations seem more inwardly directed that globally oriented, Many international media companies use the Web as an ideal platform to expand their often multilingual program and world-wide coverage.

A year ago the amazingly decentralized team behind Wikipedia.org had a planning conference in Frankfurt. It was packed—and clear that Germans were playing a lead role not only in customizing a German Langage Wikipedia, the second largest Wikipedia site but providing leadership for this outstanding one of a kind “people” global encyclopedia project.

.ORG is about serving the public interest, not just commercial interests although our sites offer ecommerce and generate revenue through commercial add-ons. We have launched a “World Voices” campaign to promote diverse expression. The web does have a mission to inspire and educate along with its other functions.

There is in the world today a growing tension between nationalism and globalism, between our dedication to our own countries and culture and the recognition that globalization has forced us to become more aware of international events and challenges like global warming that affect us all.

As I write, the world is watching the tragedy in Myanamar, a national disaster to be sure but one that raises larger questions of international responsibility.

The new media has not replaced the old but it has extended it. We now have the opportunity though social networking and other interactive technologies to connect, communicate, and share with each other in ways we never could across all the traditional boundaries.

The .ORG world has been around since the beginning of the internet and it only now “coming out” with a voice and force on its own. We are appealing to our friends to join us in helping the internet achieve its promise.

For more info see pir.org

Knight News Challenge 2008 Winners Announced Today at E&P/Mediaweek Interactive Media Conference

LAS VEGAS - Sixteen ideas to fund innovative digital projects around the world were awarded $5.5 million dollars today from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web, accepted one of the awards for a project that will create a technology to give users more information about the origins and sourcing of digital content.

Berners-Lee’s project is a partnership between the Media Standards Trust and the UK-based Web Science Research Initiative, of which he is a director.