Today's Internet is a massive and messy world with more than 100,000,000 websites. Within that world, New York City's vast tourism, business, government, cultural, community, and education resources are increasingly obscured in a sea of top level domains like .com, .net, .info, .org, .gov, .us, .biz, and dozens more. As a result, the city’s own residents, businesses, and institutions can’t readily find one another for civic conversation, or to take advantage of network and long tail effects that propel today's social and e-business innovations.

To be the master of its future, New York City needs its own space on the Internet.

Connecting.nyc Inc., a New York not-for-profit, was formed to acquire, develop, and operate the .nyc TLD. It seeks a more city-friendly Internet, where a carefully planned and managed TLD will make it easier for both residents and visitors to locate city resources within a safe environment.

Here is a sampling of the benefits from the Advantages of the .nyc TLD page:

More Livable City - Daily life in the city will improve as we begin to use the Internet to organize the city's resources. For example, when searching for a school, begin at schools.nyc.

Economic Development - Good domain names - short, descriptive, and memorable - will be available to entrepreneurs and small businesses, especially the young and those from immigrant communities. The .nyc TLD says "Made in New York City" and provides billions of New York City mindshare ads. Domain name revenue will remain in the city. See the Economic Development page for additional advantages.

Community: Identity, Trust, Justice, and Civic Pride - Residents and businesses can more easily locate and network with one another within a zoned .nyc top level domain. Civic awareness, community pride, and self empowerment will follow.

Tourism / Marketing - The city can better market itself globally as a tourist destination and business center by setting aside and managing names like hotels.nyc.

Internet Access & Training - Funds raised through name sales and other revenue opportunities will be used to provide Internet access, technical training, and educate New Yorkers about opportunities that arise from a networked world.

Preparing for Global Competition - New York City will be better able to compete as a corporate headquarters-city with Singapore (.sg) and Hong Kong (.hk), which have TLDs.

Key Pages

Each of the 75+ pages on this wiki invites user contributions and is linked to one of the following key pages. (To edit the wiki you must join the project.)

• The TLD Acquisition Campaign - The .nyc TLD's acquisition effort requires that we develop support here in New York City and convincingly present our goals and capabilities to the organization that issues new TLDs, the ICANN.
• Advantages of the .nyc TLD - Marketing city resources, creating a more livable city, economic development, community awareness, Internet access and training, and more.
• Mission & Objectives - Why we exist and what we hope to accomplish.
  
• The Operating Environment - Issuing names, operating the registry, maintaining a directory, and creating a safe communications environment that benefits all New Yorkers is our key mission.
  
• Domain Name Allocation Plan - Help decide which domain names will be set aside for public use, for operational purposes, for auction, or distributed on a as first come first served basis.
  

• The Development Environment - Here we will explore personal, family, civic, community, and business networking applications that might help create a more livable city. Should security and privacy be our highest development priority? Where should education, training, and access be on our priority list? Help decide.
  

• Governance - Like the air, water, streets and schools the .nyc TLD is commons and will serve residents best when operated transparently and with the public engaged in its governance.
• FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about the .nyc TLD.
  
• Towards City-TLDs in the Public Interest - A White Paper (or download it here) - A primer about the impact TLDs have had on cities and the special advantages that will arise with their operation in the public interest.
• Connecting.nyc Inc.'s Home Page