Internet Geography

Description of Financial Domain Name Projects - New Top-Level Domains for Specialized Financial Name Spaces

by Winfried BOEING

CORE - Working Paper Series, co-authored with U. Schneider and W. Staub

Domains for financial instruments require a governance model specific to the type of financial instrument where the... more Domains for financial instruments require a governance model specific to the type of financial instrument where the key stakeholders in the market are represented. Thanks to being instrument-specific, they can eliminate the risk of confusion through appropriate oversight and controls, prior to a given name ever being activated. CORE has launched an international stakeholder group to foster research in and application of Financial Names Spaces for the new Top Level Domains soon becoming subject in global discussions around extending the gTLDs administered by ICANN.

Keywords: ICANN, gTLDs, Financial Domains, Namespace, Internet

JEL Classifications: G20, G28, G38, F42, Z1
Working Paper Series

Internet for Financial Intermediaries & Securities - How to Construct a New Regulatory System within the Domain Name System

by Winfried BOEING

CORE Working Paper Series: co-authored with U. Schneider and W. Staub

Abstract:
CORE has been an active participant in the ICANN, the DNSO and Registrar Constituency processes. CORE... more Abstract:
CORE has been an active participant in the ICANN, the DNSO and Registrar Constituency processes. CORE supports the launch of new Top Level Domains (TLDs) in a responsible manner and the recognition of TLDs as resources to be managed in the public trust. With this white paper CORE Association is describing the work of experts and stakeholders in the Financial Industry to apply for generic TLDs, such as .bank, .fund or .giro. The initial Project Group is funded by CORE Association and started working in October 2007. The Project Group is part of CORE’s Financial Domains Initiative. Its role is to review requirements and possible solutions with a wide range of stakeholders, paving the way for industry-based working groups tasked with policy definition for various types of financial domain name spaces.

Keywords: ICANN, gTLDs, Financial Institutions, Internet, Financial Domains, Domain Namespace

JEL Classifications: G2, G28, G38, F42, Z1
Working Paper Series

Date posted: October 08, 2009 ;
Last revised: December 27, 2010

Information technologies and representational spaces at the outposts of the global political economy: redrawing the Balkan image of Slovenia

by Darren Purcell

Information, Communication and Society, 2001 - Co-Authored with Janet Kodras

Drawing upon insights from Deibert's (1997) reconstituted medium theory and critical geopolitics literature, this... more Drawing upon insights from Deibert's (1997) reconstituted medium theory and critical geopolitics literature, this article examines Slovenia'sefforts at crafting an image of itself via the Internet for specific strategic goals such as EU and NATO accession, the promotion of tourism and the attraction of foreign direct investment. Through an examination of both the material and discursive practices undertaken by the Slovenian government, we demonstrate the difficulty inherent in challenging tropes that hegemonic powers disseminate through various media in order to craft the geopolitical world they operate in. Slovenia's websites represent an important form of resistance to hegemonic visions of space, visions that have excluded Slovenia's accession to certain power structures. The government uses the Internet to construct a discourse refuting assertions of unreadiness to accede to these institutions, a form of online lobbying that attempts to redraw the image of Slovenia in the minds of a global public. We conclude this examination not by making grand pronouncements about the efficacy of these efforts, but by demonstrating that these images are part and parcel of the efforts to disassociate Slovenia from the negative connotations of the Balkan moniker.The fact that these efforts incorporate the Internet, when linked to material practices and policies, raises questions about the possibilities of such resistance via new communication technologies.
Keywords: Medium Theory; Critical Geopolitics; Place Promotion; Slovenia; Geopolitical Discourse; Balkan

The Military in the Noosphere

by Darren Purcell

Published in Information, Communication and Society, 2005

Websites are often used by governments to articulate particular views on international affairs, and even to lobby for... more Websites are often used by governments to articulate particular views on international affairs, and even to lobby for a particular position. Using work by Arquilla and Ronfeldt (1999), Castells (2001) and Chadwick (2001) as a theoretical framework for understanding the importance that cyberspace holds for governments and states, the author analyzes the efforts of the Slovenian Ministry of Defense (MoD) to adopt the Internet to communicate with publics it defined as important. Through this website, the MoD literally served as a combatant in the noosphere, while displaying tendencies that Chadwick argues serves particular purposes in maintaining domestic political legitimacy. The analysis is based on a socio-semiotic approach (Hodge & Kress 1988) dependent on a well-developed understanding of the context within which signs and symbols exist. The paper outlines the role of the military in Slovenia, incorporates interview data with public relations staff in and then links these to a descriptive analysis of website content. The paper concludes that it is important for non-hegemonic states to actively contest cyberspace images in the noosphere, if only to serve the domestic public the state needs for legitimacy. Further directions in comparative work are proposed.

Keywords: noosphere; geopolitics; semiotics; ICTs; Slovenia; representations of space

Power and Space in Electronic Communications

by Darren Purcell

Second author with Phil Steinberg, Florida State University. Submitted May 2009.

(In)visible Bodies in the Geopolitical Realm: The battle for Kurdish National Identity Through Imagery on Facebook.

by Darren Purcell

Poster to be presented at the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers Meeting, Birmingham, AL. November 20-23rd, 2010.

Second author with Ms. Kristin Collier, OU Geography student.