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Resources

E-Learning

Welcome to E-Learning where you will find multimedia options that enable you to learn more about the various initiatives and programs currently going on at ICANN. With additional content being incrementally added over time, it's all free so click on the buttons below to explore the relevant pages where you can either pre-register for an upcoming event or download a previous podcast, audio briefing or webinar session.

Podcasts

What is a podcast?

A "podcast" is audio or video content distributed on the Internet in episodes that have a consistent format. Audio podcasts from ICANN play in any MP3 player (using Windows Media Player, Quicktime, iTunes, etc). You can listen to individual episodes by selecting an episode and clicking its title to download it. If you subscribe to our podcasts in iTunes, each new episode we publish will automatically download to your computer and play in iTunes on demand.

Webinars

What is a webinar?

A "webinar" is a seminar delivered via the World Wide Web. These webinars differ from the presentations on our site, in that a webinar plays as video in your browser. You'll see slides and hear what the audience heard, as if you had attended the presentation.

Audio Briefings

What is an audio briefing?

An "audio briefing" is a recorded interview or lecture that covers topics in depth. Hear well-qualified, well-informed experts from the ICANN community provide the context you need for forming opinions on complex issues. How does an audio briefing differ from a podcast? Because an audio briefing is a one-time event, the briefings vary in length and format, and cannot be subscribed to. A podcast follows a consistent format, publishes periodically, and can be subscribed to using an RSS reader or iTunes.

Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."