A Top Level Domain for Museums

In November 2000 the Museum Domain Management Association (MuseDoma) was awarded the opportunity of introducing a new top level domain (TLD), museum. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved seven applications for new domains at that time. With the support of ICOM and the Getty Trust, MuseDoma expects to bring this domain into operation the first week of July 2000 to benefit the museum community world wide in the online environment. We explore here a short history of the Internet and its naming conventions that led to ICANN's actions, and look at the potential benefits to the museum community of a museum TLD.