The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has unveiled a new digital platform intended to foster collective experimentation and innovation on internet policy development.
The platform, called ICANNLabs, will initially launch prototypes focused on four initial tracks: communication, education, discovery, and personalization.
“We are searching for new ways to innovate and stay true to our principles of bottom-up, community driven policy formation. ICANNLabs is quite simply an open experiment aimed at creating new digital forms of communication,” said Fadi Chehadé, ICANN President and CEO.
The goals of the first four tracks include increasing awareness and participation in internet policy discussions, leveraging new online learning models to increase knowledge about ICANN the organization, and facilitating deeper discussion and collaboration around policy development.
“ICANNLabs will give us an experimental digital space where we can showcase beta versions of proposed digital tools and assets and then seek community feedback,” said Sally Costerton, Senior Advisor to ICANN President on Global Stakeholder Engagement.
“Using that feedback we will improve, or perhaps abandon certain tools then re-introduce improved versions and continue in that cycle until we have new and useful tools.”