Month: July 2023

A trip around the different continents through five domains

Posted on by Comunicació

We’re making the most of the summer again this year to take a virtual trip around the world through five city domains. Interestingly, all of them were approved by the ICANN in 2014, coinciding with the .barcelona domain, as part of the expansion of the GLTD. Want to find out which ones?

We start our journey in .paris, a domain aimed at businesses, organisations and individuals based in Paris or who have a close connection with the city. Projects with the .paris domain include the website for the Louvre (louvre.paris), one of the most important art museums in the world, and the Paris Opera (opera.paris).

Still in Europe, we can take in one of the key cities for history and contemporary art. We’re talking about .berlin, the domain for the German city of Berlin. One of the most notable websites is for the Stiftung Planetarium Berlin (planetarium.berlin), which features a wide array of activities, from visits to the observatory to concerts and a cinema programme. One of the most iconic theatres in the city, the Friedrichstadt-Palast, has also opted for a .berlin domain for its website palast.berlin. Interestingly, there’s also a band by the name of .berlin. You can discover them on the website theband.berlin.

Next we’re taking a plane to .joburg. This is the domain for Johannesburg, popularly known as Joburg, one of the main cities in South Africa. Representatives of this domain include the annual art event of Open Studios Joburg, which is held in May (openstudios.joburg). There’s still a few months to go, but it’s interesting to take a look and discover the local artists.

After packing our bags again, we’re off to visit .melbourne in Australia, a city which stands out for its cultural, artistic and culinary wealth. On the website dosomething.melbourne we can find numerous leisure options for enjoying the city.

The last part of this digital trip around the world takes us to .quebec, the domain for the province and city in the east of Canada with its French legacy, rich in culture, history and nature. One notable website is fabcity-montreal.quebec, an initiative promoted by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), the MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, the Fundació fab and Barcelona City Council, with the aim of connecting international cities wishing to be self-sufficient, productive cities in the local sphere and connected globally.

Our peculiar trip around the world ends here. We wish you the best for the holidays and we’ll see you again in September!

How did local domains come about?

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A few weeks back, the domains of .barcelona, .cat, .gal and .eus had a meeting with our registration companies to explain our projects to them, but also to exchange opinions and experiences and develop a closer relationship with them.

All four domains form part of the geoTLD.group. an international non-profit association representing the interests of top-level geographical domains that identify a city, a region, a language or a culture.

The .cat domain appeared in 2005 and was the first domain in the world to represent a language or a culture. Its appearance was possible thanks to a successful campaign and mobilisation which strengthened the Catalan-speaking civil society. Since then, the domain has been managed by the Fundació .cat and its regulations explain that its use is for websites with content in Catalan, regardless of whether they contain content in other languages or not.

The creation of the .cat domain provided the model for the approval of the .eus domain in 2008, representing Basque language and culture. This domain is managed by the PuntuEus foundation.

Five years later, in 2013, the ICANN approved a new domain representing one of the languages and cultures in the Spanish state. In this case, .gal is the domain for Galician language and culture and is managed by PuntoGal.

The .barcelona domain came into service in 2016 and was the first city domain in the Spanish state, managed by Barcelona City Council. Nearly four thousand domains were registered when it was launched, and now any individual, company or organisation identifying with the city’s values can register.

Besides identifying users with a local or linguistic community, all of these domains are managed by organisations which devote part of their income to projects that promote digitalisation in their regions.

17 July: World Emoji Day

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World Emoji Day is an annual celebration held on 17 July, reminding us of the importance and impact of these little icons that have changed the way we communicate. Since they were created, emojis have become an integral part of our digital communication, enabling us to express emotions, ideas and reactions in a visual and universal way.

The first emoji was created at the start of the 90s by the Japanese programmer Shigetaka Kurita. The first set of 176 emojis, designed for messaging purposes by the company NTT DoCoMo, included elements such as emoticons, images of animals, foods, objects and other visual symbols. Since then, emojis have evolved and grown, with an ever broader and more diverse range of graphic representations.

There are currently thousands of emojis available, covering a wide variety of topics, such as emotions, activities, animals, foods, places, objects and much more. They are used on a global scale and have become a shared visual language that goes beyond linguistic and cultural barriers.

Here are some tips on using emojis when you communicate:

·        Contextualisation: Make sure the emoji you choose relates to the message you want to convey. Use the emoji to highlight or strengthen the meaning of your words.

·        Avoid excessive use: Use emojis in moderation. Using too many or overloading your message with them can make it difficult to understand. Choose the most relevant and significant emojis to communicate your point of view.

·       Universal meaning: Bear in mind that emojis can be interpreted differently depending on culture and context. To avoid misunderstandings, make sure you know the common meaning of an emoji before using it.

·        Experiment: Don’t be afraid to explore new emojis and use them to express yourself. Creative use of emojis can add a fun and exciting dimension to your digital conversations.

Have a good World Emoji Day! 😉 🎉

The Grec Festival is also .barcelona

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The collective voice is the idea underpinning the 47th Barcelona Grec Festival, with a programme inviting reflection on how group awareness enriches individual qualities. You’ll find full details on this edition at festivalgrec.barcelona.

Between now and 30 July you can enjoy local and international productions that look at global issues such as the conservation of nature, women’s voices, the consequences of war, the importance of giving visibility to people at risk of social exclusion and the increasing presence of artificial intelligence. There are also activities all around the city, while “La Xirgu en família” offers shows, concerts and workshops for families to enjoy with the children.You’ll find the full programme on the website festivalgrec.barcelona, where you can also download it, buy tickets and keep up to date with the latest news. Not to be miss