Portal:ICANNWiki/ICANNWiki and Neutralspace

[edit] History of ICANNWiki and NeutralSpace

Several years ago Ray King, CEO of SnapNames began attending ICANN conferences. In listening to the proceedings and those who attended the confrences, Ray thought of creating a tool that would facilitate information sharing and developing policy in a way that is transparent -- that being through the use of a wiki. It is through this thought and initiative that ICANNWiki.org was established for ICANN as well as members of the overall ICANN "community".

Through appreciation of talents, and schedules Ray asked Dan Mendell to head the organization while Ray continued as head of SnapNames. Ray later moved to start another organization known as AboutUs.org.

Together Ray and Dan worked to form a for profit organization known as "NeutralSpace". NeutralSpace's goal is to utilize technology in sharing information among local communities. NeutralSpace is in the early start-up stages.

One important item to note, while ICANNWiki was set up as a for-profit organization, it has always been run and will continue to be run like a non-profit. Why was ICANNWiki.org NOT set up as a non-profit organization to begin with? In looking at Wikipedia, the organization lost out on opportunities having been set up as a non-profit organization. For that reason ICANNWiki was established as a for-profit organization. However, it should be repeated that ICANNWiki.org has always been run and will continue to be run like a non-profit organization. Chuck Kisselburg is the Director of ICANNWiki.org and it is Chuck's responsibility to ensure the health and growth of ICANNWiki.org while also listening to members of the overall ICANN "community". It is through the generous support of ICANNWiki's sponsors that ICANNWiki.org has been able to grow and bring value to the ICANN "community".

While ICANNWiki.org is a subsidiary of NeutralSpace, both organizations will benefit from each other's experience with online communities.