The Ghana Domain Name Registry (GDNR) in collaboration with the E-Governance and Internet Governance Foundation for Ghana (EGIGFG) and the Association of African Universities (AAU) officially launched the Universal Acceptance (AU) Day Observation event on Thursday, March 28.

The AU Observation Day event will be celebrated on May 15, 2024, at the Association of African Universities (AAU) premises in East Legon, Accra.

The event organised under the theme "Collaborative Effort Toward Achieving Universal Acceptance in Ghana," highlighted the need for Universal Acceptance (UA) in internet technologies. 

Addressing the media at the launch of the AU Day Observation, the Executive Director for Ghana Domain Name Registry (GDNR), Nana Kofi Asafu-Aidoo said for many years, the internet has been accessible mainly through traditional top-level domains like dot.com, dot.org and dot.net.

However, he emphasised that the domain name systems have now grown to include country code top-level domains such as dot.gh and dot.uk.

Regarding this, Mr Asafu-Aidoo said that Ghana has embraced these diversities and ensured that the nation's digital infrastructure is inclusive and accommodates everyone.

He highlighted that Universal Acceptance is a concept that aims to make the internet accessible to everyone regardless of language or location.

According to him, people can have their email address or domain name in the alphabet of their local languages and can be processed by all applications and systems everywhere.

“We aim to raise awareness about Universal Acceptance, especially for those who may encounter difficulties online because they are using scripts outside their regularly known alphabets such as in our local languages.”

Mr Asafu-Aidoo emphasised that this would be done by ensuring that software and systems work to validate and display domain names and email addresses written in a variety of alphabets.

“Our goal is to ensure that all domain names and email addresses work across all platforms. This includes new domains and countries-specific ones,” he added.

He emphasised that the Ghana Domain Name Registry (GDNR) is committed to an inclusive internet where everybody can take part and will be involved in development.

The GDNR Executive Director noted that his outfit is also committed to playing their part in advancing Universal Acceptance locally and globally.

He stressed Ghana's commitment to working alongside stakeholders in raising awareness and implementing best practices to ensure that “The dot.gh domain names are universally accepted and fully integrated into the digital ecosystem.”

On his part, an IT Officer at the Association of African Universities (AAU), Kwesi Awattey proposed the integration of Universal Acceptance technology into Ghana's educational curriculum. 

Mr Awattey contended that equipping IT learners with Universal Acceptance skills from an early stage is paramount to nurturing a digitally proficient workforce capable of navigating the evolving complexities of the internet.

Additionally, the Founder and President of E-Governance and Internet Governance Foundation for Africa (EGIGFA), Raymond Mamata underscored the nation's concerted efforts to ensure the seamless integration of local languages into domain names on a global scale.

He stated that Africa is made up of the highest number of people that have local languages and thus the need to take Universal Acceptance seriously.

“So imagine Ethiopia being able to use their own script online and be able to communicate, that will make it easy for the Ethiopian who speaks and write their own script to be able to go online and have transactions being done.

“It is also important for Ghana to take this seriously because of our various local languages. So imagine we have a domain that has our own script that is not part of the English script, …our systems should be able to easily accept it,” he said.