The Israel Internet Association was established in 1994 as an independent entity that acts to promote the internet and its integration into Israel's technological, research, educational, social and business infrastructure. The Association is managed by seven board members, all volunteers, and acts within this framework towards developing and advancing infrastructure services vital for the existence of the internet in Israel, narrowing the country's digital divide and representing Israel in international forums that are significant in determining the future of the internet.

The Association's activities for promoting the internet in Israel:

Infrastructure services that are vital to the future of the internet in Israel:

• Registering Domain Names under il
  The Israel Internet Association operates the registry for domain names ending with Israel's national suffix, il. The Domain Name Registry has been managed by the Association since 1997. Today, domain names are registered in Israel. The Association is currently laboring to change Israel's existing domain name registration process to one based on registration by certified registrars. This change in the domain registration process is expected to further improve the level of service the local internet community receives in this field.

• Establishing and managing the Israel Internet Exchange (IIX)
  The Israel Internet Association established and operates the Israeli Internet Exchange (IIX), which directs all Israeli internal internet traffic between the various internet providers in the most effective manner and serves as the Israeli internet's backbone.

• Hosting a DNS Root Server
  The Internet Association hosts a DNS Root Server duplicate at its facilities. Global DNS Root Servers function as the base for the process of decoding domain names across the entire internet network. Deployment of a DNS Root Server adjacent to the Israeli Internet Exchange contributes to the surfing experience of Israeli users by carrying out decoding of domain names in their immediate environment, without the need for access to remote servers or navigators - in a way that improves response time and the surfing experience.

Promoting the internet within Israeli society

The Israel Internet Association undertakes various activities geared to advancing this objective, including the establishment of task forces. The task force model facilitates cooperation among four sectors: public, government, business and academic, to advance the following objectives:

• Raising awareness of internet technology and the importance of its integration within the Israeli community.

• Developing knowledge and disseminating it to the entire population.

• Pooling resources in order to promote common objectives.

These actions include activities aimed at narrowing the digital divide in Israel and at advancing the country's digital culture. For further details: taskgroups@isoc.org.il.

Narrowing the digital divide in Israel

• Making the internet more accessible for the disabled.
  This task force was established in 2002 and its objective is to advance accessibility of the internet for use by people with disabilities. To this end, the task force acts towards raising public awareness amongst owners and builders of internet sites, by promoting activities such as: disseminating information on the subject, translating standards for making sites accessible, promoting digital information pro-accessibility legislation, consulting on making sites accessible, etc.
  As part of its efforts, the task force created a dedicated website that contains useful information, articles and standards on making websites accessible (http://nagish.org.il). (The accessibility standards developed by the W3C organization were translated into Hebrew by the Israel Internet Association.)
  Members of the task force are: the Access Israel non-profit organization, the Ort network, the Center for Educational Technology (CET), the Open University of Israel, the Karten Institute, the Bizchut Association, the Commission for Equal Rights of People with Disabilities, as well as additional organizations and individuals.

• Promoting internet use by third age individuals
  This task force's objective is to further internet use by seniors in order to improve this age group's quality of life. The Israel Internet Association has developed a model based on internet and computer use, that helps seniors to strengthen their inter-generational connection with their juniors, to develop and strengthen inter-personal ties, to express their personal skills and abilities and to benefit from access to vital services and information that would be unavailable to them without familiarity with the digital world. Amongst the task force's activities is the utilization of third age volunteers in an informational PR campaign on the net (further details regarding the campaign will be given later). Members of the task force are: The Association for the Planning and Development of Services for the Aged in Israel (Eshel), the Israeli Center for Technology and Accessibility (Milbat), the Ministry of Education, Rotary, the Bar-Ilan Brookdale program, the Lotem company, pensioners' associations, and others. For further details: www.isoc.org.il/senior.

• Promoting informational PR on the web
  A project undertaken in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eshel, the Joint and a group of student volunteers for the promotion of Israeli informational PR via the internet network, leveraging seniors' knowledge of foreign languages, their spare time and high motivation. Within the framework of this project, third age volunteers learn computer and internet skills, and enlist to translate informational material supplied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs into a host of foreign languages. The translated material is incorporated in internet sites built by students. Additionally, third age volunteers post personal blogs on the net and react to articles and polls that appear on the web. This is an apolitical project and does not allege to present one opinion or another. For further details: hasbara@isoc.org.il.

• A task force for the promotion of life skills on the net (NetWise)
  This task force, established in 2005, is focused on developing the acquisition of digital skills, which are vital for our lives in the 21st century and which need to be advanced in weaker populations, such as: women, the elderly, immigrants and troubled children and youth. This task force's mission is to develop an educational kit that will be taught in courses across the country and will focus on learning to make use of the internet network in an effective way that facilitates everyday life, and on enhancing the ability to analyze and utilize information from a diverse variety of communications media, while gaining familiarity with these digital resources.
  The production of a generic "Internet Surfing License" trainers' training kit was completed during 2005; the kit will make it possible to conduct basic training courses for the cultivation of e-citizens this coming year. For further details: www.isoc.org.il/netwise.

• A task force for the advancement of the internet within the Arab-Israeli community
  As part of the Israel Internet Association's activities to narrow the digital divide and nurture digital culture on the web, a task force was established to promote the internet within Arab society in Israel. The task force comprises Association representatives, representatives of the Arab-Israeli community (Druze, Bedouin, Christians and Muslims), representatives of high-tech companies with vested interests, organizations that work with the Arab community in Israel and representatives of Arab colleges.
  All the educational materials that have been developed by the Israel Internet Association's other task forces are translated into Arabic and will be used to conduct courses and seminars for the Arabic-speaking population.

Promoting digital culture on the web

• Promoting education and informational PR for intelligent use of the Internet
  This group was formed in cooperation with the Eshnav Association in order to promote education and informational campaigns on the subject of the influence of the internet on society as a whole and on the individual, and in order to encourage educated use of the web. The group has set a goal of promoting awareness, amongst the communities of children, youth, parents and teachers, of the importance of education and informational PR in driving intelligent use of the web. To that end, the Israel Internet Association has developed a training kit geared for parents and teachers. The kit contains practical guidance for safer use of the internet network - how to avoid dangerous exposure on the net? What are the dangers vs. the opportunities on the net? What is the most worthwhile and advisable way to use email, forums, chats? And more... The kit is available in Hebrew and in Arabic.
  Additionally, the Israel Internet Association has sponsored a comprehensive comparative study, which is being undertaken in cooperation with Tel-Aviv University and the Netvision Institute for Internet Studies. The goal of the study is to assess the use of the internet amongst children and adults. Members of the task force include representatives from the Ministry of Education, academia, teachers' colleges, content developers, teachers' organizations and private companies.
  For further details on the promotion of education and informational PR for intelligent use of the internet: www.isoc.org.il/safe or via email safe@isoc.org.il.

• Encouraging volunteering on the net
  Using the internet removes boundaries and obstacles and helps surfers contribute from their time, talent and experience to others, who are confined to their home or to their workplace. Furthermore, virtual volunteering creates a new resource for non-profit organizations. These entities can expand their activities through enlisting volunteers, creating communication channels and developing new activities. The Israel Internet Association and the National Council for Volunteering in Israel labor to leverage volunteering over the net by awarding the "Network Angels" badge to entities that utilize the internet for volunteer activities for the good of the community, and by paying tribute to those who excel. The Israel Internet Association has helped the National Council for Volunteering develop a portal it has recently established dedicated to volunteering on the web.
  For further details on promoting volunteering on the internet: www.isoc.org.il/hitnadvut.

• Promoting self-regulation of the internet in Israel
  The Israel Internet Association is active in advancing a public campaign for self-regulation of the internet in Israel - to create fundamental conventions regarding rules of conduct on the web. Self-regulation is the setting of behavioral norms by the entities involved in the activity being regulated. The idea behind self-regulation is that decisions should be made bottom-up and be generated by the public and the entities active in the market, rather than through legislation.
  For further details regarding promotion of self-regulation of the internet in Israel: www.isoc.org.il/hasdara.

• Cultural patchwork
  The Israel Internet Association (ISOC-IL) uploads to the internet cultural content that is accessible to all. In a project run with the Association of Hebrew Songs, the ISOC-IL has helped publish on the internet Israeli songs from past decades: the songs are now accessible for free, unlimited downloading. The ISOC-IL has also supported the publication of Ph.D. theses that are accessible for free on the internet, in cooperation with Haifa University (http://digitool.haifa.ac.il). It has also helped create a collaborative collection of digital pictures related to Israel and its landscapes (PikiWiki Project – details below). More information is available at: www.isoc.org.il/culture [Hebrew].

• PikiWiki – Free image collection of Israel
  PikiWiki is a collaborative collection of digital format images related to the history, geography and society of the State and pre-statehood Israel. Items in this collection are donated by the public, organizations or public institutions. Donors upload their own contributions. The collection is available to the public for free use, without copyright restrictions. The project's initiators and founders have declared this collection of images as Open-Access data, within the public domain.
  Project partners: The Israel Internet Association (ISOC-IL), The Centre for Educational Technology (CET), Wikimedia-Israel.
  Project guidelines: PikiWiki advocates free information on the Internet, protecting copyrights (for a detailed account of this matter, see our Copyrights page on this website), protecting and displaying to the general public digital content about the State of Israel.
  We invite you to subscribe to PikiWiki, and to upload images of public interest at: www.pikiwiki.org.il

Promoting the internet in its technological aspect

• Open source code and open systems
  The Israel Internet Association (ISOC-IL) seeks to promote the internet in Israel with the help of open source technology and open code. We believe in promoting the decentralized and open structure of the internet. It will allow individuals to choose or create the hardware, software and services suiting their specific needs, and in this way, the Internet will remain a platform for innovation and creativity. Our goal is to encourage transparency in systems and processes by unimpeded access – so each of us can assemble the best system for our needs.
  Tס achieve these goals, ISOC-IL works in three areas -Increasing awareness: increasing general awareness to the value and character of open code for the developers' community, Providing infrastructure: maintaining a server supporting the distribution of open source software.
  Supporting projects: providing sponsorship, management, and providing resources for open source projects, as part of a call for project proposals [Hebrew].

• Running the Israeli W3C office
  The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community where member organizations, staff members and the public work together to lead the web to its full potential by developing Web standards and guidelines.
  The Israel Internet Association has been running the W3C office in Israel since 2008. Its office is the Israeli hub for worldwide W3C activities. Our goals are implementing W3C recommendations, acing as a communication channel between the representation in Israel and the organization, and supporting localization and Hebrew standards.
  Visit the Israeli W3C office's website, for more information.

• Delegation to the Israel Standards Institute
  ISOC-IL delegates are actively involved in the Israel Standards Institute [Hebrew], by developing and adapting local and international standards for the Israeli community.

• Founding the Israel Internet database
  We are working to set up the Israel internet data collection. The data collected will be available to academic researchers, business people, decision-makers and the general public. The data collections will contain temporary data sets (periodically updated raw data) on a variety of internet-related indicators.
  Read more about the Israel Internet database.

Encouraging and supporting activities that advance the internet in Israel

• Membership in public and parliamentary committees
  Representatives of the Israel Internet Association play an active role in public and parliamentary committees that set policies that influence the development of the internet in Israel, including: the National Committee for the Research of the Information Society, the Knesset's Science and Technology Committee, the Knesset's sub-committee for the Internet and Information Technology, the National Accessibility Forum, the UNESCO "Information for All" Committee, and others. Moreover, the Association works together with comparable non-profit organizations in promoting the information society's technology, including: Lehava - a government project to narrow the digital divide in Israeli society; Tapuah - the Israeli Society for the Advancement of the Information Age; and the Israel Association of Community Centers - the organization of leisure and community that operates dozens of community centers throughout Israel.

• Standardization
  Representatives of the Internet Association are active within the Standards Institute of Israel, in a number of committees that address the issues of Hebrew and the Internet, in order to promote development and adaptation of local and international standards for the Israeli community.

Enriching professional knowledge

• Online magazine
  The Israel Internet Association's website publishes a magazine ( http://www.isoc.org.il/magazine ) based on translation of quality articles from English as well as original articles in Hebrew. The magazine constitutes a non-commercial platform for articles and papers in professional fields that, for the most part, do not receive adequate reference in Israel's computer-related press.

• Yearly conference
  Since its inception, the Association has meticulously held a unique annual conference with a program that covers the various fields that influence and are influenced by the internet in Israel and around the world. Special emphasis is placed on lectures remaining non-commercial and on providing senior lecturers from Israel and abroad with a platform on which to present issues from the forefront of the field's agenda. Association members receive a significant discount on the conference registration fee.

• Internet workshops on Internet issues
  Since 2007, the association has been held monthly meetings on internet-related topics. Among the recent topics were: Web design, important tips for website creation, domain names, portals and enterprise wikis, web marketing, social networks, and online writing. Additionally, professional meetings are held at the Israeli Virtual Worlds Forum (IVWF) of the Israel Internet Association. The Group is headed by Dr. Yesha Sivan, a member of the Israel Internet Association, and Gur Shomron, author and entrepreneur. The virtual world is a new medium linking entertainment with creativity, reality with fantasy. Forum meetings are held every two months. Some issues raised during the last debate were: legal aspects of virtual worlds, the business potential of the virtual world, from beginner to professional – a MagicStitch™ professional and experiential workshop - and further leading platforms for building virtual worlds.

• Research scholarships
  The Israel Internet Association's foundation for research scholarships was launched to promote know-how about the internet and what it offers. The foundation offers financial support for research conducted at Israeli universities and colleges. The research topics that the foundation supports are those likely to promote the understanding and knowledge of the internet, as well as its uses and development - topics that are focused on ties between the internet, the economy, and society. www.isoc.org.il/scholarship_eng

Representing the Israeli Internet community in international forums

The Israel Internet Association is a member and an active participant in a number of international organizations and forums that deal with the different aspects of the internet network and the activities that take place on it.

• International activity on issues relating to the DNS system
  The Israel Internet Association is an active participant in processes of ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the entity charged with managing and coordinating the global DNS system, and is a full member of the Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries, CENTR, which, amongst its roles, serves as a professional meeting place for domain registration managers. Additionally, the Israel Internet Association participates in email discussions held by professional international forums such as: RIPE (Re'seaux IP Europe'ens). The Israel Internet Association's activity in these forums helps the organization remain up to date and updated on internet-related occurrences around the world and allows the Association to influence processes on a global level, for the advancement of the internet community in general, and the Israeli Internet community specifically.

• Participation in international conferences for the advancement of the information society, sponsored by the UN (WSIS)
  The Israel Internet Association takes part in international activity sponsored by the UN, for the advancement of the information society. As part of this activity the Association, joined by representatives from the government, academia, non-government organizations and the private sector, participated in the Israeli delegation to the International Summit (WSIS) that took place in Geneva at the end of 2003, and participated in summit events in Tunisia, 2005, where the Association presented its unique model whereby dedicated task forces are active in promoting social and educational causes in Israel towards narrowing the digital divide. For further details: www.isoc.org.il/wsis.

• The World Summit Award (WSA)
  The Israel Internet Association, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed the national competition for the best in digital creation and content. The seven/eight disciplines that competed in the contest were e-learning, e-government, e-health, e-business, e-culture, e-entertainment and e-inclusion. At the end of 2005, a number of projects were chosen to represent Israel in the international competition that took place at WSIS Tunisia 2005. Visit the chosen projects' site: www.isoc.org.il/wsa.

• The Internet Society (ISOC)
  The Israel Internet Association serves as a chapter of the world Internet Society (ISOC). The Israeli chapter annually registers all of its members as ISOC members. As members of ISOC, the Israel Internet Association's members are given discounts on participation fees for international conferences organized by ISOC and receive email updates concerning internet-related developments around the world.