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Central Asian Studies

Domain names

Domain names are one of the quickest and most effective ways of identifying a webpage. Learning to read domain names will enable you to quickly identity a webpage’s country of origin (e.g. .au, .uk, .jp), and the entity (e.g. .edu, .gov, .org) that has produced the page.

When you run a search using a search engine, often the full web address (URL) will be displayed along with the results. Before opening the webpage, you can often check the URL to get an idea of the type of organisation or group who has published the site. This allows you to begin evaluating the quality of the information before you even open it!

Domain

What does it mean?

An example

edu

 An educational institution, e.g. a university, college, high school or primary school.

harvard.edu – Harvard University, USA

uni-stuttgart.de – University of Stuttgart, Germany (Germany doesn’t use the edu domain)

edu.au

Australian educational institution.

anu.edu.au – the Australian National University (ANU)

cit.act.edu.au – Canberra Institute of Technology

kurnaicollege.vic.edu.au – Kurnai College, Victoria

ac.uk

The .ac refers to “academic” and is used by United Kingdom, Indian and Japanese universities.

ox.ac.uk – University of Oxford, England

du.ac.in – University of Delhi, India

u-tokyo.ac.jp – University of Tokyo, Japan

gov (or go)

Government departments.

defence.gov.au – Department of Defence, Australia

health.act.gov.au – ACT Department of Health, Australia

deplu.go.id – Department of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Indonesia

org

An organisation (usually non-profit and community groups).

alia.org.au – Australian Library and Information Association

satsonline.org – South African Theological Seminary

asn

An association.

tasorienteering.asn.au – Orienteering Tasmania Incorporated

alpaca.asn.au – Australian Alpaca Association

com

Commercial or company.

ebay.com.au – an online auction website

greyhoundrescue.com.au – greyhound rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming

co.uk

United Kingdom commercial.

news.bbc.co.uk – British Broadcasting Commission

bookshop.co.uk – online bookshop

net

A networked organisation.

abc.net.au – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

raisingchildren.net.au – Australian parenting website

Some country domains

au

Australia

in

India

pg

Papua New Guinea

ca

Canada

jp

Japan

uk

United Kingdom

cn

China

nz

New Zealand

vn

Vietnam

id

Indonesia

bw

Botswana

my

Malaysia

Responsible Officer: University Librarian/Page Contact: Library Systems & Web Coordinator