[1] In joint action with the J. Paul Getty Trust, ICOM established the Museum Domain Management Association (MuseDoma), headed by Cary Karp, for the purpose of submitting an application to ICANN for the creation of the new generic top-level domain (gTLD), and to operate a registry.

The .museum TLD grants users a quick and intuitive way to verify the authenticity of a museum site.

Conversely, since it is a type of formal third-party certification, museums using this name space obtain a way to assure visitors of the site's validity.

One of the initial ideas with the .museum tld was to create a network of official museum websites, and operate a central indexing tool to make all of their hosted content searchable, discoverable.

[3] In addition to the eligibility requirements specified in the .museum charter, naming conventions apply to the labeling of subdomains.