The diffusion of anticipatory standards with particular reference to the ISO/IEC information resource dictionary system framework standard

Bernadette M Byrne, School of Computing and Information Technology, University of Wolverhampton, and Paul A Golder, Computer Science and Maths, Aston University

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 2002)

In the late 1980s, traditional standards development organisations (SDOs) were moving toward creating anticipatory standards as a way of coping with the fast growth in new technology in the computing industry. The development of anticipatory standards (standards developed ahead of the technology) was seen as a possible way for the formal standards bodies to keep abreast of these rapid changes. By creating standards ahead of the technology, the standards would act as "change agents" and guide the market. Anticipatory standards were seen as one way of addressing the problem of arriving at suboptimal de facto standards. If the industry can be guided before the technology develops, this will encourage the use of optimal products. This paper considers the diffusion pattern of the ISO/IEC Information Resource Dictionary System (IRDS) Framework standard that fits into the category of an anticipatory standard. Comparisons are made between the diffusion patterns of the ISO/IEC IRDS standard and the ISO/IEC Open Standards Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model as they were both anticipatory in nature, both framework/reference standards, both originated at approximately the same time and were both developed in traditional standards development organisations.