It’s a rare event when competitors have a chance to break a monopoly, and with the adoption of OpenDocument by Massachusetts, many of the largest IT companies in the world are pressing their advantage for all they are worth. We present a timeline of what has happened since our last issue.
STANDARD SETTING AT NASA: AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL GILL
NASA utilizes over 3,400 standards developed by more than 50 SSOs to conduct R&D and to design, deploy and manage multiple manned and unmanned missions from 11 major (and many minor) facilities. It’s all done through a unique management system designed and implemented in recent years. We are pleased in this issue to present a detailed interview with Paul Gill, NASA Technical Standards Program Manager, who tells us how standards are developed, coordinated and used by NASA.
THE WEB AND THE ADVENT OF “SUPERINTEGRATION/CREATION”
Throughout history, new discoveries that have improved how we can learn, share, archive, integrate and/or reacquire information, discoveries and ideas have been followed by the rapid advancement of knowledge. The development of communities on the Web allows all five of these steps to be compressed into one process that might be called “SuperIntegration/Creation” – a process that will enable the next great leap forward in the acquisition of knowledge.
THE RISE OF THE METASTANDARD CONSORTIUM
Standard setting organizations, like any other type of entity, can get trapped in stovepipes. It takes a new type of organization to come up with the standards-based solutions demanded by a modern, networked world.
TOP DOWN OR BOTTOM UP? A TALE OF TWO STANDARDS SYSTEMS
China sets its standards strategy centrally, and staffs that strategy with thousands of government employees. In the United States, the government stands aside, and hundreds of standards organizations, manned by corporate employees and volunteers, churn out what they think the market needs. Which approach is “better?” Which country will prevail?
OPEN SOURCE VS. OPEN STANDARDS
Convergence is a difficult challenge in more and more areas of technology. Now it’s confronting the worlds of open source and open standards as well. There’s much more to the issue than the open source authors of a recent Call to Action are taking into account.
REIMAGINING A “NATIONAL” STANDARDS STRATEGY
In the era of globalization, multinational companies, and the transition of America from global manufacturer to global consumer, what type of standards strategy is best for the United States?
THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS: A STANDARDS DIARY
Standards stories tend to be serials rather than special events. In this article, we present a monthly news diary to illustrate how some of the major stories of 2004 evolved through a busy and eventful year.
MAKING THE TECHNICAL PROCESS WORK (AN INSIDER’S VIEW)
What works, and what doesn’t work in standard setting? What do members do (and not do) that makes the process succeed or fail? What trends are affecting the process today? The Directors of Standards of three prominent standards organizations answer those questions, and more.
NETWORKED PEER PRODUCTION: A NEW WAY TO SOLVE OLD PROBLEMS
Standards are great, and standards have problems. A new way of creating “commonalities” solves many of these problems and provides a way to create tools that never existed before.