ICT STANDARD SETTING TODAY: A SYSTEM UNDER STRESS

Governments are increasingly aware that the Internet and the Web are reordering the relationship of both citizens and governments to information and services, with both becoming more dependent upon the way in which this "cyberinfrastructure" evolves and is managed. Governments are now deciding whether, and how, to influence this process, and the choices they make will have an important impact ...

The modern standards development infrastructure is largely the product of the industrial age, and evolved to address the needs of such an economy. The advent of the Internet and the Web, and the continuing introduction of new ICT-based products and services in ever shorter product cycles, are exposing the fact that a system that retains strong roots in the 19th ...

The W3C and a small number of other socially-responsible standards organizations are working hard to ensure that the benefits of the Internet and the Web are made available to all, regardless of where they live or their physical limitations. These organizations have done their part. Now it's time for us to do ours.

The number of things in the world that need to be managed is seemingly infinite. But before you can manage something, you need to be able to measure it. Words and numbers – and sometimes even boxes of crayons – can provide the standards needed to do what needs to be done.