Standards as change agents in the information technology market

Michal J Bonino, and Michael B. Spring

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 1991)

Standards have historically evolved from the codification of existing practices that had achieved market dominance. This paper reviews the evolution of standards and the standardization efforts in the information technology industry. Classificatory, descriptive, and explanatory models of the standardization process are reviewed. A model is proposed that classifies standards in the broad categories of reference, design, and implementation standards and suggests that reference standards might better be understood in terms of their role in shaping future developments. The model further classifies standards in terms of the computational process they accommodate and the user function they perform, providing a broad framework for compatibility standards in the information technology arena.