Human behavior: another dimension of standards setting

m For many reasons, standards development is a tough job. Yet, standards are needed if we are to exploit the full potential of technology to enrich our world. In particular, there is a great need for information technology (IT) standards to nurture the nation’s information infrastructure. After briefly describing the processes used to achieve IT standards, this article focuses on the behavior of participants in those development processes as a dimension of the difficult problem of standards-setting. ithout our being aware of it, standards play a major factor in our everyday lives. Consider a typical work day— we awake to the clock radio, we put on the light, we jump from tousled sheets into a hot shower, we dress, we drive to the office stopping briefly for gas. . . . We are unconscious of the standards that make these activities possible—standards for the appliances we use and the power to run them, standards for lightbulbs and sockets, standards for fitted sheets, standards for water purity, standards for pipes and plumbing, standards for clothing, standards for automobile parts, standards for fuel, and on and on. We do not think about—nor do we want to think about—the standards underlying these activities. And, we do not want to think about how these standards were developed. Yet, standards developers have invested a lot of time and effort to produce standards leading to products, ultimately making life easier for us; and it was a nontrivial challenge achieving those standards.