What is standardiation? What is "standard"? How is standardisation performed in practice? Who profits from standards? Who uses standards as weapons in a competitive ecosystem? And why is the work of making standards so similar to law-making?
Standards create a foundation for more effective use of information technology, as well as bringing advantages to end-users and technology providers. But it is important to be aware of what constitutes a good standard, and how standards development can ensure that mutual benefits actually emerge from completed standardisation work.
There is a lot of confusion about what terms like "standards" and "standardisation" mean. This talk describes the many dimensions that characterize what standardisation means, and provides illustration of good and not-so-good standards.