Standards Follow Practice, They Don't Lead
Henry Lichstein,
TaskZ,
Mar 01, 2002
The point of this article is to argue that standards follow practice. The author makes a useful distinction between three major effects of standards: "primary effects of standards are the changes brought about in the things being standardized; secondary effects of standards are changes made to things closely related to but not directly dictated by the standards; and tertiary effects are changes that come about in things not directly affected by the standards but rather as an unanticipated change because of the existence of the standard." But the main conclusion is just wrong. The width of railways, for example, is derived from the width of horse-drawn carriages, as the author correctly observes. But the width or horse-drawn carriages was established by fiat by the Roman Emperor to facilitate the construction of roads. The same is true of other standards: you can't build the products, much less use them, until you have established what it is you will build.
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