Every year the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and ITU (International Telecommunication Union) celebrate World Standards Day which is a "means of paying tribute to the collaborative efforts of the thousands of experts worldwide who develop the voluntary technical agreements that are published as International Standards". This year’s theme is International Standards and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is described as "emerging technologies, which are blurring the traditional boundaries between the physical, digital and biological worlds". For more information on #WSD2018, visit the World Standards Cooperation website.
Having carried out some Google based research, apparently 14th October was chosen as World Standards Day as this was the date in 1946 where representatives from 25 countries met in London to discuss forming an international organisation to facilitate standardisation. This meeting eventually led to the formation of ISO as we know it today.
My favourite standard is probably ISO 9001:2015 as although it has it’s frustrations (documented information anyone?) it is a significant improvement on the 2008 version, it is also the one I use most often. For pure geek value, my favourite standard is ISO 216:1975 which wasn’t revised until 2007 and still remains current – this little gem details the specifications behind A4 paper. Who knew that such a standard existed? For the more mathematically minded amongst you, here is a link to somebody else’s blog which provides a lot of information and the relevant formulas, I just love the fact that somebody worked out a series of paper sizes which meant that you can put 2 pieces of A4 paper side by side and get an A3 piece of paper in exactly the same proportions.
I wonder what standards will be required in the Fourth Age – communication between humans and robots perhaps, or security standards for all those fridges and baby monitors connected to the internet – who knows…