Larry, let me jump in here on one particular question if I may. You asked,
"How authoritative should the NIST/ISO/IPU publications be considered?"
My perspective is that of one working in the field of standards so I'll
present some of my "credentials" below* so that you'll understand any bias I
may have here. Those who wish to may then ignore that part.
Standards are voluntary unless invoked by law or governmental regulation. Most
standards are developed through a formal process (the courts look for this!)
and most of those processes are based on consensus of its members or a
representational subset of their members. Consensus is stronger than a simple
majority and not as strong as unanimity; in the IEEE the "break point" on
ballots, for instance, is 75 %. The stated purpose in all standards
organizations with which I am familiar is to ensure accurate and facile
communication and to ensure the smooth interoperability of products. That's
incredibly important!
The only impetus (outside of laws or regulations) to comply with standards is
to "sell" your product. If you make light bulbs with non-standard threads or
bases, they won't screw into the sockets in people's homes and they won't buy
your bulbs unless you can convince them it's worth their while to buy and
install your sockets too. At our students level, think of Firewire (IEEE Std
1394), WiFi (IEEE Std 802.11b), etc.
In the case of a paper, you have to "sell" it to an editor, who of course will
wield the journal's guide for authors. In the case of textbooks, you must
produce a product that folks will buy. In this case, if the author uses
silly, arcane, or obscure symbology, units, or terminology, the textbook is
not likely to sell well --- partly because it impedes communication and
comparison with the material of others.
As educators, we owe it to our students to teach them about standards and the
importance of meeting those standards, be they IUPAC chemical naming systems,
mathematical notation systems, the International System of Units, or
whatever. Further, we ought to teach them how standards come into existence
and how to go about getting them revised if needed. It is clear to anyone
working with standards and to many who merely use them that global
standardization is becoming stronger and more widespread. It is also becoming
more unified and less fragmented. (E.g., IEEE is working toward consonance
with ISO and IEC standards and IEEE has mandated use of the SI, with which
all its new standards and standards revisions must comply.)
Do you tell your students what IUPAP and NIST are? What about ISO and IEC and
the roles IUPAP and NIST play in developing those consensus standards? The SI
hierarchy (CGPM, CIPM, BIPM)? Industrial standards groups such as IEEE, ASTM,
ANSI, etc.? And, most importantly, do you tell your students why standards
are important?
Jim
* I am (and I work alongside NIST on):
-- a member of the Standards Association of IEEE;
-- a member of the IEEE/ASTM Joint Committee for Maintaining SI 10, "The
American National Standard for Use of the International System of Units (SI):
The Modern Metric System";
-- the Vice Chair of IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee 14 (Quantities,
Units, and Letter Symbols) and my duties involve reviewing all new and
revised IEEE standards for compliance with SI 10;
-- twice an SCC14 Working Group Chair for production of standards --- my
second one is going to the printers now;
-- a member of the American Welding Society A1 Committee on Metric Practices;
and
-- a member of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to ISO TC12/IEC TC25.
--
On Tuesday 2004 July 20 17:09, Larry Smith wrote:
....
How authoritative should the NIST/ISO/IPU publications be considered?
....
--
James R. Frysinger
Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist
Senior Member, IEEE
Office:
Physics Lab Manager, Lecturer
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
University/College of Charleston
66 George Street
Charleston, SC 29424
843.953.7644 (phone)
843.953.4824 (FAX)