Why do we need structured information standards and policies? We’ll never know what the world would be without them, luckily enough.
It can be a little bit tricky developing something which is the same the world over. Rumor has it that even the Chinese food that you can buy from your local restaurant is not the same Chinese food as you would actually get in China. It somehow gets a little lost in transit, and the Chinese food you get is a kind of ‘American’ Chinese food, instead of ‘Chinese’ Chinese food. The same goes for coffee and chocolate. It’s even been said that Tikka Masala was actually an Indian dish developed in a fish and chip shop in the UK, and that real Indians have never even heard of it. What is the world coming to? Well, that doesn’t matter too much really does it, you’ll probably prefer the ‘American’ Chinese food anyway, but when you’re talking about a global industry such as the internet and computer programs, it doesn’t really work, does it?
Structured Information Standards and policies are so important, so that our computers can successfully ‘talk’ to each other, no matter where they are in the world, even if we can’t.
Sending Files
How annoying is it when someone sends you a file over the internet, and you can’t open it? It’s pretty damned annoying isn’t it, especially if you then have to ask them to send it in a different format (feeling like a bit of an idiot no doubt) so that you can actually access the important information they’re sending you. By having a network of structured information standards and policies, this probably doesn’t happen as often as it could, go on, be honest, it only happens occasionally. Well, it would happen permanently if each computer program and website was written in a different format. How on earth can we communicate and share information if we all use different programs?
OASIS – Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
It’s a bit of a mouthful (like the Chinese) so we’ll just call it OASIS, anyway, they’re a consortium of members who make it their mission to ensure that there are structured information standards and policies for just about everything! Okay, maybe not everything, but they’re working on it, democratically.
So next time you send a photo from your Disney vacation to Grandma, do you know why she’ll be able to open it? It’s because of those excellent guys at OASIS, making sure that we all work with the same structured information standards and policies, even though most people don’t even know it.