[Sigia-l] AIfIA Goals 2004 Survey Results

[Livia Labate]

: Adherence to standards requires an understanding of the 
: standards themselves and the reasons for them.

Does it? I have used screws and nails all my life but only last year I 
read this fabulous piece on their standards (the article I recommend 
every time the standards issue comes up - 
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.01/standards_pr.html) The point 
is, it had no impact on my usage of the nails and screws. My previous 
ignorance on the matter had no interference with the application of the 
standards.

: The examples you provided only demonstrated one thing: 
: That standards are worthless when applied by ignorant people.
: That does not equate to the standard itself being bad.

I would think that standards prevent ignorant people from doing stupid 
things -- ignorance infers the lack of knowledge in a particular 
domain -- standards are extremely valuable when ignorance is a user 
characteristic.

In IA's case, it would be particularly useful in turning the ignorant 
IA into a knowledgeable IA. Not because the person would learn the 
standard, but because it would be one less thing to worry about. It's a 
standard, go with it and worry about the rest.

With standards you don't have to muddle through stuff that is not 
highly relevant -- would you like to have to measure your screws 
threads every time you needed to buy a new screw? (and then find 
someone who manufactures that same size?) Or is it more important to 
allocate time to plan the design of the table you are trying to put 
together? Or go buy wood? Etc, etc, etc?

We do low level things like that (measuring screw threads) every time 
we start a new IA project. Some IAs have built up set of 'tools' 
or 'personal standards' they have gathered while working on different 
projects -- this saves time when starting a new one. It's not the same 
as an industry standard, but it is definitely where standards are 
originated. 

We need to bring our personal standards together now. I feel this is 
what AIfIA Goals 2004 Survey Results show. And please refrain from 
alluding to the notion that standards replace people, it's pointless. 
It may in fact, allow people to actually do more relevant stuff than 
something a standard does on its own. We just need to try to bring 
together good standards, standards that will help us. Not standards 
that will limit us. I particularly liked what David Heller 
said: "reduce stress and improves communication" That's a hell of a 
slogan for our future IA standards :)

Cheers!

LL