NO-REST
Networked Organisations -
Research into Standards and Standardisation
Networked Organisations -
Research into Standards and Standardisation
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NO-REST Networked Organisations - Research into Standards and Standardisation |
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Project Newsletter 1
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1. GreetingsThis is the first of a series of quarterly Newsletters to be published by the NO-REST project. NO-REST started on March 1, 2004, as part of the ‘Networked businesses and governments’ strategic objective. It is also one of the few FP6 projects that look at standards and standardisation in the IT sector. The Newsletter will try and bring to you the latest project developments, as well as other information relevant to those who are interested in IT standards research and, more broadly, in inter-operability issues. We welcome comments, suggestions for improvement, and even well-founded criticism. Enjoy this first issue. 2. Project OverviewThe NO-REST project aims to investigate the applicability and dynamics of standards in the e-business and e-government sectors, and to develop guidelines for tools for the assessment of their performance, and of the impact they have on networked organisations. To this end, NO-REST will evaluate the various standards development platforms, examine how implementations affect standards and interoperability, and do a re-active performance analysis of standards as well as a pro-active integrated impact assessment. NO-REST will look at the application of standards, and will analyse how standards, and their implementation, are subject to change incurred by the environment within which they are carried out. The project will then devise an analytical framework for a causal model of such changes. This, in turn, will help understand the nature of these changes and will allow for the formulation of adequate counter-measures or – even better – for the derivation of conclusions for developing standards in the future, and possible mechanisms to feed back these changes continuously into dynamic standards building. |
The project will also analyse the various standards setting organisations, with a focus on how they react to – and influence – the dynamics of the environment within which they work. This will also include an analysis of the relation between the ‘credibility’ of a standards setting organisation, i.e. to which extent does the origin of a standard influence its viability in the market place. The project will then establish if, and how, a standard’s origin affects its performance, and will set up guidelines helping those who wish to create a standard decide which standards setting organisation to select. Finally, based on the above, NO-REST will develop, and apply, a methodology to help assess, a-posteriori, the performance of a standard. This will ultimately contribute to guidelines and tools to evaluate – a-priori – the impact a standard will have on the market. Project work commenced in March 2004 with a kick-off workshop in Delft. Since then, an interim project meeting was held in Paris (in conjunction with the annual conference of the European Association for Standardisation, EURAS), and a regular one in Oslo. Work has been progressing smoothly (see also sections 4 & 5 for an indication of some of the results so far). 3. Partners
ISI is an institute of the Fraunhofer Society devoted to socio-economic research in the fields of science and technology. FhG-ISI has a long experience in the management of international consortia. Dr. Knut Blind is very active in economic standardisation research, meanwhile also in the field of service standards, and related issues like IPR and trade, especially at Community level. |
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NO-REST Networked Organisations - Research into Standards and Standardisation |
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Aachen University is a leading – and the largest – Technical University in Germany. Its Computer Science department has been recognised as one of the foremost departments in its field in Europe. Areas of research interest and expertise include mobile networks, distributed systems, network security, and standards research. Various staff members have been active in standardisation activities. Kai Jakobs has contributed to various aspects of standards research for a number of years, focussing on the various stakeholders’ roles in IT standardisation.
The TNO Institute for Strategy, Technology and Policy (TNO-STB) is the social sciences research arm of the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). It provides a crucial link between strategic policy and the development of technology and services based on new technology. Its unique position within the larger TNO organisation enables the Institute to make use of multidisciplinary teams that match expertise in the social sciences with expertise in natural sciences and engineering. Dr Hawkins has researched standards issues extensively for nearly 15 years, but his work also encompasses electronic business (including business modelling) and he has developed particular expertise in assessing the socio-economic impacts of high-technology.
Founded in 1862, Delft University of Technology is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive technical university in the Netherlands. The faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) is one of the university's younger faculties. TPM is an engineering faculty, i.e., its primary focus is on problem solving, design and development at the interface of technology and society (i.e., complex socio-technical problems). One such problem area is technical standardisation. Dr. Tineke Egyedi has been studying standardisation since 1990. She is presently senior researcher standardisation at the department of Information and Communication Technologies. Her present work focuses on standards dynamics and flexibility issues in relation to standardisation. Jos Vrancken works at the same department and is also a senior consultant to the Dutch ministry of Public Works. He has specialised in developing information architectures since 1992. Standardisation is one of his main interests. |
The STEP Center for Innovation Research formally joined NIFU (the Norwegian Institute for Studies in Research and Higher Education) to form a new institute, NIFU STEP. Eric Iversen is a senior researcher who has worked extensively on economic issues related to standardization and to IPRs, not least at the Community level. He has numerous relevant publications.
The University of Edinburgh has built an international reputation for excellence in research and teaching. Its Research Centre for Social Sciences was established in 1984 to promote high quality research across the Faculty of Social Sciences by promoting and hosting multidisciplinary research and by offering specialist advice on methodology, funding, research policy.
ETSI is a not for profit organization the mission of which is to produce the telecommunications and information technologies standards that will be used throughout Europe and beyond. ETSI is a formally recognised European Standardisation Body. ETSI unites 768 members from 55 countries inside and outside Europe. ETSI technical bodies work in close collaboration with the other organisations involved in the development of specifications, and have specific links with worldwide standardisation bodies such as ITU-T, ISO; IEC, W3C and IETF. |
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NO-REST Networked Organisations - Research into Standards and Standardisation |
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4. PublicationsJAKOBS, K.: Shaping Future ICT Systems Through Today’s Standards Setting. Proc. UKAIS 2004, Glasgow. JAKOBS, K.: Some Socio-Technical Issues in ICT Standards Setting. Proc. Workshop on Understanding Socio-technical Action, Edinburgh, 2004. 5. NO-REST Diary DatesMembers of the NO-REST consortium will present their work, and have organised relevant sessions, at several conferences in the near future. Most notably, these include:
Session S58: Incompatibility of standards implementations - Exploring the problem,
Session S59: The interface between standardisation and research,
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Workshop 9a: eBusiness 8 - Standards & Standardisation 1
Workshop 10a: eBusiness 9 - Standards & Standardisation 2
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