Standards Policy for Information Infrastructure

Although there are many competing visions of information infrastructure, there is universal agreement that standards will play a critical role. The history of OSI, the Internet, and industry consortia shows that standards development has become a rich, multifaceted process, critically linked to market strategy and major issues of public policy.

The thirty-three contributions to this book present a comprehensive picture of the state of the art in standards development for information technology and the options for federal policy. The book includes both independent analysis and the perspectives of major stakeholders and other interested parties—such as AT&T, the American National Standards Institute, the European Commission, and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.

A Publication of the Information Infrastructure Project at Harvard University

Brian Kahin is Senior Fellow at the Computer & Communications Industry Association in Washington, DC. He is also Research Investigator and Adjunct Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information and a special advisor to the Provost's Office. He is a coeditor of Transforming Enterprise (MIT Press, 2004) and many other books.