One of the postulates of the Shannon-Weaver model of communication is that communication requires agreement. If the parties involved in an exchange of information do not form an agreement on the meaning of the terms used during an exchange, the resulting communication will sloppy and typically, unsuccessful. Weaver’s assertion can be applied without argument to […]
For the past nine years, September 22 has been set aside by open-web advocates and professionals to raise awareness for the importance of open-standards and open-networking principles under the umbrella of “OneWebDay.” The 2015 theme for OneWebDay is “Connecting the Next Billion.” The theme was selected to align with the concurrent Internet Governance Forum (IGF) […]
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the institutional home for Internet Standards development. In short, the IETF develops, supports, and maintains standards that support the Internet, communications, systems and protocols, etc. As with other open standards development organizations (SDOs), participation in the IETF is open to anyone with the expertise and inclination to engage […]
In a recent post, Web standards expert and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) blogger Virginie Galindo likens standards development to cooking. Galindo compares gathering feedback from web developers to “test[ing] a dish” and seeing if the audience finds it “to [their] taste.” Galindo’s culinary metaphor is a handy one, as it uniquely captures the creative […]
This week we celebrate the third anniversary of the founding of OpenStand. The OpenStand Principles were jointly affirmed by IEEE, W3C, ISOC, IAB and IETF on August 29, 2012, in an effort to codify and jointly affirm the principles that brought us the open Internet and decades of open, technological innovation. The explosive growth of […]
“Space: the final frontier.” Indelibly associated with Gene Roddenberry’s celebrated Star Trek mythos, these words also carry additional significance for the world of open standards in telecommunication. In a collaborative address at a conference hosted by the Internet Society (ISOC) earlier this year, web pioneer and industry juggernaut Vint Cerf identified the need for standardized […]
“The point of open standards is not ‘one size fits all.’ In fact, it’s completely the opposite. It’s ‘What is the minimum we need to agree on in order to be able to talk to each other?’” The above quote was delivered by former Internet Society CIO (now co-chair of IANAPlan working group) Leslie Daigle […]
The documentation series known as Request for Comments (RFC) turned another year older this past April as the 46th anniversary of the first RFC, known as RFC 1, was observed and celebrated by the web standards community. RFC 1 was authored by Stephen D. Crocker in 1969 as an effort to record and organize unofficial […]
What does the standardization of web protocols have to do with human rights? It’s a reasonable question; after all, web protocols are technological and sophisticated, while human rights by nature, are are fundamental and human. Still, when you consider the political right of freedom of expression and the expressive power of the internet, the query […]
For anyone who has ever sent money abroad, set up an international bank account, or simply made a Web purchase from a foreign vendor, the challenge of translating cost into domestic currency is a familiar annoyance. Beyond the basic arithmetic of conversion, other challenges include additional fees, unavoidable delays, and other technicalities that can frustrate […]