ISO Focus The Magazine of the International Organization for Standardization Volume 5, No. 4, April 2008, ISSN 1729-8709 Information and document management • Oracle’s success “ depends on standards ” • New standard for IT disaster recovery Contents 1 Comment Catherine Dhérent, Chair, ISO/TC 46, Managing information in a changing age 2 World Scene Highlights of events from around the world 3 ISO Scene Highlights of news and developments from ISO members Focus 4-2008.indd 1 02.04.2008 17:38:01 4 Guest View Mr. Sergio Giacoletto, Executive Vice President of Oracle ISO Focus is published 11 times a year (single issue : July-August). Corporation, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) It is available in English. 8 Main Focus Annual subscription 158 Swiss Francs Individual copies 16 Swiss Francs Publisher ISO Central Secretariat (International Organization for Standardization) 1, ch. de la Voie-Creuse CH-1211 Genève 20 Switzerland Telephone + 41 22 749 01 11 Fax + 41 22 733 34 30 E-mail [email protected] Web www.iso.org • Keeping pace with the times – From books to the Internet Manager : Roger Frost • Facilitating discovery, interaction and collaboration of Acting Editor : Maria Lazarte knowledge banks Assistant Editor : Janet Maillard • Can machines be smart? Artwork : Pascal Krieger and • Harnessing the power of Web 2.0 in enterprises Pierre Granier • Reducing complexity in business processes ISO Update : Dominique Chevaux • Identifying media content Subscription enquiries : Sonia Rosas Friot ISO Central Secretariat • Coding the world Telephone + 41 22 749 03 36 • Records – Essential business enablers Fax + 41 22 749 09 47 • Quantifying quality – Information providers measure up E-mail [email protected] • Geneva’s municipal libraries adopt RFID and use ISO/IEC 15693 for tracking books © ISO, 2008. All rights reserved. • Archival boxes for long-term document storage The contents of ISO Focus are copyright and may not, whether in whole or in part, be reproduced, stored in a retrieval 36 Development and Initiatives system or transmitted in any form or Focus on an ISO partner – the Swedish International by any means, electronic, mechanical, Focus 4-2008.indd 1 14.03.2008 14:30:30 photocopying or otherwise, without Development Cooperation Agency • Fully Networked Car written permission of the Editor. workshop addresses climate change The articles in ISO Focus express the views of the author, and do not necessarily reflect 39 New on the shelf the views of ISO or of any of its members. New ISO standard will make crossing the street safer for disabled persons • Managing crises with new ISO standard for ISSN 1729-8709 Printed in Switzerland IT disaster recovery Cover photo : iStock. 41 Coming up ISO Focus April 2008 Comment Managing information in a changing age nformation and document manage- why Web archiving experts recently It would be fruitful experience ment is a crucial part of the daily launched a new standard project on for ISO to first coordinate the man- Ifunctioning of any organization. the identification of data packets dur- agement of its own documentation in It plays an important role in ensur- ing their transfer to a virtual archive relation with that of its national bod- ing their performance and security, as in the context of OAIS. ies. The great challenge is to identi- well as promoting efficient relation- fy what must be preserved, for what ships between them. However, creat- purpose and for how many years and ing, finding and communicating the “ Improving the production, where? We must not waste time nor most relevant information to the audi- classification and money. It is crucial that we immedi- ences who really need it through the ately provide the right information to most appropriate and simple means, organization of documents the right person. is no easy feat. Which results in many and data is essential to people complaining that information avoid wasting human and is too widely spread, not easy to find, identify or criticize. financial resources.” Several ISO technical commit- tees are working to respond to these This identification is in fact crucial for exchanging data adequate- challenges, by addressing issues from ly, and for managing intellectual and the identification to the preservation economic rights. In fact, it is neces- of the content and of metadata, by way sary to identify all elements of infor- of their production and organization. mation in the greatest detail, so as to This is especially true, of course, for deal in the most appropriate manner the electronic formats of informa- with the rights of authors, produc- tion. Here the available support is ers and publishers, while at the same often more fragile than the worst and time providing exactly what the pub- most acid of papers. We need strong lic requires. best practices to preserve electronic data and documents in the middle and We are now able to identify long terms. even the smallest part of an author’s Catherine Dhérent, work, which, though it can be made Chair, ISO/TC 46, Information and A widely recognized basic ISO available to all interested parties (on standard which addresses this issue is documentation the Web for instance), still ensures a OAIS (Open Archive Initiative Stand- fair retribution and acknowledgement ard). It was originally proposed by the of its author. At the same time, there aerospace industry, anxious to maintain is also an ongoing attempt to iden- permanent access, understanding and tify authors, producers, publishers reusability of the huge amounts of data and others, a more delicate task, as it it produces (and requires), which can involves the description of individu- span decades or even centuries. als rather than their work. The purpose of this general mod- The improvement of the pro- el is to establish a system for archiving duction, classification and organiza- information (both digitized and phys- tion of the main documents and data is ical), with an organizational scheme also essential to avoid wasting human composed of people who accept the and financial resources. It is the aim responsibility of preserving informa- of the records management standards tion and making it available to a des- to help institutions better produce the ignated community. information needed to prove their This model must now be com- rights and obligations towards their pleted by other users, which explains stakeholders. ISO Focus April 2008 1 World Scene ISO and IEEE strengthen under pressure to produce to enhance the development, deliverables to address com- effectiveness, harmonization partnership mercial and regulatory needs. and uptake of documentary ISO and the Institute of Electri- Because of the diversity of standards broadly relevant to cal and Electronics Engineers interests, standardization activ- the measurement and charac- (IEEE) have signed an agreement ities in this field involve a mul- terization of nanotechnologies. to increase their cooperation (From left) Joe Bhatia, ANSI President tiplicity of stakeholders globally. See : http://www.iso.org/ in developing international and CEO, Michael Levitt, US nanotech-workshop standards. The agreement ini- In this context, ISO, the Inter- Secretary of Health and Human tially focuses on the subjects national Electrotechnical Services, and Alan Bryden, of information technology, Committee, the US National Interoperability – Key to ISO Secretary-General, visiting the intelligent transport systems Institute for Standards and healthcare management “interoperability showcase”. and health informatics. Measurement, and the Organi- The Healthcare Information sation for Economic Co-oper- and Management Systems plary of public-private collab- ation and Development organ- Society (HIMSS), the USA- oration and global cooperation. ized a workshop in Maryland, based healthcare industry’s USA, in February 2008 on membership organization, He visited the “ Interoperability documentary standards for focused on providing global Showcase ” with Mr. Michael measurement and characteri- leadership for the optimal use Levitt, US Secretary of Health zation of nanotechnologies. of healthcare information and Human Services, where an array of application tools to The workshop thus aimed to technology and management systems – representing 20 000 support the “ Integrated Health foster dialogue among the var- Enterprise ” was on display. In ious organizations involved to : individual members and over 300 corporate members. his keynote address, Mr. Levitt • exchange information on emphasized the importance of existing standards and pro- HIMSS held its annual meeting standards for optimizing Director, Terry deCourcelle (far left), grammes ; in February 2008 in Orlando, healthcare services in the USA, and Program Manager, Jodi Haasz, Florida, USA. The event which represent 15 % of the (third from left) of IEEE Standards • identify short- and medium- term needs and priorities ; and attracted 28 000 participants overall GDP. Association’s International and 900 exhibitors, an all-time Standards Program, welcomed to • identify mechanisms to facil- record. Interoperability for ISO Central Secretariat by Kevin itate information sharing, the processing and exchange ISO 22000 at McKinley, ISO Deputy Secretary- cooperation and coordination of health data was at the heart international food safety General and other ISO/CS officers. in this area. of the event, which highlighted conference The PSDO (partner standards In particular, the workshop the role and need for standards A compilation of development organization)