Kelly commented "I found the ANSI name on the TC46/SC11 web page under 'Participating Countries'. It didn't say anything about NISO. I'm not shooting the messenger..just that it would be nice if these things were spelled out--especially to those of us not as familiar with such things as others. I even went to NISO's website, clicked on the link to TC46/SC9, which they are the secretary of, and even THAT says they are from ANSI."

The way it seems to work (I'm still learning the policies, procedures and processes) is that the ISO forms a Technical Committee (TC) to deal with a particular general area of interest.

Each Technical Committee (TC) has a Secretariat and a Chairperson, which may or may not be in the same country. A TC normally has Sub-Committees (SCs), which focus on more specific areas of interest within the general scope of the TC, and the SCs may or may not have Working Groups.

The ISO then accredits ONE organisation in each country as the official contact. In the USA, that's ANSI.

ANSI then delegates the authority to represent the USA on that TC to a Technical Advisory Group (TAG). The TAG is hosted by an organisation that has the resources to support it administratively. So NISO hosts the US TAG for TC46 SC11.

A country's TAG may choose to be a Participant or an Observer in the standards-development process (Participants vote and are admitted to all of the deliberations; Observers do not vote and are admitted to some of the deliberations).

The assumption appears to be that, if you are part of a specific industry or discipline, you will learn about the system from your trade or professional association which, in turn, will offer you the opportunity to become a member of your country's TAG. I'm a member of AIIM (the Association for Information and Image Management), which is how I became a member of the US TAG for TC 171 (Document Management).

Many of the policies, procedures, and processes are published and available through various Web sites. For example, see ARMA's Web site at http://www.arma.org/standards/development/overview.cfm and the publications "ARMA International Standards Development Program Policies and Procedures: American National Standards (ANS) and Technical Reports" and "ARMA International Standards Development Program Publication Guide". Another example is AIIM's Web site http://www.aiim.org/Standards/Committee-Information-Management-Industry-Standards.aspx, which features a "comprehensive list of volunteer committees hosted by AIIM".

It does take a fair bit of time and study to learn the system which, while complex, is designed to ensure that standards are developed in a fair and balanced way.

Best wishes for a restful weekend.

Fred
===================================================================
Frederic J. Grevin
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Land phone: 212-788-8615

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