A friend of mine just pointed me to a terrific article on the importance of standards. Here are the money quotes:
Standards are socially constructed
tools: They embody the outcomes of negotiations
that are simultaneously technical, social,
and political in character. Like algorithms,
they serve to specify exactly how
something will be done. Ideally, standardized
processes and devices always work in the
same way, no matter where, what, or who applies
them. Consequently, some elements of
standards can be embedded in machines or
systems. When they work, standards lubricate
the construction of technological systems
and make possible widely shared
knowledge.
In practice, few standards can be specified
as perfect algorithms. Therefore, most
standards also involve discipline on the part
of human participants, who are notoriously
apt to misunderstand and resist. As a result,
maintaining adherence to a standard involves
ongoing adjustments to people, practices,
and machines. Although tedious and
obscure, negotiations over standards are
among the most complex and important political
arenas of modern societies,
with myriad institutional,
financial, symbolic,
and practical dimensions
Paul N. Edwards. "A Vast Machine": Standards as Social Technologies. Science 304, 7 May 2004, pp. 827-828. Available at