Setting Standards

16 July 2004

The importance of international standards have risen greatly over the past twenty years, driven by business needs, economic factors and, yes, government policies. But did you ever wonder who writes these standards? Who sits in "ivory towers" making rules that cause problems for the rest of us? The answer is ordinary people just like you. Well, perhaps extraordinary is a better word; they are knowledgeable or even expert in the subject of the standard and, for the most part, voluntarily devote long unpaid hours for the benefit of the wider community by contributing their experience to the development of the standard.

Now is your chance to help the effort.

The "International Vocabulary of Basic and General Terms in Metrology" (VIM) is being revised and the draft and feedback instructions can be downloaded from the NCSLI. Similarly, the ISO "Guide to Uncertainty in Measurement" (GUM) is to be supplemented and the draft document, addressing "Numerical Methods for the Propagation of Distributions", is also available from the NCSLI website.

Even if you don't feel able to provide feedback, you'll probably welcome the chance to download and review both of these draft standards so you know what's coming your way soon !

• GUM Supplement & VIM Drafts at NCSLI