Situated Discourse and Essential Terms

The research for this work is based on the thesis that standardization is moving from public formal bodies to more private consortia. A relevant question is why? Another basic question is what do these key words mean? In any case, the approach taken in this study is analysis of historical and current discourses about standardization from the perspective of a separate discourse about privatization, the enclosure discourse. The latter discourse was examined in the previous chapters to establish a perspective for analysis. This chapter seeks to identify the essential terms of the discourse of standards and standardization and to establish meanings. First, however, it is useful to briefly note the way in which much of the current standards discourse is situated and how it has been researched.