Introduction to the Study

This book is a study of the process of standardization—the process of establishing the technical standards that define nearly every artifact of the modern world. In the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)1 such standards are documents that specify everything from the prongs on plugs and cables to the software protocols that make the Internet work. Technical standards and standardization play a vital role in trade and commerce, and increasingly in economic and cultural globalization. The aim of this study was to setup a research project to explore the discourse around standardization and to analyze it to provide a better understanding of the underlying issues.