Standards and interoperability

Abstract

When you travel abroad it is very likely the electrical appliances used at home will not work when you get to your destination. The standard plugs you use at home are not the standard used at the location you are visiting. Standards, although important, do not assure interoperability. More to the point of interest to the scientific, technical, and medical information community interoperability does not assure access to sources of knowledge. “In paper-based publication of scientific and technical reports, interoperability, except for language differences and visual challenges, is achieved through a single publication medium. In the digital environment with its multiple types of media, even defining the concept of publishing is a challenge” [1]. User behavior is changing with a growing requirement to link text and data resources. Sometimes, in the rush to do things, we simply forget the obvious. This particularly is true when a large cultural change is upon us. During the 5000 years since the development of writing, humankind continually has improved ways to store, organize and transfer our knowledge in physical containers such as tablets, books, newspapers, and journals. Ten years ago, when an easy to use Web browser became available on the Internet, the world suddenly began a massive change. A change lacking many of the library and other information discovery standards developed and instituted over centuries. A change, however, that would not have occurred without technology standards. Historically, the range of hardware, software, and platform products from different vendors made it difficult or impossible for to share data and information effectively because, by and large, they were (and still are) designed to permit interoperability among computer hardware and software components. Information technology standards are critical components to make seamless access a reality. However, all elements of the information continuum must allow universal interoperability. The value of knowledge can be realized only when it is disseminated and shared – and used – throughout the information continuum. Generally the term information continuum is used to describe the whole set of all needed information, from origin through archival access. Currently, and in the foreseeable future there is no set of standards that can apply throughout the continuum. Recognizing the need many governments, often under the rubric of e-Government, are publishing interoperability frameworks with accompanying standards. The basic intent for these and other governmental efforts is to allow information to flow seamlessly across the public sector and provide citizens and business with better access to government services. To name a few, in the United States it is the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA), in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Denmark and others it is the Egovernment Interoperability Framework (e-GIF), and in France it is the French ‘common interoperability framework’ (CCI). The European Interoperability Framework document “provides recommendations