Communicator - Winter 2006
This article appears with permission of Communicator, a quarterly publication of the UK Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC). http://www.istc.org.uk
For our second meeting this year, WG 2 accepted the invitation of the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards to meet alongside several other SC 7 (Software and Systems Engineering) Working Groups (WGs) in late October, in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Meeting in this way, provides experts with the opportunity to attend several WG meetings during the week. For instance, some WG 2 members also participate in WG 22, which is preparing a consolidated vocabulary for use in SC 7 standards (see http://ravenorion. computer.org/sev/index.action).
Seoul, is an interesting city to visit. We met on the site of the 1988 Olympics and, during our stay, were entertained with a visit to one of the royal places followed by a banquet with traditional folk music. Korea is distinctly different to Japan and China, with its own language, alphabet, culture and chopsticks (made of steel, flat and not so easy to use!).
Who was there?
Some of our regular experts were unable to attend this meeting, and consequently we had some new faces around the table. Regular experts were Annette Reilly of the STC (USA), Ralph Robinson of the STC (Canada), Phil Cohen of ISTC and ASTC (Australia), Professor Yoshikazu Yamamoto of IPSJ (Japan), and Tom Kurihara of the Project Management Institute (USA). New experts were Cerys Giddings of the ISTC (UK), Steve Moss of TCANZ (New Zealand) and George Hayhoe of the IEEE (USA).
New documentation standards
As regular readers of this page will know, WG 2 is now working on a suite of new standards targeted at specific documentation audiences: designers and developers, managers, acquirers and suppliers, and testers and assessors. Unlike the previous WG 2 standards, which are primarily guidelines, these replacement standards will contain requirements (that is, 'normative') clauses that will enable them to be used in the writing of purchasing requirements and product specifications. Three such standards were progressed at this meeting.
This standard successfully passed its CD (Committee Draft) ballot in early October with 620 comments submitted. At this meeting, all of the General and Technical High comments were resolved together with many of the Technical Low comments.
Issues discussed in Seoul included the duplication of content between our standards, identification of the requirements ('shall') clauses and increased guidance on accessibility. The editor was instructed to resolve the remaining Technical Low and Editorial comments and prepare a new draft and Disposition of National Body Comments for the Final Committee Draft (FCD) ballot, which will start before Christmas.
The Working Draft (WD) of this standard, which had been circulated to WG 2 experts before this meeting, was discussed. It was agreed that, following some further revisions, the draft would be sent for CD Registration in December and, if approved, the CD ballot would start after our next meeting in May 2007.
The WD of this standard, which had also been circulated to WG 2 experts before this meeting, was discussed. It was agreed that it required additional content before the New Project (NP) ballot, which is planned to follow our next meeting in May 2007.
A 'socialised' standard!
James Moore of the IEEE Computer Society provided WG 2 with a presentation on a proposed new standard to address Software Testing. This presentation, which was given to several WGs and is known as 'socialising', enables the submitter to collect comments, input those comments and recruit participants before the standard is submitted for NP ballot and a new WG is formed. As part three of this standard will address the documentation produced by the test process, WG 2 experts will participate in its development. It was also noted that, as WG 2 is developing standards to address the testing of software documentation, we need to ensure that the titles and purposes of these standards are clear to potential purchasers and users.
Meeting with Korean STC members
One of the advantages of holding WG 2 meetings in different countries is that we are able to make contact with local technical communicators to raise awareness of our standards, broaden our reviewer community and increase participation. On the Tuesday evening, we were joined by four members of the local STC chapter and I provided a presentation on WG 2. This was followed by a series of discussions that continued over a traditional Korean meal at a local restaurant, where we were joined by more Korean colleagues.
Want to join in?
Please contact me if you would like to participate, as contributor or reviewer, in any of these standards.
Richard Hodgkinson FISTC has been involved in the development of ISO IT standards since 1990 and represents the UK on three international committees. He is a member of ETSI HF STF 286 - Access symbols for use with video content and ICT.
Richard_Hodgkinson@btinternet.com