[SystemSafety] The Importance of Standards

[Andrew Banks]

Hi Peter

A good post.  For my sins, I've recently picked up the role of chairing an ISO study group into the use of ISO/IEC standards in the open source community - and in particular the barriers to adoption.

When I suggested that cost was a serious barrier, this didn’t go down well - for example, even the flagship software life cycle processes standard, ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207, is CHF 208 for a single-user licenced copy.  Heck, people get hot under the collar when asked to pay £5.00 for a copy of MISRA C.

The sale of standards (nationally and internationally) keeps a lot of people in employment - but not those of us doing the work (we rely on supportive employers).


Andrew


-----Original Message-----
From: systemsafety <systemsafety-bounces at lists.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de> On Behalf Of Peter Bernard Ladkin
Sent: 09 December 2022 11:46
To: The System Safety List <systemsafety at techfak.uni-bielefeld.de>
Subject: [SystemSafety] The Importance of Standards

Back in 2016, I wrote a short article comparing the approach of EUROCAE ED-153 to software safety and that of IEC 61508. It was presented at the 11th IET International Conference on System Safety and Cyber Security in 2016.

Papers weren't required to accompany talks. But I wrote the paper and it was duly "published" in that USB sticks containing written accompaniments to talks were distributed with the conference materials. (Martyn Thomas pointed to the irony of a Cyber Security conference distributing USB sticks without any kind of assurance.)

The proceedings are available. The IET offers them for sale for £79. 
https://digital-library.theiet.org/content/conferences?pageSize=100&page=1

Most academic publishers offer individual papers for sale. I do not agree with the kinds of prices they charge, but £79 is way above those prices.

I did approach the IET about this. They responded that individual papers are available at no charge to all IET members and affiliates (that is, people entitled to log in to IET on-line services). I guess that solves it for 160+K people.

But no one has to go that route. It's up on ResearchGate, a preprint+published-paper collector. 
ResearchGate informed me today that 6,000 people have read it.

That paper was written when I was a German public servant with my salary paid by German taxpayers, as also Managing Director of the tech-transfer company Causalis on whose behalf I donated it pro bono publicum. I do not agree with restricting its distribution. I want it to be open access and, thanks to ResearchGate and my still-maintained Uni WWW site (and its mirror, paid for by Causalis) it is.

The main point I wish to make is this. 6,000 people have wanted to know the similarities and differences between ED-153 and 61508. They have their reasons, and I surmise it is not because they find my paper more entertaining to read than Stephen King.

Engineering standards are a public good. Except they are not public.

We are currently running through the German comments on IEC 61508 Ed3 CD. We have had three full days of discussion, just on which ones to forward to the IEC and which ones not to, and a further three full days are planned. That is 300 person-days, just for that one task (and then there is the huge effort put in by particular people to collate and sort the comments and ease the discussion. I am currently in awe at the skill of one colleague who conducted yesterday's 7-hour meeting flawlessly, without apparently cognitively phasing in and out, probably beyond my capabilities.)

When this decade-long task is finally finished, the result will be proudly ........ sold by the IEC to anyone with CHF 1400. (And, may I say, actively copyright-protected.)

John Knight, RIP, Martyn Thomas and I have repeatedly expressed our discontent with this and other aspects of engineering standardisation https://scsc.uk/scsc-126

Standards are important. We need to move to a model in which they work as a public good.

PBL

Prof. i.R. Dr. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Bielefeld, Germany
Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs-bi.de