4.1002 ISO Bibliography Standard Problem (2/61)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Sun, 10 Feb 91 19:51:34 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 1002. Sunday, 10 Feb 1991.
(1) Date: Thu, 07 Feb 91 10:38:20 GMT (31 lines)
From: Christopher Currie <THRA004@CMS.ULCC.AC.UK>
Subject: ISO and bibliographic references to electronic documents
(2) Date: Sun, 10 Feb 91 19:15:45 EST (30 lines)
From: Allen Renear <EDITORS@BROWNVM>
Subject: ISO National Organizations
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 91 10:38:20 GMT
From: Christopher Currie <THRA004@CMS.ULCC.AC.UK>
Subject: ISO and bibliographic references to electronic documents
The ISO is preparing a standard on bibliographic references to electronic
documents. It is now a Committee Draft; if approved, it will be
circulated this year as a Draft International Standard.
An earlier draft provided specifications only for the citation of
computer programs and databases. In response to criticism from me and
no doubt many others, it has been extended to include citations of
'electronic bulletin boards and message systems'. It does not discuss
electronic mail lists, or distinguish between unmoderated lists and
digests. Three examples, all from BITNET and INTERNET lists, are given;
the lists are described as 'electronic bulletin boards'. As it happens,
I had read one of the cited items when it appeared on the list, but I
don't know which of several contributions on that subject is being cited.
In my view, therefore, the methods of citation proposed would be
inadequate to secure correct identification and recovery of the item
cited. I cannot discuss details of the draft here, as I take them to be
confidential. Although I hope to secure improvements in the CD before
it is approved as a DIS, I would urge Humanists who take an interest in
these matters to try to get a look at the DIS when it comes out and get
their comments forwarded to their national secretariat. Of course, if
you think that Humanist is an interactive bulletin board, or that an
item on an unmoderated list can be cited in the same way as one on
Humanist, where each issue has a date and serial number, then don't
bother.
Christopher
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 91 19:15:45 EST
From: Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear <EDITORS@BROWNVM>
Subject: ISO National Organizations
Standards for character coding, text markup, bibliographical citations,
and many other things of interest to computing humanists are being
determined by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization.
Humanists should be sure to get copies of any Draft International
Standard (DIS) that may be relevant to their work and comment on its
adequacy to their national standards organization, which will be a
an ISO 'member body'.
Generally you can get copies of pending ISO Draft International Standards
from national standards organization. Examples of these are --
Canada Canadian Standards Association (CSA)
France Association Francaise de Normalisation (AFNOR)
Germany Deutsches Institut fur Normung e. V. (DIN)
Japan Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JISC)
US American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
The interests of academics tend to be poorly represented on
national standards committees, mostly because of the time and
travel expense involved in standards work. This makes it even
more important that we see and comment on these proposed standards
in the early stages of their development.
-- Allen