Glossary and Links for Related Standards Organizations

American National Standards Institute (ANSI): “Administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system.” <http://www.ansi.org/about_ansi/overview/overview.aspx?menuid=1>

National Information Standards Organization (NISO)—a U.S. organization: “NISO standards apply both traditional and new technologies to the full range of information-related needs, including retrieval, re-purposing, storage, metadata, and preservation.” <http://www.niso.org/about/index.html>

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): “The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential.” <http://www.w3.org>

Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS): Consortium for e-business standards such as DITA. <http://www.oasis-open.org/home/index.php>

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association (IEEE SA): “The leading developer of global industry standards in a broad-range of industries, including information technology.” <http://standards.ieee.org/sa/sa-view.html>

IEEE Computer Society Standards Activities Board <http://www.computer.org/portal/site/ieeecs/menuitem...>

IEEE Software Engineering Standards Committee (IEEE SESC): Sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society—supports “a family of products and services based on software and systems engineering standards.” <http://standards.computer.org/sesc/index.htm>

US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): Part of the Department of Commerce, it “promote measurement, standards, and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate trade, and improve the quality of life…focuses on technologies to improve the usability, reliability and security of computers and computer networks for work and home.” (Supports standards activities for usability and accessibility, but not directly for technical communication) <http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/general2.htm>

The Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) <http://www.lisa.org/sigs/oscar>

International Standards Organization (based in Geneva), Joint Technical Committee 1 (for information technology), SubCommittee 7 (for Systems and Software Engineering), Working Group 2 (for systems and software documentation), WG 22 (for systems and software engineering vocabulary) (ISO JTC 1 SC7 WG2/WG22): Membership is on a national basis. The US member organization to ISO is ANSI. <http://www.jtc1-sc7.org>

Usability.gov: source of research-based web design and usability guidelines from the Deptartment of Health and Human Services. <http://www.usability.gov/pdfs/updatedguidelines.html>