The case of OOXML in Africa

A Standards Story World IT Forum Addis Ababa 22-24 August 2007 J. Philipp Schmidt University of the Western Cape United Nations University MERIT [email_address]

Standards describe a common way of doing things

Key issue related to standards is participation Good standards enable participation Open processes enable participation that leads to good standards

Good standards = Open Standards

A story of Bill ...

... and of Bob

New standard for office documents OOXML

Bill and Bob disagree ... What is a good standard? How do we create one?

Natural monopolies

Natural monopolies = monopolies

Technology standards are even more important in the world of global information and communication technologies

The Web

But standards are not always good

Document Formats

ODF Open Document Format ISO/IEC 26300 700 pages can be extended open

New standard for office documents OOXML

Proposed OOXML ECMA - ISO DIS29500 Fast-tracked (6 months) During first phase many countries signalled contradictions

There are some problems: - too long to review in short time - tied to legacy formats - questions about patents - duplicates W3C standards - calendaring bugs - culturally biased (Weekends)

The discussion is not just about one particular standard, but about much broader issues of how we create good standards

Careful deliberative processes National standard bodies represented at ISO Not all countries vote on every standard

But things are changing

More standards Global implications Deeply technical standards that require expert input Fast-tracked procedures Intense lobbying

Important to participate – the creation of standards and governance of standards cannot be ignored

2 September 2007

Algeria Botswana Cote d'Ivoire DRC Egypt Ethiopia Ghana Kenya Libya Mauritius Morocco Nigeria South Africa Sudan Tunisia Zimbabwe

A story of Bob ...

... but this is also a story of Dorcas, Gbenga, Judy, Alice, Solomon, AhA, Sunday, Omo, Igor, Benjamin, Dorothy, Dawit, Abebe, Nnenna, Ben, Dhouha, David, and many others ...

... forming a network of (civil society) organisations that can support and engage with their national standards bodies

The case of OOXML in Africa

by Philipp Schmidt on Oct 22, 2007

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