ARCHIVED 5.4.4. Who Develops a Terminology Standard?
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Terminology standardization is carried out in working groups, technical committees and subcommittees. For more information on the organizational structure of ISO, see ISO Web site and for more information on how ISO technical committees are organized, see the general information on the list of technical committees.
The best results are achieved by a standardization committee or working group made up of a combination of qualified subject-field experts and professional terminologists from industry, research institutes, government authorities, consumer bodies, and international organizations from around the world.
In ISO or IEC, member countries nominate representatives to a working group or committee. Standard development in a working group is headed by a convenor who is often also the project leader. If terminologists have not been nominated, the convenor should ensure that the committee members are made familiar with the basic principles and the methodology to be used in terminology work, through the provision of seminars, tutorials or documentation. All members should have ready access to ISO/TC 37 technical standards, general language dictionaries,technical vocabularies in the field and other resources.
Given the important role of the convenor, the technical committee should carefully select a person who is capable of providing leadership, is skilled at facilitating team work and whose candidacy will be accepted by the standardization committee. The convenor should be familiar with both the subject matter in question and the principles and methods of terminology work. The technical committee may choose to name both a convenor and a project leader. The role of the convenor is to chair the working group meetings so the project leader can focus on the deliberations. The project leader is also assisted by the committee chair and committee secretary, who are responsible for the administrative tasks such as drafting agendas, circulating documents, etc. It is important that all participants involved in the preparation of standardized vocabularies understand the tasks they are expected to perform and how those tasks support the overall mandate of the group.
Problem concepts should be resolved jointly by the group members based on equal participation of all, and particular attention should be paid to the principle of equal representation. Since some of the participating members may be working in their second or third language, the convenor/project leader must ensure that all members understand the issues being discussed and at the same time ensure that the integrity of the working language is maintained.
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