Overview

What are data standards?

Data is hard. Information technology is the art of using mathematics to describe the real world, then presenting the result in a way that is palatable to the human mind. It is a magic trick that happens transparently every day, trillions of times on billions of computers across the world. It's even happening right now, on your computer, as you read this text.

Behind the slick user interfaces, crisp icons, and shiny buttons, there is always a data interface that started out not quite right, and hacked on from there. If a strict deadline is involved, the hacks can get downright dirty.

While the "how" can get messy, the "what" is usually standardized to keep things easy to integrate. The goal of standards is to make software development as repeatable, extendable, and maintainable as possible.

Usually, there is a broad consensus on what constitutes an "industry standard" for data. Sometimes it is created by a standards organization such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) or the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Sometimes, however, the standard is emergent based on the needs of the community.