Summarised from 'ISO and the media' articles in ISO Focus, April 2009 (www.iso.org/isofocus)
Every working day, there are hundreds of new references to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on media sites on the internet, reflecting growing awareness of the contribution of ISO Standards to providing confidence in products and services. However, many journalists and other media professionals are probably unaware of the substantial role played by ISO Standards in supporting their own industry.
The latest issue of ISO Focus magazine features 'ISO and the Media'. It showcases Standards that have widely disseminated innovative technological advances in the media industry, increasing its viability. These Standards have also facilitated the explosive growth of new communication media, such as CDs and DVDs. Other Standards, such as for digital file formats and office printing equipment have changed the way we work.
ISO Standards not only benefit users, but also manufacturers and service providers in the media. Reinar Mittelback, CEO of IFRA, the world's leading association for the newspaper publishing industry writes, 'Standardisation can save up to 7.5% of total production costs, which would be wasted if no Standards were applied…Newspapers act in a global market, they publish advertisements for global brands aimed at an international market, and the use of worldwide-accepted Standards is the only way to be able to do this and to obtain consistent results – globally and locally.'
Read about the significant impact that ISO Standards are having on the media by following the article links shown below for JPEG imaging, MPEG video coding, PDF file format, global film industry, digital photography, office equipment, peer to peer connectivity and intelligent homes, printing and colour reproduction, optical data storage, and extensible markup language.
JPEG imaging
This article discusses the JPEG imaging Standard, which gives requirements and guidelines for digital compression and coding of continuous-tone still images, and the JPEG 2000 family of Standards. JPEG – Still photography brought to life (pdf) http://www.iso.org/iso/p.15__main_focus.pdf
→ Buy ISO 10918.1:1994 Information technology – Digital compression and coding of continuous-tone still images: Requirements and guidelines
→ Browse the parts of ISO 10918, and the ISO/IEC 15444 series (JPEG 2000 image coding system) at www.standards.co.nz, click 'ISO' in the search field and enter keyword 10918 or 15444, email enquiries@standards.co.nz, or call customer services on 0800 782 632.
MPEG video coding
This article discusses the most recent MPEG video coding Standard – MPEG-4 Advanced video coding (AVC), which has been the subject of especially newsworthy events. Embodied in the international Standard ISO/IEC 14496-10, the AVC Standard is the most advanced video compression Standard today. And the Emmy goes to … The MPEG story (pdf) http://www.iso.org/iso/p.11__main_focus.pdf
→ Buy ISO/IEC 14496.10:2009 Information technology – Coding of audio-visual objects – Part 10:Advanced video coding
→ Browse the parts of ISO 14496 at www.standards.co.nz, enter keyword 14496 and click 'ISO' in the search field, email enquiries@standards.co.nz, or call customer services on 0800 782 632.
PDF file format
This article discusses ISO 32000-1, the Standard for the ubiquitous PDF file format used in thousands of different applications. Long live ISO 32000-1 – The PDF standard (pdf) http://www.iso.org/iso/p.24__main_focus.pdf
→ Buy ISO 32000.1:2008 Document management – Portable document format – Part 1:PDF 1.7
Global film industry
This article discusses how Standards play a crucial part throughout the numerous stages of the complex, and often international, motion picture supply chain, and the work of ISO Technical Committee (TC) 36, Cinematography. Behind the scenes of the global film industry (pdf) http://www.iso.org/iso/p.13__main_focus.pdf
Digital photography
This article discusses the ISO Standards that cover digital photography and the work of ISO Technical Committee (TC) 42, Photography. Drawing with light – From chemicals to pixels (pdf) http://www.iso.org/iso/p.18__main_focus.pdf
→ Buy ISO 12231:2005 Photography – Electronic still picture imaging – Vocabulary
→ Buy ISO 12234.1:2007 Electronic still-picture imaging – Removable memory – Part 1:Basic removable-memory model
→ Buy ISO 12234.2:2001 Electronic still-picture imaging – Removable memory – Part 2:TIFF/EP image data format
→ Order other ISO Standards mentioned in the article at www.standards.co.nz. Enter the Standard number as the keyword and click 'ISO' in the search field, email enquiries@standards.co.nz, or call customer services on 0800 782 632.
Office equipment
This article discusses the work of the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee (JTC) 1, Information Technology/Subcommittee (SC 28) Office equipment, covering Standards for office equipment including ink, copying machines, printers, image scanners, facsimile equipment, and data projectors. Comparing apples with apples – Helping you make the right choice (pdf) http://www.iso.org/iso/p.20__main_focus.pdf
→ Buy ISO/IEC 13660:2001 Information technology – Office equipment – Measurement of image quality attributes for hardcopy output – Binary monochrome text and graphic images
→ Order other ISO Standards mentioned in the article at www.standards.co.nz. Enter the Standard number as the keyword and click 'ISO' in the search field, email enquiries@standards.co.nz, or call customer services on 0800 782 632.
Peer to peer connectivity and intelligent homes
This article discusses how the multipart Standard, ISO/IEC 29341, Information technology – UPnP Device Architecture, published in 2008, bridges multiple industries to support intelligent homes. Peer-to-peer connectivity made easy (pdf) http://www.iso.org/iso/p._8__main_focus.pdf
→ Browse the parts of ISO 29341 at www.standards.co.nz, enter keyword 29341 and click 'ISO' in the search field.
→ Browse the parts of ISO 14543 Information technology – Home Electronic Systems (HES) Architecture at www.standards.co.nz, enter keyword 14543 and click 'ISO' in the search field.
→ Or, email enquiries@standards.co.nz, or call customer services on 0800 782 632.
Printing and colour reproduction
This article discusses the work of ISO/TC 130, Graphic technology, including Standards for colour reproduction. The colourful world of print – Standards at your service (pdf) http://www.iso.org/iso/p.22__main_focus.pdf
→ Buy ISO 12641:1997 Graphic technology – Prepress digital data exchange – Colour targets for input scanner calibration
→ Buy ISO 12646:2008 Graphic technology – Displays for colour proofing – Characteristics and viewing conditions
→ Browse the parts of ISO 12640, graphic technology – prepress digital data exchange, or the parts of ISO 12642, graphic technology – input data for characterization of 4-colour process printing at www.standards.co.nz, enter keyword 12640 or 12642 and click 'ISO' in the search field.
→ Order other ISO Standards mentioned in the article at www.standards.co.nz. Enter the Standard number as the keyword and click 'ISO' in the search field, email enquiries@standards.co.nz, or call customer services on 0800 782 632.
Optical data storage
This article discusses standardisation for optical discs and DVD and data archiving issues. Optical data storage – How long will it last? (pdf) http://www.iso.org/iso/p.26__main_focus-2.pdf
→ Buy ISO/IEC 10995:2008 Information technology – Digitally recorded media for information interchange and storage – Test method for the estimation of the archival lifetime of optical media
→ Buy ISO/IEC 29121:2009 Information technology – Digitally recorded media for information interchange and storage – Data migration method for DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, +R, and +R disks
→ Or, email enquiries@standards.co.nz, or call customer services on 0800 782 632.
Extensible Markup Language (XML)
This article discusses XML and how the ISO/IEC 11179 series of Standards is intended to enable the creation and registration of metadata descriptions for application data and data Standards that are precise, explicit, unambiguous, and useful for humans and computers. Making life easier in an XML world (pdf) http://www.iso.org/iso/p.30__main_focus.pdf
→ Browse the parts of ISO /IEC 11179, information technology – metadata registries (MDR) at www.standards.co.nz, enter keyword 11179 and click 'ISO' in the search field, email enquiries@standards.co.nz, or call customer services on 0800 782 632.
Also see: Using XML in metadata-enabled infrastructure (pdf) http://www.iso.org/iso/p.27__main_focus.pdf