Dear Jim,
Thanks for the explanation. I have known for some years of your
valuable work in standards but I was not aware of the details.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, that you can obtain
from http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many
different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial
and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA.
Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST,
and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com
for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected]
or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter
to subscribe.
On 2010/04/23, at 07:21 , James R. Frysinger wrote:
Dear friends of USMA and the SI,
I wish to take a few moments of your time to describe some of the
work that is done in support of the metric system in the U.S. and
elsewhere by a committee which I chair. Also, I wish to ask you to
consider joining this committee. USMA is represented there by
Lorelle Young, Paul Trusten, Don Hillger, and others. But there is
plenty of room for others to join in and to help with our work.
The subject committee is part of the Standards Association (SA) of
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engigeers (IEEE) and it
is designated as Standards Coordinating Committee 14 (SCC 14). IEEE
SA is a standards developing organization (SDO) that operates under
common guidelines for developing consensus standards. IEEE has an
administrative staff but the bulk of the standards work is done by
interested volunteers who exercise their expertise in the areas they
serve.
SCC 14 undertakes a few diverse but related tasks. Our public
website is
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/260/1/
We meet annually (this last one, held today, was by teleconference)
and converse via email at other times.
We write and maintain several standards, published by IEEE. Most of
these have been adopted as American National Standards by ANSI.
* IEEE Standard Letter Symbols for Units of Measurement (SI
Customary Inch-Pound Units, and Certain Other Units), IEEE Std
260.1-2004 (reaffirmed in 2010)
* American National Standard Mathematical Signs and Symbols for
Use in Physical Sciences and Technology, IEEE Std 260.3-1993
(reaffirmed 2006)
* American National Standard Letter Symbols and Abbreviations for
Quantities Used in Acoustics, IEEE Std 260.4-1996 (reaffirmed 2006)
* IEEE Standard Definitions for Selected Quantities, Units, and
Related Terms, with Special Attention to the International System of
Units (SI), IEEE Std 270-2006
* IEEE Standard Letter Symbols for Quantities Used in Electrical
Science and Electrical Engineering, IEEE Std 280-1982 (extended
pending development of proposed standard 80000)
* IEEE Recommended Practice for Preferred Metric Units for Use in
Electrical and Electronics Science and Technology, IEEE Std 945-1984
* IEEE Standard for Prefixes for Binary Multiples, IEEE Std
1541-2002 (reaffirmed 2008)
* Standard for Quantities and Units, P80000 (in development)
* IEEE/ASTM Standard for Use of the International System of Units
(SI): The Modern Metric System, IEEE/ASTM SI 10-2002 (revision in
progress)
The next to last standard listed, P80000, is under development. It
is a "parallel standard" to ISO/IEC 80000, which is nearly complete.
Ours will be an "Americanized" version. This standard comprises more
than a dozen areas including math, chemistry, physics, etc.
The last standard listed, SI 10, is perhaps familiar to some of you
as the most frequently cited industrial standard supporting the SI
in the U.S. It is an American National Standard.
Our committee also tracks progress toward metrication in the U.S.
and with regard to SI matters elsewhere, such as the EU, the BIPM,
ISO, IEC, etc. Our legislative working group (SCC14-Leg) tracks the
FPLA revision currently being worked on by NIST, the new standard
for hydrogen pumping stations, Joint Committee (ex-JCAHO) decisions,
the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM), etc.
We advise and converse with NIST on matters regarding some
committees it sits on that relate to the SI, such as the
Consultative Committee on Units (CCU), OIML, ILAC, ISO TC 12/IEC TC
25, etc.
HERE IS WHERE WE ESPECIALLY NEED VOLUNTEERS!
An important working group within our committee is the one (SCC14-
Rev) that reviews proposed standards and proposed revisions to those
standards to ensure proper compliance with IEEE Metric Policy.
Particularly, this policy calls for IEEE standards to comply with SI
10. In fact, our committee's comments invoke mandatory response for
a standard or its revision to be accepted by IEEE SA. This work on
our part requires intimate knowledge of the SI and attention to
detail. It also demands the ability to write in a style that is
brief, clear, and tactful. The workload amounts to about 4 to 5
standards documents per week. If we have 5 reviewers on staff,
that's about one document apiece each week that a person would be
asked to review. Those documents run from a few dozen pages to
hundreds of pages. I found that I could review a 200 page document
and comment on it in just a few hours, depending on its level of
compliance. Some reviews have taken me less than 30 minutes. All of
this can be done at home on a computer and (within a 30 day window)
at the reviewer's convenience. We will provide reviewers with copies
of SI 10, train them, and guide them as they proceed along their
learning curves.
SO, IF YOU UNDERSTAND THE SI AND WISH TO FURTHER THE PROPER USE OF
IT...
you can volunteer to help. Please consider joining our committee and
especially please consider whether you would be willing to be
trained to review standards for compliance.
If you are interested, please let me know by personal email and tell
me a bit about your background, expertise, and areas of interest. We
currently have members from the fields of pharmacy, metrology,
meteorology, technical editing, physics, education, chemistry,
engineering (electrical, mechanical, nuclear, civil,), welding,....
Since I am now retired and living on a farm, I suppose I could add
farming to the list of areas represented. Yes, there is a place for
you, too!
Hoping to hear from you soon,
James R. Frysinger (Jim), LCAMS
Chair IEEE SCC 14
Vice Chair, Joint Committee for Maintaining IEEE/ASTM SI 10
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(C) 931.212.0267
(H) 931.657.3107
(F) 931.657.3108
