Learning in communities of standardisation professionals

A natural step in the development of disciplines is that practitioners establish communities to share knowledge and experience, and further develop the field. This chapter presents literature on such Communities of Practice and Networks of Practice, and applies the findings to the field of standardisation. Some of the existing organisations are described. It can be concluded that these unite a limited number of standardisation professionals, often full timers, but most people involved in standardization work are part timers and not organised yet. Establishment of professional communities per standardisation task may help to improve the situation but broader communities of standardization professionals and academic researchers in this field are needed as well.