LREC 2000 2nd International Conference on Language Resources & Evaluation
 

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Title

Terminology Standards - Help for the Terminology Community

Speaker: Alan K. Melby (Brigham Young University, Department of Linguistics, Provo, Utah, USA akm@byu.edu),
Klaus-Dirk Schmitz (University of Applied Sciences Cologne, Department of Languages, Cologne, Germany klaus.schmitz@fh-koeln.de)
Session: Keynote Speeches 
Files schmitz.ps, schmitz.pdf
Abstract: Terminology standardization has a history that is almost as old as the standarization of (material and immaterial) objects. National and international standard bodies recognized very fast that it is not sufficient to standardize the technical specification of objects; the exact definition of concepts and the standardization of terms for denominating the objects is just as important as a basis for (efficient) technical communication and co-operation between experts and companies. Therefore terminology sub-committees were installed very early after establishing technical committees for the standardization of a certain (sub-)domain.

Besides the standardization of terminology itself within a subject field, national and international standards bodies established specific committees with the objective to develop and standardize principles and methods for terminology work and terminology management. Although the results (standards and technical reports) of these committees are initially designed to help the terminology standardization sub-committees, the whole terminology community, i.e. all persons involved in terminology management, can benefit from these standards.

The paper describes the structure and the results of ISO Technical Committee 37 "Terminology - principles and co-ordination" and how its standards can benefit the terminology community. Specific attention is paid to standards for computer applications for terminology management. Other terminology-related standards elaborated in ISO JTC1/SC32 (metadata registries) and in the framework of the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) are included as well in this paper. Finally the objectives and results of two EU co-funded projects, DINT and SALT, that are related to terminology standards are described.