This book redefines how we think about standards, framing them as interfaces that govern interactions and connect causes to their effects. Expanding beyond traditional technical and geopolitical discussions, Garcia introduces a fresh theoretical perspective that positions standards as central to understanding complexity.
Standards, Emergence, and Complex Outcomes redefines how we think about standards, framing them as interfaces that govern interactions and connect causes to their effects. Expanding beyond traditional technical and geopolitical discussions, Garcia introduces a fresh theoretical perspective that positions standards as central to understanding complexity. From food safety and workplace regulations to standardized parts in manufacturing and our reliance on technology, standards shape nearly every aspect of modern life.
By proposing a multidimensional approach, Garcia argues that standards are the mechanisms driving change, complexity is the backdrop for this change, emergence is the process by which change unfolds, and evolution is its ultimate outcome. Each chapter explores key elements of complexity theory and supports them with compelling historical and empirical examples, providing a richly detailed narrative that deepens understanding.
This book is an essential resource for academics and students across the social sciences, policy makers shaping standards-dependent fields, and professionals in industries where standards dictate progress. Whether you're exploring the intersections of technology, governance, and complexity or looking to better navigate the systems shaping our world, this book offers vital insights into the pivotal role of standards in our increasingly interconnected society.
Preface; Part I: Motivation and Conceptualization;
1. Conceptualizing
the Problem;
2. Assent up the Fitness Landscape: How the American West Was
Won; Part II: History Through the Lens of Complexity Theory;
3. Standards,
Norms, and Emergence in Social Settings;
4. Platforms: Springboards for
Evolutionary Outcomes;
5. Standards and Phase Transitions in the Middle Ages;
6. Standards and Evolution in a Complex World; Part III: Standards: The
Building Blocks of Complex Outcomes;
7. Complex Monetary OutcomesWinners,
Losers, and the Standards Determining Them;
8. Standards, Modularity, and
Innovation;
9. How Standards Engender Trust;
10. Crafting Identity With
Standard Memes and Symbols;
11. The Artist as Standards Bearer; Part IV:
Standards and Complexity: Summing It Up;
12. Standards, Emergence, and
ComplexityPiecing the Puzzle Together.
D. Linda Garcia is Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University, where she taught courses on Technology and Society, Networks and the Creative Process, Global Standards, Networks and International Development, and The Networked Economy. She also worked for many years at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), which conducted bipartisan, interdisciplinary research assessing advancing technologies to determine how to maximize their benefits while minimizing their negative consequences. Among the studies that she contributed to were those having to do with transportation, acid rain, radioactive waste, educational technologies, and telecommunication and computer technologies.
