Good writing.

The standardization of all things data and the hierarchies of metadata and metametadata is certainly a move towards economy. Some would go so far as calling it digi-holism because in a totally standardized informational world, the opacity between information silos would become much more transparent and porous, allowing one bit to possibly affect the universe of bits. This economy would certainly lend itself economically and convenience. We certainly have a ways to go in achieving more standards in all things tech.

But this concept could be destructive if taken to the extreme. 

Things would lose individuality or uniqueness. That would be bad. The reason is that when we define an information type, for example a last name entry field that has to choose from the 26 English letters, in software, it now defines the type of information that it can contain. If that standard becomes ubiquitous, then all names must have letters. Names with numbers or sounds that could not be represented in letters would not be allowed. That wouldn't suit other languages well and would force them to have an English spelling of their name. This is innocuous, of course, unless you are not English. Even then it is simply an adjustment, perhaps an irritation. It happened a long time ago. Now, many foreigners have English spelled names that they learn as kids. If people ever get to the point that they let software determine their catagories, instead of the other way around, we'll be in trouble. 

I remember how the automobile bumper height standard changed things in the early 70s. One year you saw a huge variety of unique cars from around the world and the next, they were gone, or had big ugly misplaced bumpers around them that ruined their lines. It was a good law because it probably save a lot of lives and fender benders. But it really limited design and therefore possibly better low speed impact design ideas.

I like your thoroughness and will be checking back!

Best,

Keith

The Advanced Distributed Learning organization originated because of a need to standardize the components of that are used in various learning systems. "ADL was established in 1997 to standardize and modernize the delivery of training and education. The Department of Defense (DoD) Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (OUSD P&R) oversees the ADL Initiative. The vision of the ADL Initiative is to provide access to the highest-quality learning and performance aiding that can be tailored to individual needs and delivered cost-effectively, anytime and anywhere." (ADL).

Standards are needed in every environment where multiple creators, manufactures, and users are involved. For example Metric and Imperial are the only two standards in construction, with the former being the preferred. Western music notation has a standard set of terms used by the hundreds of thousands of music professionals and students. Yet standards have not been adopted by learning system companies. Institutions and organizations that invest in learning management systems (cms, lms, lcms) are faced with the strong possibility that their system can become obsolete when switching platforms, say from local-server-based to web-based. Many times products from one company cannot be used with another company's LMS. Proprietary software can lead to an anti-competition stance. "The anti-open competition stance has a potentially chilling effect on learning platforms and the development of the industry as a whole." (Siemens, 2006) The use of standards in graphics, audio, and business software allows for users to adapt the best features of products from a variety of companies to their individual needs.