Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1989 - 37

THE "EQUAL-AMOUNT-OF-PAIN"

. . IC.AYOLAN

STANDARD

Where multiple de facto standards exist and where enough
of them can't be brought under the same tent, it may be
more practical (and more political) to define yet another
variation that everyone will have about an equal degree of
difficulty meeting as the formal standard. DMX512 was
an equal-amount-of-pain standard. Hopefully, the new
standard reflects the best features of the existing ones.
THE "CRYSTAL-BALL" STANDARD

Where there is no precedent, a standard must be created
totally from scratch. We can also get onto thin ice here
because the lack of a precedent cuts both ways. There is no
de facto standard that limits the form a new standard can
take, but also little or no practical experience on which to
base a judgement of what'S necessary, what's doable, and
what'S not.
STANDARDS MUST MEET A REAL NEED

Our working definition included the phrase "consensus
among multiple manufacturers," and the key word is
"manufacturers," because the value of a standard protocol
that no one supports is nil. Unless manufacturers will
support a protocol, there is little point in drafting it. Even
just the drafting involves a considerable amount of effort,
and actually building hardware that supports it requires
still more.
Few of us are willing to devote time to a project that may
never see the light of day, especially when it detracts from
projects with more promising prospects. And unless standards benefit the manufacturers, it is unfair to expect
them to take the lead in definjng and supporting new ones.
After all, hardly a trade show goes by that we aren't telling
manufacturers about all the things that their new products
don't have but should. Some memory boards are loaded
down with features, 90 percent of which will never be used
even by some of the people who asked for them. Little
wonder that manufacturers can see the word "standard"
taken too lightly as an invitation to more work of dubious
practical and commercial value.
In sitting in on several standard protocol sessions, I've
been stmck by the key role of the need for a given standard.
After you've nanled it, there should be a space on the
standard's proposal for a compulsory 50 words describing
the need your standard is supposed to fill. It shouldn't be a
description of what the standard protocol itself is supposed to do, but an outline of the real, current, widely
shared need that the standard is supposed to answer. For
example, DMX512 met the need to intercOIU1ect consoles
and dimmers of different manufacturers via a multiplexed
digital link.
The pending O-lOY Discrete Analog Control Signal
Standard "arises from the need of end users and system
integrators to be able to predict whether a controller produced by one manufacturer can be combined with dimmers produced by another manufacturer." Stating the need
that a proposed standard purpOrtS to address provides a
valuable touchstone to which we can keep returning to
ask, "Is this standard going to serve the function required
to fill this need?" It's also a giveaway that a proposed
standard arises not from a current need but from a wish or

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continued on page 58
TD&T

SPRING 1989

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