Re: sustainable swag

>From me
> > (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001)
> > They cost a fortune

>From Deborah
> 
> This is one of my pet peeves: 
> government regulations that we're all
> supposed to conform to (in some cases, 
> *have* to conform to) that are
> neither easily accessible nor 
> FREE of charge for all those to whom
> they apply.

I agree with your peeve in general, but I'm having a moment of standards
geekery here and felt the urge to point out that these standards aren't
government regulations. It's entirely optional about whether an organisation
chooses to comply or not. Although I had to admit that in practice, for some
types of large computer contracts anyway, your organisation would likely
have to demonstrate ISO 9001 compliance.

Having said that, I do think that standards are far too expensive. The
standards organisations argue that they have to be priced at this level to
cover the costs of producing them (certainly not the cost of printing them:
the layout and print quality of many of the ones I've paid out real money
for are shocking). This despite the fact that the majority of the people who
write the standards do so for free, generally because their employers allow
them the time to do it or because they're consultants who get the standards
bug. (I've commented on a couple of standards in the past). 

One of Julie Howell's great achievements in the field of accessibility was
that she managed to persuade BSI to make PAS 78 free, and you can still get
it for free from here:
PAS 78: A guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/footer/accessibility-statement/general-we
b-accessibility-guidance/


Best
Caroline Jarrett
Twitter @cjforms




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