The diffusion of anticipatory standards with particular reference to the ISO/IEC information resource dictionary system framework standard

In the late 1980s, traditional standards development organisations were moving toward creating anticipatory standards as a way of coping with the fast growth in new technology in the computing industry. The development of anticipatory standards (standards developed ahead of the technology) was seen as a possible way for the formal standards bodies to deep abreast of these rapid changes. By creating standards ahead of the technology, the standards would act as "change agents" and guide the market. Anticipatory standards were seen as one way of addressing the problem of arriving at suboptimal de facto standards.