[Credits] [NIST Update Archives] [Media Contacts]
[Subscription Information] [NIST Update Search]

Weights and Measures

NIST Workshop Looks at E-Commerce Consumer Issues

Internet “surfers” are sure to find just about every type of product for sale online—from apples to zucchini. Weights and measures officials, however, have practical concerns about this marketing revolution. They want to make sure that e-commerce customers continue to have a means of product value comparisons just as customers currently do with products from brick-and-mortar stores.

NIST, at the suggestion of state weights and measures authorities, sponsored a workshop in April 2001 to help define and suggest actions for the challenges associated with e-commerce. These challenges include instances in which electronic retailers sell a product by the number of people it will serve (“a turkey big enough for 20”), with only a count description (“six mouth-watering T-bone steaks”) or by a weight range (“between 10 and 12 pounds in the package”). The ease by which retailers can set up shop online also makes it difficult to locate them for product net content inspections.

Workshop participants, who included representatives of state and federal regulatory agencies, online businesses and traditional retail stores, also noted that both store-based establishments and e-commerce ventures that comply with traditional price and quantity information regulations can find themselves at a disadvantage if competing with businesses that ignore such requirements.

Among the workshop recommendations were calls for weights and measures educational materials for e-commerce firms, consumers and state attorneys general. In addition to urging regular net content inspection at the warehouses of e-commerce businesses, participants cited the need for increased sharing of information. They also asked for the preparation of a standard e-mail letter that could be sent to electronic retailer companies that do not supply the correct labeling information with their products. The participants recommended that the National Conference on Weights and Measures, an organization representing state, regional and local weights and measures officials, lead the effort.

For more information, contact workshop chair Tom Coleman, NIST Office of Weights and Measures, (301) 975-4868, t.coleman@nist.gov.

Media Contact:
John Blair, (301) 975-4261

 

 

Data Management

NIST and Partners Help Blaze the Path to Metatopia

Having an enormous amount of information at your disposal to help you make decisions is a wonderful experience. Yet, people often complain of the overload problem that comes from having too much data.

Some researchers believe a partial solution may be found in metadata—essentially data about data that describes how, when and by whom a particular set of data was collected, and how the data are formatted. If it works well, say IT experts, you have a state of information heaven, or “metatopia.”

To help data managers reach this “IT Nirvana,” NIST is sponsoring Metatopia 2001, a symposium on metadata and data management, on Sept. 20-21, 2001, at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md.

The conference will be of interest to executives in fields such as data mining, knowledge management and data warehousing. The primary focus will be on metadata and how it can be standardized.

The Data Management Association-National Capital Region will co-sponsor the conference along with the ANSI NCITS Metadata Committee (L8).

More information about the Metatopia 2001 symposium is available at www.dama-ncr.org/Metatopia2001.

Media Contact:
Philip Bulman, (301) 975-5661

 

 

 

Fire Research

New Online Newsletter Links Researchers and Firefighters

Millions of dollars are spent annually in fire prevention research to lessen a toll which, in the United States, amounts yearly to more than 5,000 deaths, 25,000 injuries and $9 billion in direct property loss. To inform the firefighting community of this work, NIST and the United States Fire Administration have launched an online newsletter, FIRE.GOV, at www.fire.gov.

The free quarterly publication, started in response to a call by the International Association of Fire Chiefs (an organization representing more than 12,000 chief fire and emergency officers), provides information about research activities that could impact firefighting safety and effectiveness. Contact information is provided so that firefighters can interact directly with the researchers.

The first issue includes reports on techniques for measuring the performance of protective clothing, the fire suppression effectiveness of compressed air foam, the search for an environmentally friendly suppressant for liquid fuel fires, as well as an account of scientific forums on urban/wildland firefighting technology. Future issues will consider other non-commercial fire research activities performed by government, universities, industry and fire departments.

The newsletter can be viewed in HTML or downloaded in a PDF version. Subscriptions to FIRE.GOV, providing delivery of new issues via e-mail, are available online. For more information, contact FIRE.GOV editor Dave Evans, (301) 975-6897, dave.evans@nist.gov.

Media Contact:
John Blair, (301) 975-4261

 

 

 

Standards

NIST Launches Series of Guides to EU Directives

Three newly issued NIST guides to European Union directives on machinery, low-voltage equipment and electromagnetic compatibility can help U.S. manufacturers carry out the steps necessary to demonstrate compliance with the EU-wide requirements and gain unfettered access to the 18-nation market.

The easy-to-use introductory references are designed to acquaint businesses and government officials with the directives’ essential requirements and their relationship to other EU product safety laws. Each one lists the types of products covered by the particular directive (as well as those that are excluded) and addresses issues regarding the treatment of components incorporated into market-ready products. In addition, the guides explain the hierarchy of EU, international and national standards that might be used to satisfy the directives. Each contains the text of the relevant directive and a list of applicable EU harmonized standards.

Intended to foster the free movement of goods among nations that make up the European Economic Area, the laws are among the more than 20 “new approach” directives approved by the EU’s governing body since 1992. Products that comply with relevant directives merit the required “CE mark”—kin to a passport for products marketed in Europe.

The directive on low-voltage equipment, such as appliances and power tools, is designed to prevent electrical hazards to people, pets, livestock and property, while the machinery directive aims to ensure the safety of industrial equipment. The electromagnetic compatibility directive applies to a wide range of products and is intended to prevent electrical and magnetic disturbances that can undermine the performance of other products and systems.

The new publications are available at NIST’s conformity assessment web site at http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/210/216/europe.htm. They are the first in a series of NIST-commissioned guides on selected EU new approach directives. The series is being developed with the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration.

A limited number of NIST’s guides to the EU directives will be available. Specify the directive of interest and send a self-addressed mailing label to Maureen Breitenberg, NIST, 100 Bureau Dr., Stop 2100, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-2100.

Media Contact:
Mark Bello, (301) 975-3776

 

 

 

Information Technology

November Conference Tackles Text Retrieval Systems

Everyone knows that “looking for a needle in a haystack” is tough work. However, when the needles are single bits of information and the haystack is the enormous collection of data available via the Internet, one needs help to do the search.

That’s where text retrieval systems—the tools used to track down and isolate those needles—come in. Developing more powerful, faster and easier-to-use text retrieval systems to meet the demands of the Information Age requires a coordinated research effort. Therefore, NIST and the Defense Department have held the Text Retrieval Conference (known as TREC) since 1992 to provide the infrastructure necessary for large-scale evaluation of text retrieval methodologies. The 10th TREC will be held on Nov. 13-16, 2001, at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md.

TREC is overseen by a program committee consisting of representatives from government, industry and academia. For each TREC, NIST provides a test set of documents and questions. Participants run their own retrieval systems on the data and return to NIST a list of the retrieved top-ranked documents. NIST pools the individual results, judges the retrieved documents for correctness, and evaluates the results. The TREC cycle ends with a workshop that is a forum for participants to share their experiences.

This year, TREC is expanding to include, for the first time, a video track, because a growing amount of information is being stored in that form. This is a step toward including a general multimedia track in future years. Other topics will include web search engine systems and cross-language systems.

Attendance is limited to researchers and groups who submit search results to the conference.

For more information on TREC, go to http://trec.nist.gov or contact Ellen Voorhees, (301) 975- 3761, ellen.voorhees@nist.gov.

Media Contact:
Philip Bulman, (301) 975-5661

 

 

 

Quality

Thirty-Seven Try for Nation's Top Honor for Excellence

Teams of specially trained examiners will carefully scrutinize 37 US organizations during the next six months to determine which will receive the 2001 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s most prestigious award for excellence. The group includes seven large manufacturers, four service companies, eight small businesses, 10 education and eight health care organizations.

As part of the process, these organizations submitted a written application answering more than 100 questions on leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and results. Questions include: “How do senior leaders communicate values, directions and expectations to all employees?” and “What is your overall strategic planning process?”

Results are considered the most vital indicator of success for any organization. To evaluate results, questions for businesses include: “What are your current levels and trends in key measures/indicators of financial performance?” Questions for education organizations include: “What are your current levels and trends in key measures/indicators of student learning and improvement in student learning?” And, results-oriented questions for health care organizations include: “What are your current levels and trends in key measures/indicators of health care outcomes, health care service delivery results and patients’ functional status?”

Organizations passing an initial screening this summer will be visited by a team of examiners in the fall to verify information and to clarify issues and questions. Each applicant receives at least 300 hours of review and an extensive feedback report, highlighting strengths and opportunities for improvement.

Winners of the 2001 award are expected to be announced in November and receive the award from President Bush and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans in a ceremony at a later date. For more information on the Baldrige National Quality Award, go to www.quality.nist.gov.

Media Contact:
Jan Kosko, (301) 975-2767