Citation
(1999), "Make a date", Work Study, Vol. 48 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.1999.07948caf.003
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited
Make a date
Make a date
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has developed a new standard, ISO 8601, for representing dates.
The "millennium bug" has focused attention on the fact that many computers store the year portion of dates as a two-digit figures. As we all know by now, this means that "00" for next year may be interpreted by many computer systems as "1900" and not "2000". This can cause mild annoyance through aggravation to calamity, depending on the system in use.
However this millennial problem is not the only issue. The fact that different parts of the world write dates in different ways can be equally confusing. Does "03/04/1999" mean the 3 April or the 4 March? The way in which it is interpreted depends on the convention used most often in the part of the world where the date is read. For companies operating across the globe such confusion can be dangerous and costly.
ISO is attempting to end such confusion by setting a consistent standard which can be universally applied and understood.
For numeric applications, ISO 8601 represents dates from their largest to smallest element, year-month-day. For example, 11 January 1999, would be written as 1999-01-11, based on ISO 8601.
The organization has been encouraging international businesses to use the new standard, particularly as part of computer updates for year 2000 compliance.
The ISO also encourages the implementation of ISO 8601 to help eliminate the other which convention human misunderstandings.
Examples
DATE
How do you represent 9 December 1999?
Using the ISO Standard: 1999-12-09
DATE + HOUR + MINUTE + SECOND
How do you represent 9 December 1999, 23 hours, 20 minutes and 50 seconds ?
Using the ISO Standard: 1999-12-09T23:20:50
DATE (by numbering of weeks and days)
In applications such as international business correspondence, company meeting calendars and auditing schedules, it is often practical to identify a date by week and day. (Monday has been agreed as the most appropriate first day of the week.)
How do you represent Friday, 9 April 1999?
Using the ISO Standard: 1999-W14-5