Re: [STDS-802-11-TGM] FW: Use of "should" in an informative annex

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Further to Mr. Hunter's point,

> the IEEE Style Manual (2012) rule is "Interspersed normative and informative text is not allowed."

This requirement does not use conformance language "shall", "shall not", "should", "should not", "may", "may not", "must", or "must not". Instead, it uses "is not". This means that technically, as per the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, "Rules for the structure and drafting of International Standards", this clause in the IEEE Style Manual is informative, and therefore not a normative requirement for an IEEE international standards document. ;-)

Seriously though, we have to be very careful with this because someone has to turn the output of our work into a validation test procedure, whether in the Wi-Fi Alliance or internally within a vendor company. The distinction of normative text versus informative text is critical to this purpose.

If an informative annex needs to make a recommendation, then it's not really informative. An implementor can ignore all informative parts of the standard and still implement a solution that normatively complies to the standard. If the authors wish to encourage a particular method for implementing a feature, for interoperability or performance reasons, then that needs to be stated normatively.

In practical terms, this means the entire annex probably needs to be made normative, or at least broken into sub-parts most of which can be informative, but those parts that specify the recommended procedure be marked as normative. (More work for the editors, to which I apologize, but the Wi-Fi Alliance will thank you in the end).

I hope I don't sound like I'm trying to "teach my own grandmother how to suck an egg", but I see too many drafts come to letter ballot that do not observe these requirements. I try to comment on them, but there are often too many to cite in letter ballot comments within the allocated time.

-- Ed Reuss

On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 5:18 AM, hunter <hunter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

--- This message came from the IEEE 802.11 Task Group M Technical Reflector ---

Hi Adrian,

'Should' entails 'may', so 'may' must also be allowable in an informative annex.

And, 'may' entails "it is not the case that it shall not", so 'shall' is equally permissible (though perhaps some accompanying negatives may be required).

Consequently there is no IEEE Standards Association reason to avoid any normative term in an informative annex.

Since the IEEE Style Manual (2012) rule is "Interspersed normative and informative text is not allowed.", then the official permission of normative terms in an informative annex means that in such an annex the normative terms do not constitute normative text. Normative terms may be used in an informative annex, because they can't be normative text.

Peachy; got it.

Thanks for finding this out,

Hunter

By the way, in the American version of Latin derivatives the term "volte-face" (pronounced "volt-face", singularly apropos in an electrical engineering standard) uses a hyphen.

On 3/13/2014 00:12, Stephens, Adrian P wrote:

--- This message came from the IEEE 802.11 Task Group M Technical Reflector ---

Please see below…

This relates to CID 2401 reviewed yesterday.

Michelle does not support my position. So, I shall do a volte face.

We should, IMHO, resolve this comment by changing the heading, as “recommended practice” has a

special meaning in IEEE-SA parlance. We might consider replacing “it is recommended that” with “should”

and use the active voice, e.g. “It is recommended that pigs fly” becomes “Pigs should fly”.

Best Regards,

Adrian P STEPHENS

Tel: +44 (1793) 404825 (office)
Tel: +44 (7920) 084 900 (mobile, UK)

Tel: +1 (408) 2397485 (mobile, USA)

----------------------------------------------
Intel Corporation (UK) Limited
Registered No. 1134945 (England)
Registered Office: Pipers Way, Swindon SN3 1RJ
VAT No: 860 2173 47

*From:*Michelle Turner [mailto:m.d.turner@xxxxxxxx]
*Sent:* 12 March 2014 18:08
*To:* Stephens, Adrian P
*Cc:* Kim Breitfelder
*Subject:* Re: Use of "should" in an informative annex

Hi Adrian

It's fine to have "should" in an informative annex. I would, however, not use the words "Recommended Practice" in the heading as that is a document type. Rather, I recommend (ha!) something like, "Recommendation for implementation of..." We can discuss more next week. See you in Beijing :-)

On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 11:41 AM, Stephens, Adrian P <Adrian.P.Stephens@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:Adrian.P.Stephens@intel.com>> wrote:

Hello Michelle,

Can you help me with a question – potentially reaching out to your
fellow editors for a consensus.

In 802.11, we have an informative annex that contains “should”
statements (and “recommended practice” in the heading).

Is this valid?

One viewpoint is that anything that affects an implementation is
normative, because that is the whole

purpose of a standard. So this is an inconsistency.

Another viewpoint is that a “should” doesn’t require anything,
because it’s not a “shall” – whether

the manufacturer follow it or not is up to them.

What is your position?

Best Regards,

Adrian P STEPHENS

Tel: +44 (1793) 404825 <tel:%2B44%20%281793%29%20404825> (office)
Tel: +44 (7920) 084 900 <tel:%2B44%20%287920%29%20084%20900>
(mobile, UK)

Tel: +1 (408) 2397485 <tel:%2B1%20%28408%29%202397485> (mobile, USA)

----------------------------------------------
Intel Corporation (UK) Limited
Registered No. 1134945 (England)
Registered Office: Pipers Way, Swindon SN3 1RJ
VAT No: 860 2173 47

--

Michelle Turner
Managing Editor, Technical Community Content Publishing

IEEE Standards Association
e-mail: m.d.turner@xxxxxxxx <mailto:m.d.turner@xxxxxxxx>
PH: +1 732 562 3825; FAX: +1 732 562 1571

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