EDI projects and document standardization

Abstract

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) systems have been mainly conceived to be used within the world oí commercial transactions. Owing to their1 technical characteristics and circumstances, however, they also arouse the interest of lnformation Science professionals. This paper describes the main features of the EDI systems: their assets, the technological infrastructure that they use and their conditioning factors as well. EDl's presence in the European market is studied. The characteristics of EDIF ACT (Electronic Data lnterchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport), ODA/ODIF (Office Document Architecture/Office Document Interchange publications) and FORMEX (FORMalized EXchange oí electronic publications) standards are examined as well as the problems posed by these formats as regards document standardization techniques. An overview is given of sorne of the main ongoing European projects within the Library and Information Science field which are related to Electronic Data lnterchange.