The benefit of following a standard is that everyone who uses it understands it’s definition.
Information sharing is enhanced when everyone is on the same page. Confusion is minimized when we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Symbols and codes are natural candidates for standardization because they represent larger entities in a compact form. When we compact information or agree on what a symbol or code means (ie; standardize it) we can share more information with less work.
Of interest to any genealogist when entering data in a genealogy is the ISO 3166 Standard, which provides an internationally used code for countries or territories.
I’d love to explore if this might be useful in genealogy…
