Morgaine Dinova:

I've waited a few days since Arran Cameron's and Simon Barker's answers to my question requesting links to online documentation about UK wiring standards for consumer units, hoping that someone might provide a link to the online resources. I found it hard to believe that these standards are a secret in the UK, and worse, that they are hidden behind an IET paywall so that only those with money can learn about them. In the absence of contrary information so far, I am sadly concluding that Arran and Simon were right.


This is not what I would have expected from the IET, and is incredibly short-sighted. The Institution is supposed to be a promoter of engineering education and a role model for professional ethics in UK engineering, not a money-grabbing outfit focussed on its own profit above all things. Secrecy has no place in engineering standards, nor in engineering education, and it runs counter to informing students (or simply knowledge-seekers) about professional and legal requirements in installation wiring and setting a good example.


The Internet has made information on virtually every topic more and more available with every passing year, and now even encompasses legislation and interacting with one's own government. Open publishing is thriving, while the proprietary publishing model is widely condemned in the sciences and many other disciplines. In contrast to these advances in knowledge dissemination, putting engineering standards behind a paywall is taking UK engineering back to the medieval days of shady masonic guilds protecting their trade secrets for their own profit. It's astoundingly bad on numerous grounds, particularly in respect of discouraging education, limiting public knowledge of legal requirements, impacting on public safety, and in making "information only for the rich".


This is an area that calls out badly for IET modernization and reform.


Thank you Arran and Simon for your input.


Morgaine.

Morgaine Dinova:

I've waited a few days since Arran Cameron's and Simon Barker's answers to my question requesting links to online documentation about UK wiring standards for consumer units, hoping that someone might provide a link to the online resources. I found it hard to believe that these standards are a secret in the UK, and worse, that they are hidden behind an IET paywall so that only those with money can learn about them. In the absence of contrary information so far, I am sadly concluding that Arran and Simon were right.


This is not what I would have expected from the IET, and is incredibly short-sighted. The Institution is supposed to be a promoter of engineering education and a role model for professional ethics in UK engineering, not a money-grabbing outfit focussed on its own profit above all things. Secrecy has no place in engineering standards, nor in engineering education, and it runs counter to informing students (or simply knowledge-seekers) about professional and legal requirements in installation wiring and setting a good example.


The Internet has made information on virtually every topic more and more available with every passing year, and now even encompasses legislation and interacting with one's own government. Open publishing is thriving, while the proprietary publishing model is widely condemned in the sciences and many other disciplines. In contrast to these advances in knowledge dissemination, putting engineering standards behind a paywall is taking UK engineering back to the medieval days of shady masonic guilds protecting their trade secrets for their own profit. It's astoundingly bad on numerous grounds, particularly in respect of discouraging education, limiting public knowledge of legal requirements, impacting on public safety, and in making "information only for the rich".


This is an area that calls out badly for IET modernization and reform.


Thank you Arran and Simon for your input.


Morgaine.