I think Lego is a great analogy for understanding the importance of data standards and registers.
Lego have been making plastic toys and bricks since the late 40s. It took them a little while to perfect their designs. But since 1958 they’ve been manufacturing bricks in the same way, to the same basic standard. This means that you can take any brick that’s been manufactured over the last 59 years and they’ll fit together. As a company, they have extremely high standards around how their bricks are manufactured. Only 18 in a million are ever rejected.
A commitment to standards maximises the utility of all of the bricks that the company has ever produced.
Open data standards apply the same principle but to data. By publishing data using common APIs, formats and schemas, we can start to treat data like Lego bricks. Standards help us recombine data in many, many different ways.
There are now many more types and shapes of Lego brick than there used to be. The Lego standard colour palette has also evolved over the years. The types and colours of bricks have changed to reflect the company’s desire to create a wider variety of sets and themes.
If you look across all of the different sets that Lego have produced, you can see that some basic pieces are used very frequently. A number of these pieces are “plates” that help to connect other bricks together. If you ask a Master Lego Builder for a list of their favourite pieces, you’ll discover the same. Elements that help you connect other bricks together in new and interesting ways are the most popular.
Registers are small, simple datasets that play the same role in the data ecosystem. They provide a means for us to connect datasets together. A way to improve the quality and structure of other datasets. They may not be the most excitingly shaped data. Sometimes they’re just simple lists and tables. But they play a very important role in unlocking the value of other data.
So there we have it, the Lego analogy for standards and registers.
Lost Boy 