Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT
Senior Member
Username: rliebing
Post Number: 1237
Registered: 02-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 - 01:41 pm: |    |
110427
QUIRKYISM
by Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT
Cincinnati, OH
We work in a weird, odd and quite quirky world! Yet we, specifications writers, continue to produce our products in much the same way, format replete with solid information, as we have for years.
But think now-- the things getting the most “ink” and being ballyhooed extensively, these days are BIM, and “Green”. These things are removed from the normal run of our work, for the most part, being sold in a form of “add-ons” [as in not totally main stream, as yet] and yet they clang the loudest gong throughout the design professions. They require the most special manipulation of “normal” specifications. Process and concept replete in the specs. Odd!
Odd, too, is the fact that little attention is being paid to upgrading academic course work to provide better fundamental understanding of the work involved in project making; and specifications and specification writing still are in the gauzy abyss of “What are those and what do they do”? In my mind, this is roughly akin, in the auto buying system of purchasing the car based on the jazzy look of the steering wheel, and the ultra zingy capabilities of the radio-tape-CD machine! [Oh, sure, there’s a motor but I don’t know anything about that, or steering or defensive driving]. Truly, it is disturbing to witness young staffers who have been instilled with, or have come to conclusion that, “Oh, I did it right and a good job, because I used the right pencil”.
Yet, and again, oddly, no one really seems to be paying any attention. Sure, CSI has a group working on BIM, but is there a counterpart in BIM [located somewhere] working on specifications, their use, input to the database, type of information and moderating what is used?
“Green” is well intended and has certainly gained enormous status [for a private special interest group] Yet their rules keep changing and now we have a green building code which has many salivating, but best we wait on this one to see how it finally comes down as “adopted” law [replete with parochial local amendments-- we know no code can possibly cover “every” known or projected circumstance]. AND how does this interface with the “regular” building code. Is that darn cart out ahead of the horse, again?
Most everyone though, has certain-- and often newly found-- sensitivities that “demand” accommodation and respect. How do we work all these together when we don’t have a good working knowledge of our professions, our in-place laws, and the normal recurring operation of the construction industry? We now require residential roofers to be “tied off” for their own safety. but can’t seem to write-- and properly enforce-- traveling and tower crane regulations [where more people can be protected].
We put up with the aberration in music, the outrageous appearance of performers [what happened to a tux or a flashy gown?] and the general degradation of appearance [the “bill” or peak of a baseball cap goes IN FRONT to shield your eyes!!!]. Pants have a ”waistband”-- use it! Everything it seems must be “gross”, weird, quite off-beat, outlandish, or utterly quirky to be acceptable. Gosh, we even dress now so you often can’t tell male from female! We try so hard to be “different” and wind up being similar or the same. [That’s a real shame] |
4specs.com Home Page