Improving the understandability of the next edition of the International System of Units (SI) by focusing on its conceptual structure

Abstract

The International System of Units (SI) is fundamental for the social, and not only the scientific, role of metrology, and as such its understandability is a crucial issue. According to the current draft of the new SI Brochure, the next edition of the SI will be significantly more complex in its conceptual structure than the previous ones. Identifying a strategy for effectively communicating its main contents is then a worthwhile endeavor, in order to increase the acceptance and thus the sustainability of the SI itself. Our proposal is to focus on the semantic structure of the definitions: this is instrumental to the awareness campaigns recommended by the General Conference on Weights and Measures to make the next edition of the SI understandable by a diverse readership without compromising scientific rigor.