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Guest Editors: Rafael Fernández Calvo and François Louis Nicolet Whole issue: [PDF: 43 pages; 512 KB] Cover page [JPG: 337 KB] by Antonio Crespo Foix, © ATI 2001 Other editions available:
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IT and Professionalism:
An Industry View [PDF: 2 pages, 133 KB]
Peter Morrogh
Abstract: Most organizations
are totally dependent on IT in order to run their businesess. However,
the basis for objective assessment of professionalism lacks many of the
identifying features of other professions. CEPIS is working on defining
a base level of knowledge that all professionals must have and higher levels
of knowledge that are specific to particular jobs.
Who Are We? [PDF:
4 pages, 139 KB]
Peter J. Denning
Abstract: This article
presents a critical analysis of the characteristics that makes that a certain
type of activity is considered a profession. These characteristics are
compared with the present situation in the field of the Information Technologies
to examine whether it meets the criteria for profession. The paper concludes
with a summary of the forces forming an IT profession.
Let's Design Everything
Again: Thoughts on Computing and Its Teaching [PDF:
9 pages, 169 KB]
Ricardo Baeza-Yates
Abstract: The aim
of this article is to give a personal view of our field; a critical and
constructive analysis of the current state of affairs and the implications
this has on education. Although this view is rooted in a local context,
most of the issues considered are also of relevance in a global context.
Can Universities Give
what Society Is Asking of Them? [PDF: 6 pages,
154 KB]
Rafael Camps Paré
Abstract: This article,
that takes Spain as a case study, sets out to describe the divorce that
exists between what universities offer and what society is demanding, and
describes how the new socioeconomic climate is dragging universities into
the realm of the “market” causing them to become oriented to “customer
satisfaction”. After showing how it is by no means clear that the non-university
occupational training will
be a success, the article
proposes that universities should readjust their focus more towards providing
the Informatics professional profiles that society needs.A divorce exists
between what universities offer and what society is demanding.
The Changed Professional
Model of the IT Project Manager: From the Design of Technical Solutions
to Social Mediation [PDF: 5 pages, 156 KB]
Beate Kuhnt and Andreas
Huber
Abstract: All workers
must prepare themselves for the ever faster rate of change in the global
economy and particularly in the IT industry. Acceleration is the magic
word: IT projects, which in former times took five years, must be executed
today in a year; more complex solutions must be created with less time
and scarcer resources. How does this acceleration affect project management?
How can social and organizational processes withstand technical developments?
And how does this trend affect IT project leaders’ qualification
requirements?
What Must a Training in
Information Technology Impart? [PDF: 2 pages,
131 KB]
Hans-Peter Hoidn
Abstract: After 30
years of working with computers – initially programming on punched cards
and now working as a consultant – two main characteristics of a successful
IT professional stand out: firstly a knowledge of basic concepts, and secondly
practical experience and social skills.
Computers will Enforce
Professionalisation [PDF: 3 pages,138 KB]
Torsten Rothenwaldt
Abstract: As an IT
specialist working in industry, the author has experienced a change in
the public perception of our profession: the specialist in bits and bytes
is now considered the driving force behind innovations, and the dearth
of skilled IT staff is seen as an obstacle to economic growth. What does
this external change mean for the profession? The author puts forward the
view that the current changes are further highlighting the absence of fundamental
characteristics of professionalisation.
The Future of Software
Engineering [PDF: 2 pages, 133 KB]
Karol Frühauf
Abstract: Three issues
stimulate my thoughts: the nature of software, the people creating software,
and the essential factors in the creation of products that contain software.
The Future of Informatics
as a Scientific Discipline [PDF: 2 pages,
133 KB]
Pedro G. Gonnet
Abstract: Informatics
is established since many years already in many universities as a scientific
discipline. It usually has its own building, is on equal foot with the
other faculties and has research and teaching like the other disciplines.
Nevertheless, informatics finds little or no acknowledgment as a science
outside the university, often even outside its own field. On a long term
this will lead to disastrous consequences for informatics as science and
application.
The Shortfall of Informatics
Professionals and the Legislation Regulating the Informatics Profession
in Spain [PDF: 4 pages, 147 KB]
Rafael Fernández
Calvo
Abstract: This article describes the shortfall situation concerning Informatics professionals in Europe and looks at the legislation regulating the legal practice of the Informatics profession in Spain by laws passed by the Autonomous Communities (regions) and its potential effects on this shortfall.
The aim of our survey and tutorial monographs is to convey our readers additional knowledge in their own professional speciality and an insight into other fields of informatics, so they can benefit from other professionals' experience and know-how. The papers we publish are in general about technical subjects. But this time, we propose to reflect about ourselves: Who are we? We asked people from very different "classes" within our discipline to give their personal view about us informaticians and our status in society. We have asked them to comment about the present and look into the future "… We have asked them to comment about the present, and look into the future, being fully aware that our profession is too wide and has too many facets to pretend that most of them, let alone all, can be covered in a single issue of a magazine like ours. We publish the views and opinions of professors, of professional societies' board members, of practitioners, and of a student. We do not expect you to agree with the very personal views of the authors &endash; indeed, we would appreciate if you felt provoked by some of the opinions expressed. And we welcome your feedback.
One of the characteristics of a profession is the existence of a professional association the raison d'être of which is to actively promote and encourage the formation of a genuine profession, built on a sound and objective base. In our profession, there is a need for objective assessment of professionalism, says Peter Morrogh, President of the European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS): Most organisations are totally dependent on IT in order to run their businesses and cannot afford to entrust their IT to people's care who lack the necessary knowledge and skills. CEPIS, with many of its member societies across Europe, is working on defining a base level of knowledge that all professional must have and higher levels of knowledge that are specific to particular professional jobs in industry. It links together not only the foundation knowledge that an individual must have but also vendor certification schemes, and third level education programmes. It will link into a continuous professional development framework.
Peter J. Denning, a past President of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), likewise observes that everyone has become dependent on IT professionals. "Who Are We?", the title of his paper could have been the cover title of the present issue. His view is the one of a university professor and former president of the largest professional association. He defines the criteria for a profession and analyses how well IT meets them. Denning's paper is from Communications of the ACM that has given its kind permission for republishing it.
Education is a key issue in a discipline like Informatics where frequent dramatic inventions and developments, both at the research and practical levels, are the norm. We have included two articles that cover this outstanding subject: from a global point of view Ricardo Baeza Yates gives a personal view of our field, providing a critical and constructive analysis of the current state of affairs and the implications this has on education, while Rafael Camps Parè, taking Spain as a case study, sets out to describe the divorce that exists between what universities offer and what society is demanding, and describes how the new socioeconomic climate is dragging universities into the realm of the "market" causing them to become oriented to "customer satisfaction".
Kuhnt and Huber note that many IT projects fail because there are too many project leaders whose training has been very mechanistic-artisanal. They postulate that project leaders need to be trained in the so-called soft competence. We hope that the authors imply that IT project leaders are trained informaticians, for, in practice, we meet too many leaders of IT projects which have but a very rudimentary or no informatics education at all. The skills claimed by the authors can be only complementary to a solid background in informatics.
Hans-Peter Hoidn is a practitioner with an academic background. His experience is that IT training must convey the basic concepts as well as reinforce skills by providing the opportunity to learn an appropriate craft. Theoretical training does not impart experience, and a training that is primarily practical in content does not adequately promote the understanding of concepts. A training in IT must impart social skills. Their lack is often responsible for the failure of projects.
Institutionally, IT is firmly established as a profession, but on an intellectual level, the present dynamics are having an antiprofessionalising effect, because due to the shortage of skilled staff, fewer and fewer computer solutions are being developed by trained specialists. This is the observation of Torsten Rothenwald, an industry informatician, in his provocative paper. He reflects on the situation of the industry IT professional.
Karol Frühauf postulates "Software is the future currency of the world" in order to reflect about the economic role of software, the required qualities of software, the required qualifications of software developers, and design principles. His view is that of the experienced practitioner with a philosophic vein.
Rafael Fernández Calvo writes about the shortfall of Informatics professionals in Europe and looks at the legislation regulating the legal practice of the Informatics profession in Spain by laws passed by the Autonomous Communities (regions) and its potential effects, openly negative in some cases, on this shortfall.
We also asked one who is preparing his professional future to convey his view about the future of our profession. Informatics student Pedro Gonnet formulates very straightforwardly his concerns about the position of computer scientists, the attitude of industry, and the future of computer science education in Universities.
François Louis Nicolet is editor of Informatik/Informatique, the professional magazine of the Swiss informatics societies, Co-Editor of Upgrade, and vice president of CEPIS. He studied physics, then met his first computer, a CDC 6600, at CERN in 1966. Phases of his professional life have included operating systems, compiler development, process control and real time systems &endash; from punched cards to Internet. His interests focused on software quality and reliability. He has been a founding member, and later chairman, of the Swiss Chapter of the ACM, and a founding member of the Swiss Informaticians Society (SI). <nicolet@acm.org>
| Last updated on September 3, 2001 | by Rafael Fernández Calvo and François Louis Nicolet |
| <rfcalvo@ati.es> |
