Interviews

INTERVIEWS by STEPHEN IBARAKI, FCIPS, I.S.P., ITCP/IP3P, MVP, DF/NPA, CNP, FGITCA.

Stephen Conducts interviews with luminaries of the ICT Industry.

This month’s featured interview is with Tetsuro Kakeshita, associate professor of computer science at Saga University, Japan. Professor Kakeshita discusses his interest quantitative analysis of ICT education and ICT certification, work in accreditation with the Japan Accreditation Board in Engineering Education (JABEE), and the challenges of developing a professional community in the IT domain as well as raising the social position of IT professionals, among other topics. Tetsuro is a member of IPSJ, who are in turn a member of IFIP IP3.

These are extracts from a selection of Stephen’s latest interviews expressing support for Professionalism in ICT.

AMD VP Roy Taylor is very successful in the West and provides a strong YES support for professionalism.

Roy brings a long history of highly successful innovation, entrepreneurship and strong leadership with AMD, Rightware, NVIDIA; as founder of Addtron working with semiconductor leaders such as Aureal, IBM Microelectronics, NEC, Nexgen. Read more.

Link to CIPS Connection http://multibriefs.com/briefs/cips/CIPS021215.php

 

From the World CIO Forum, there are four interviews now published. The interviews appear with social media, media, industry, IP3, CCIOU (in China), IFIP societies such as CIPS and here with the ACM:

See ACM Interviews: http://learning.acm.org/multimedia.cfm  [select PODCASTS]

Professor and past CIO, Carlos Juiz  “Of course, part of my message for graduate and undergraduate students at University is that they should fight for this recognition.”

CEO Wladimiro Bedin  “….Yes I agree, but of course you should allow exceptions for clearly brilliant people without high formal education….”

Founder of CIONET (with 4500 CIOs) Hendrik Deckers  “….I think that the more practical codes, credentials and systems that are put in place the better it is. At the same time computing is a field that is changing so fast and so quickly these systems should be flexible enough so they are not limiting the immense creativity I would say that triumphs this exciting domain of computing and IT in general….

Maarten Hillenaar, past CIO Central Dutch Government; Director, Central Government IT Policy Department Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations nominated for European CIO of the Year, “….I think it’s key to every development that we are going to face so making the IT profession something that really counts is a very important thing to do. So I really second that idea….”

 

Other recent discussions with industry leaders on professionalism or regarding computing should be a recognized profession on par with accounting, medicine and law with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, personal responsibility, public accountability, quality assurance and recognized credentials:

Ian Hamilton, CTO Signiant, Emmy Award Winning International Top-Ranking Serial Entrepreneur for Technical Innovation “… I also like to think that there is as much art as there is science in creating an elegant – beautiful through its simplicity – software solution to a complex problem, but at the same time I believe that the core duty of a software developer is to behave as a professional.”

 

Houlin Zhao, 2015 Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

When asked “how might ITU promote, within its many activities, professionalism in the practice of ICT?”, he replied “….In order to reach the maturity of our technologies and also reach the maturity status of our market we really need our experts, engineers and teaching meccas to show their maximum proficiency and professional skills. It’s quite important for us to look at this issue and try to work with our members to increase those skills and proficiencies….”

Scott Palmer Founder of Standards for your Enterprise (S4E), a consortium for academics, business operations and IT professionals chartered to gather and share unbiased information about business class standards – “Yes. I fully support what IFIP/IP3 is promoting around the globe. Whereas accounting (finances), medicine (health well-being) and law (rights & protection) are well-established professions, so too should computing. If you think about the fact computing really affects almost every aspect of modern life, why shouldn’t there be established professional criteria for computing? It is time that a globally created set of criteria be collaboratively developed for the IT profession to follow.”

David Cheng, Top–Ranking Pioneering Chairman, Software Developer, and World Innovation Technology Leader and Entrepreneur – “….The world is changing quickly and it’s changing quickly because of the advancement in technology….We have standards and codes of ethics for people who affect our lives and who can make decisions that can affect our lives (like doctors and lawyers and accountants), but if you look at the IT profession they are indeed changing our lives, so yes I think there should be some sort of code of ethics and accountability that needs to be considered….In order for our growth to continuously expand we want to make sure that the creativity is encouraged and continues to be encouraged, but at the same time we need to be accountable for our actions….”

Elim Kay, Top Pioneering Innovator, Young Entrepreneur, International Board Director, Notable C-level Executive – “….The simple answer is yes and the second answer is absolutely….We are living in the information age so therefore information technology and other technology-related professions should be recognized and relevant in this information age….”

Chris Labrador, Director Concierge Service NRC-IRAP; World-Renowned Top-Ranking Executive in Business Innovation, Entrepreneurship and ICT – “….I think there are things other than simply computing knowledge that’s required and that’s the ethical side that pertains to what we do (the power that we have from a computing perspective), and in general I think that certification is probably a good thing, but it has to be done in a responsible way, not just necessarily saying that all people must be certified now but fundamentally that we have to look at how we ensure that the individuals that are getting trained meet the criteria that we’ve established and maintain that level of standard going forward….”

Nicole Washington, Renowned Serial Entrepreneur, Innovator, Executive, Management Consultants – “….Whether or not we want to make it that officially, it is unofficially. The fact of life is computing is a very important part of our world right now. We have so many things in the world of computing (the relationship to and the technology of sensors, where we have them in our phones, we have things that can monitor our vitals) and it affects so many different aspects of our lives and that can come with a whole host of issues. You mentioned ethics – it’s very important that we have some ethics around what we do, particularly related to computing (just as we do to engineering, medicine or with law), because computing is a part of our lives in so many different ways and can affect a lot of different dimensions of our lives….”

Stephen Downes, World Renowned Research Officer, Human Computer Interaction, Information and Communication Technologies, National Research Council of Canada – “….Computing is a profession and I think there’s no question about it….Other aspects of computers are more or less like engineering and there’s the whole discipline of computer engineering – it’s more about international standards, ISO recognition, processes, methodologies and a bunch of things that is more like engineering than it is about being a doctor or being a lawyer. Things like information architecture are personal philosophy and should be thought of that way and partially a profession and should be thought of that way….I’m sort of agreeing that it is, but I’m sort of saying that it isn’t….”

The full interviews with these and other ICT luminaries can be found here