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If you are perplexed and confused by ICT, you are not alone,
and that is not terribly surprising. Don’t feel bad about it.
It’s not your fault. Our society has done a poor job of
providing and communicating coherent structure around
information and communications technologies.
There are many different and inter-related information and
communications technologies, and they are often complex,
technical and confusing. They have emerged from different
sources at different times. There are many proprietary or
differing terms and acronyms for things that may or may not be
all that different. They emerge and evolve through rapid
technological changes, and, to further complicate things,
their marketing descriptions and names often change through
business acquisitions and attempts at differentiation. They
are incredibly pervasive, used by most people, organizations
and industries – often in different ways. Frequently, people
make up their own names for things, including technologies,
applications of technologies, ICT business practices, job
titles and job descriptions. Confusion and disorientation
about ICT is widely and naturally experienced by students,
users, counselors, managers, employees, employers, academics,
policymakers, investors, scientists and others.
 This
simple ICT framework attempts to use plain language to help
people with all kinds of backgrounds and needs make sense of
this large, confusing field and be able to communicate simply
and effectively, at a high level, about ICT.
Information and Communications Technologies:
Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) is simply an
umbrella or catch-all term to encompass everything related to
computing, software, information, networking and
communications technologies. If it has or uses software
controlled electronic circuitry or is a technology that helps
people or devices communicate with each other, it’s ICT.
 That
doesn’t mean existing ICT related terms go away. ICT doesn’t
replace computer hardware or software, information technology,
information sciences, computer science, telecommunications or
any other existing terms. However, all of these fields or
terms are related, and at a high level, we should be aware of
how they are inter-related, inter-dependent, co-evolving and
converging. At a high level, we need to be able to fit these
various pieces together and understand what they are, what
they do and how they are used.
ICT Industries:
There are large and strategically important industries that
develop ICT related technologies, products and services. Among
them are industries that:
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produce and support computing/communication hardware,
peripherals and components;
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produce and support computing/communication software,
operating systems and applications;
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deploy, maintain and manage communication and IT
infrastructure and services; and
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provide services and support for other industries in their
application and use of ICT.
ICT industries provide outstanding benefits to our economies
and excellent jobs. In the information and knowledge economies
of the 21st century, these industries have tremendous
strategic importance, because they provide solutions that
empower and enable all kinds of individuals and organizations
to be able to do the things they do, productively and
efficiently.
 Non-ICT
Industries:
Today, however, most organizations and individuals make
productive use of ICT in their lives and enterprises. ICT
provides productivity tools, communications media, business
process and other management tools, efficient research tools,
recordkeeping, accounting, support and sales systems. People
and organizations increasingly learn about each other and
interact via ICT. We use ICT to reach and serve customers and
to do business with suppliers. ICT is used by all kinds of
people, organizations and employers. It’s how they realize
many of their productivity gains and efficiencies. It’s the
source of many strategic advantages. For those reasons and
others, ICT knowledge and skills are required in all kinds of
industries and organizations, and high quality, well-paid ICT
jobs exist in most industries and organizations. In fact, ICT
Workforce employment is greater outside of ICT industries than
within them.
Levels of ICT Expertise:
There are some very basic levels of expertise and roles with
ICT. The lines between them are often fuzzy, and people
primarily in one area may have roles in others.
 ICT
Creators:
At the top is the level of theoretical experts, the R&D
scientists, the wizards who develop the academic and
theoretical science and applications of that science that
develop and advance ICT fields, industries, products and
services. These are engineers, scientists and experts. Most
often, they have advanced degrees. They may work in academic
institutions or the research and development organizations of
ICT or non-ICT industry companies. Sometimes, these are
self-taught people who learn through other channels, tinkering
or learning from others in the field. Community colleges
develop students for these roles primarily by preparing them
for cost-effective transfer to 4 year colleges and
universities.
ICT Enablers:
The middle layer consists of applied technologists, those who
understand existing ICT technologies and their implementations
well enough to deploy, maintain, manage and support them in
the real world. These are technicians, managers, analysts,
specialists, installers and administrators. They are employed
in the IT operations of all kinds of organizations - in every
industry – in addition to companies in ICT related industries.
They develop an understanding of existing technologies and put
them to use for the benefit of their organizations and users.
They enable and support the use of ICT by ICT Users. They
deploy ICT infrastructure and enterprise systems and make sure
they are available and functioning for others. Community
colleges have a variety of programs to develop the knowledge
and skill sets for this dimension. Some involve very specific
and narrow training on specific technologies, equipment,
systems or software. Some involve more comprehensive and broad
knowledge and skill sets for broader roles. Some are academic
programs, and some are Career Technical Education (CTE)
programs. Often, community colleges serve graduates of 4-year
colleges and universities who want to develop or keep up with
applied technology knowledge and skill sets, because they are
in such demand in the workplace.
ICT Users:
These days, most people are ICT users. Students use ICT to get
their assignments, conduct research, complete work, present
work, interact with educational systems, communicate with
teachers, and stay in touch with family and friends. People
throughout the workforce, in all kinds of industries, use ICT
to interact with organizational and business systems, get
their work done, do research and communicate with fellow
employees, peers, customers, suppliers and business partners.
Citizens increasingly use ICT for entertainment, communicating
with family and friends, managing family business, and
learning about and interacting with government services. To
effectively be a part of society and academic and work worlds
in the 21st century, most people need knowledge and competency
with information and communication technologies, no matter
what their field or industry is. This is sometimes called
“digital literacy.” Community colleges play a large role in
developing ICT User competencies and digital literacy, to
enable the success of students and citizens throughout
society.
ICT Helpers:
The line between ICT Users and ICT Enablers represents
workplace roles for people who help ICT Users be ICT Users.
They understand the systems ICT Users use very well, and they
help Users learn to use those systems, answer questions about
them and help resolve Users’ problems. These “Help Desk” and
ICT Support roles are often entry level positions. Sometimes
they are in Call Centers specializing in providing support.
Sometimes they are part of the IT operations of enterprises.
Community colleges help students prepare for these roles.
ICT Spreaders:
The line between ICT Creators and ICT Enablers represents
workplace roles for people who help spread ICT innovations by
getting people to adopt what ICT Creators create. They get the
word out. They have roles in public relations, marketing,
sales, sales engineering, and product and service management.
They serve both business markets, where their customers are IT
operations of all kinds of businesses in every industry, and
consumer markets, where their customers are ICT Users, all
kinds of people everywhere. They have good people skills. They
understand technologies, but they specialize in helping people
understand ICT innovations and why they should use them. They
get people to pay money for them, to fund future ICT
innovation. They help people design and implement solutions to
their problems that ICT innovations can help solve. Community
colleges help prepare students for many of these roles.
 Unique
Industry Environments:
There are knowledge and skill sets that generally apply to
each layer of the pyramid above, and academic and workforce
development programs provide a variety of educational and
training services to help people develop those knowledge and
skills sets. They are generally transferable across
industries. However, ICT is in every industry, and there are
also peculiarities with how ICT is developed and used in
specific industries. Imagine the pyramid above as a cone or
pie. Each industry slices into that pie and adapts and infuses
it with specialized equipment, software, applications and
services that meet the unique needs of its operating and
regulatory environments, scientific field, user, supplier and
customer characteristics, products and services. Biotech
companies for example use specialized ICT devices to sample
and test biological specimens and DNA. They generate and
manage large databases and have specialized analytical and
reporting tools. They have special operating and regulatory
requirements, like keeping samples clean and uninfected and
securing biologically active agents and information. Banking
and financial services firms have very important information
security requirements that are both business critical and
legal requirements – and custom solutions like electronic
trading systems. Healthcare organizations have to secure
patient information and meet various recordkeeping
requirements. While the requirements, designs and applications
in industries vary, the fundamentals of ICT remain the same
across industries.
Technology Migration:
Additionally, there is an evolution or migration with
information and communication technologies. Initially,
technologies are in the realm of a new innovation, something
grappled with in R&D efforts and a product of ICT Creators.
ICT Spreaders get the word out about that innovation, and
people start using it. Initially, those are early adopters and
risk takers, relatively sophisticated customers who become
sophisticated and specialized Users of that technology.
Historically, those early adopters were often in IT operations
of businesses, people in the ICT Enabler domain. (Now, those
are often consumer Users.) Iteratively, those innovations are
improved and made easier to adopt and use. Eventually, they
are adopted by less sophisticated people, ICT Users, who are
supported by ICT Helpers. Finally, many of these technologies
become accessible to everyone. As a result, what is initially
a very specialized technology, accessible only to very
knowledgeable specialists, becomes available to common people.
This can create challenges for labor market analysts trying to
classify workforce positions and skills. For example,
initially printing was done by hand using pen and paper.
Later, it was done with physical type and hand work by people
whose job that was. ICT Creators developed an ability to
create and print documents digitally. At first, this was mind-blowingly
difficult, and only very special Creators could do it.
Eventually, Creators improved those wordprocessing and desktop
publishing solutions and made them more accessible. ICT
Spreaders then publicized, marketed and sold those solutions,
initially to businesses that developed specialized staff to
work with those technologies, because there were advantages to
them to integrate these technical solutions and build
activities around them. There were specialized jobs for
“Wordprocessors” and “Desktop Publishers,” and wordprocessing
and desktop publishing solutions were expensive and not widely
available. Eventually, Creators improved those solutions and
made them easier to work with and cheaper, and they became
accessible and affordable to all kinds of people, ICT Users.
ICT Helpers support Users of wordprocessing and desktop
publishing systems, and the benefits of those systems are
widely available.
Initially, the jobs around wordprocessing and desktop
publishing technologies were Creator roles like Scientist and
Engineer. As the technologies were adopted by ICT Enablers,
there were specialized occupations for Wordprocessors and
Desktop Publishers tracked by labor market analysts. Now,
there are fewer jobs for Wordprocessors and Desktop
Publishers. However, that doesn’t mean that wordprocessing and
desktop publishing are no longer important or necessary for
educational institutions to teach. It means that those
technologies are now accessible to ICT Users and should be
taught as part of Digital Literacy. We now expect that almost
everyone in the workforce should be able to use wordprocessing
and desktop publishing technologies.
The ICT Pyramid:
This ICT Pyramid graphic is a tool for facilitating
communication between all kinds of knowledgeable and
non-knowledgeable stakeholders about information and
communication technologies (ICT) and the various roles of
people who engage with them. Because ICT fields move so fast,
people have such differing understandings about them, and the
jargon creates such confusion, it is helpful to have a simple
tool with which to structure constructive communication about
ICT. Hopefully, this is useful. MPICT has had great success
using this tool to structure conversations and place specific
technologies, problems, roles, programs and opinions.
Universal General Education and Experience:
No matter the industry or organization, employees need a good
general education and the benefits from experiences doing real
things in the real world to really add value. Business and
industry consistently demands of all employees: an ability to
communicate effectively, diverse problem definition and
problem solving skills, an ability to work well in diverse
groups, an understanding of social, cultural and business
contexts, motivation, an ability to find information and
resources, time management skills, analytical abilities, and
social skills. In preparing to work in the IT operations of
businesses, it is also important to understand how those
departments typically organize themselves, what their
workflows are and how they manage their efforts. Academic
programs and students who do not address these important needs
will be less successful than those who do.
Conclusion:
Today, everybody needs ICT User knowledge and skills, every
community college should provide and require them, and we
should have widespread credentials that certify digital
literacy. With that, students are better prepared for academic
and workplace success, in any field.
Community colleges can prepare Students for ICT Workforce
employment:
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in good entry level jobs as ICT Helpers, supporting and
assisting other ICT Users,
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in more specialized ICT Enabler roles, deploying,
maintaining, monitoring and supporting ICT infrastructure
and enterprise systems, and evolving into roles managing
complex ICT systems and business operations, and
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in good ICT Spreader roles, marketing, sales and sales
engineering jobs that require some technical knowledge but a
lot of people skills.
Community colleges have a variety of programs to cost
effectively prepare people for these roles. Those programs are
appropriate for new students, as well as for graduates of 4
year colleges and universities and working professionals.
For academics and those with strong theoretical foundations
and interests, there are R&D scientist and engineering
positions, where technologies are developed and advanced. Most
of these require advanced degrees, but community colleges can
help you on that path through affordable programs and transfer
pathways into 4 year colleges and universities.
No matter what, it’s important to have good common sense,
reasoning and research capacity, social and interpersonal
skills, problem solving abilities, real world experiences and
communication skills.
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