Market research firm Gartner has come out with a report suggesting that:
As individuals and organizations progress in their adoption and leverage of the Web, new work streams and needs will arise, resulting in companies utilizing social sciences to fill next-generation technology jobs.
Now there's an IT career path we haven't heard much about. Here's how Gartner breaks it down:
Web User Experience Roles
Key roles are rapidly evolving in three areas of user experience: user interface designers focused on enabling users to work stand-alone or to self-serve without assistance; virtual-assistant designers who create Web beings that replicate the actions of a human being in providing agent services on the Web; and interaction directors who produce Web conversations among multiple people or between people and Web beings in a structured Web environment.
Behavioral Analysis Roles
Some key roles that will interpret and leverage human behavior are Web psychologists who are becoming increasingly important to product development and marketing, community designers who are responsible for architecting organization-owned communities, and Web and social network miners and analysts who focus on discovering, understanding and exploiting the social and behavioral dynamics of Web communities.
Information Specialists
Their objectives range from providing the history of content or information to spotting fraudulent or modified images, audio and texts. Information anthropologists may therefore contribute to legal analysis or to processes where intellectual property or information quality and integrity are at risk.
Digital Lifestyle Experts
These experts will aid individuals and groups (for example, executive management, technology or marketing teams) to become more digitally aware, connected, effective, and sophisticated. A digital lifestyle expert may also assist or stand in for their clients in their Web endeavors - defining target digital profiles, building out a digital image or personal brand - as well as helping wired users achieve the digital status they aspire to. As such, key roles will include digital persona consultants and personal brand advisers.
The full report (for a mere $495) is available here.
-- Don Willmott