Help us to build the information society

The BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, has this week announced its aspiration to enable the information society. I would like to explain what we mean by that, why it matters, and why we clearly cannot do it alone.

As the leading professional body for the IT industry, we need to build the knowledge, skills and capabilities of IT professionals. But we also need to connect these attributes to the real problems we face. Harnessing the power of information is going to be instrumental in achieving better financial governance, combating climate change and even in addressing global poverty. We need to put information and IT professionals at the centre of our thinking and our actions on these questions.

In one sense this vision is not new for the BCS ­ it is merely a revitalisation of our original charitable purpose. But in practice it is transformative. We have distilled the immense challenge of enabling the information society down to five goals for the new BCS.

Our first priority will be to build a fully integrated IT education system. This means not just joining up school education and higher education, but forging better links and collaborations with the IT industry. It also means ensuring that IT, as practised, delivers lasting transformation for society.

The energy for this broad educational effort will come through the new BCS Academy of Computing, which will involve all those with a vested interest in IT knowledge, and become a hub for practical and focused collaboration.

Our second area of focus is to support rewarding career development paths for all IT professionals. We cannot become an effective information society if we do not harness the skills of its leading advocates. We will continue to drive the professionalisation of our sector, creating new paths for specialists, while ensuring that those who reach the pinnacle of the profession have the broader insights they need. We are updating the way we assess for Chartered status to provide more recognition for practitioners and greater transparency for employers.

Our third goal is to better inform public policy on the role and social contribution of IT. The institute’s historic work in areas such as data guardianship and health informatics has been widely admired and influential in improving the social impact of IT. In future, though, we will go further to directly support skills needs around key priorities.

Fourth, we must empower citizens to gain more value from IT. Rolling out broadband is crucial, but providing data access should not be confused with digital inclusion. Citizens need both the skills and the confidence to use information once it is at their fingertips. We will be investing in wider public engagement to help them become effective, informed citizens.

Finally, we need to go further in championing the prestige and relevance of the global IT profession. The BCS is forging alliances with a variety of international bodies, which will give us greater influence and reach. If we are to become a truly global profession, we need the connectivity and cohesion to act like one.

The BCS can offer the forums, qualifications, policies and services to support the information society, but only our members can enable it. Which is why we must become, first and foremost, a world-class professional body. Our new logo and web site are symbols of our determination to do just that.

David Clarke is chief executive of the BCS