Skill Complexity and Integration for the Digital Economy
Submitted by kinwood 2010–07–14 08:33:38 EDT
Theme(s): Building Digital Skills
Submission
Skill Complexity and Integration for the Digital Economy
Kris Inwood,
Professor of Economics and History,
Director of the Historical Data Research Laboratory,
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies (interim CME),
University of Guelph
The Historical Data Research Laboratory at the University of Guelph since 2003 has engaged in the construction and analysis of data that inform policy and the interpretation of Canadian experience in long–term and international perspective. Both the construction and interpretation of data fall within the framework addressed by the digital economy consultation. The work has been funded by the federal and provincial governments, non–governmental organizations and Canadians corporations, and by foreign governments and companies. Roughly fifteen people have been employed continuously since the opening of the Laboratory to enrich the country's digital resources and to improve understanding of Canadian society and economy through digital–based analysis.
My comment for this consultation concerns the human resources needed to make this contribution. Some of our work requires relatively sophisticated computing science skills. For other tasks on the same project we need careful textual analysis of the kind originating in the traditional humanities. The analytical skills to support research with our data range from software engineering to digital humanities, from qualitative methodology to quantitative techniques common to the social sciences.
The great range of conceptual frameworks and methodological expertise needed for the work is our biggest challenge. We need employees with sophisticated digital expertise in computing science, engineering and quantitative analysis, but those same people require knowledge of a qualitative nature, often drawn from the humanities. Purely digital expertise is not good enough. The typical computing science or engineering will not meet our needed. We require an integration of digital skills with other kinds of expertise.
Many corners of the digital economy share this complexity. Developing highly qualified personnel (HQP) for this arena is not simply a matter of training more engineers, computer scientists and software developers. Rather, the technical experts need to be familiar with a wider range of methodology and research problematic, just as humanities and social science–based personnel require some advanced digital skills of a relatively sophisticated nature.
The human resources challenge for the digital economy, therefore, involve a complex integration of diverse skills rather than technical and technological expertise alone. For the most part our universities are not graduating people with the appropriate skill repertoire, and government granting councils do not yet support research much less HQP development with the appropriate complexity. This is the most pressing challenge to skill development for the new digital economy in Canada.
Suggested URL: Historical Data Research Laboratory
