Crossing the Chasm.

While the discipline of computing may be the mother of all these specialties in information technologies, it is not the matriarch. Many IT professionals do not want to be identified as computing technologists, computing does not speak for them. The author explores this further in this article. It is an irony that the computing discipline, which gave birth to the IT profession, is not the driving force in the profession. Computing technologists are the inventors and visionaries, but the field is being driven by the large numbers of pragmatists who are users of the field and include many powerful business, civic, government, and industry leaders. The chasm between scientists and citizens who live and work with technology extends much further than computing. Science journalist Takashi Tachibana says that the chasm between technologists and non-technologists widened during the 20th century into a gulf. Unless technologists can find ways to communicate effectively with multitudes, the basic research enterprise feeding technological development will dry up and the average person will be unable to make well-grounded assessments about technology. INSET: Further Reading..