[02.05.2008 first posted on silicon republic]
It is envisaged that 20pc of jobs in the ICT sector will require digital media training by 2012. RTÉ director general Cathal Goan has warned that there is a clear need to develop and merge skills in development, entrepreneurship and technology for the digital media sector.

“There is a clear need now to develop and merge skills in content development, entrepreneurship and technology for digital media,” Goan said, and this must be informed by contemporary digital media expertise and practice.
“The creative merging of each of – what have been until now – separate disciplinary approaches to digital content production is revolutionising broadcasting.
“There is a significant opportunity now to explore new methods of storytelling in the digital age and in reaching and creating new audiences,” Goan added.
Goan’s assertion comes as Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) is about to close admissions for an innovative new master’s in digital media it is launching.
According to Helen Doherty, programme coordinator at IADT, the digital media sector encompasses areas as diverse as broadcasting, web, animation, games and publishing.
She said it is a major employer of graduates in Ireland through companies such as Google, alongside broadcasters, film production houses and games developers.
“Searching the web with Google for RTÉ on an iPhone or similar will be a commonplace reality. Different media that were separate are now merging and their distribution through global networks have created a new digital media landscape.
“Here is an opportunity to create new communication formats, to be entrepreneurial and develop these technologies to their potential. The digital media sector is a major priority for the Irish economy– that’s why our Government and others are pouring resources into this rapidly growing sector, which needs highly skilled graduates to develop its creative indigenous companies,” said Helen Doherty, programme co-ordinator, IADT
Admissions for the new MA/MSc in Digital Media close next Friday, 9 May at IADT’s admissions office.
The two-year programme consists of a postgraduate diploma followed by the master’s in the second year. The course, which has been designed to integrate practice with theory, will include digital media for broadcast and digital media for mobile.
The recently opened Media Cube on the IADT campus is the only third-level business incubation unit dedicated to the digital media industry.
Neil Leyden, chairman of the Digital Media Forum, said his organisation supported the development of the MA/MSc in Digital Media, both financially (through the Accel Initiative) and through input from member companies.
“It is vitally important for the digital media industry – an industry which will be worth €1.5tr euro in 2009 – that third-level institutes in Ireland are turning out postgraduates who understand the business realities of digital media, whether they are from a creative, technical or business background.
“IADT’s campus has all the necessary expertise. Also, we want to encourage employees to avail of the part-time aspect of the programme with a view to setting up their own companies or helping develop products and services within their existing companies.
“The Digital Media opportunity is just so big – effectively all you need is a computer, a broadband connection and the necessary skills and you can open up your shop to a worldwide audience,” Leyden added.
By John Kennedy