Schools Are Creating Multimedia Courses and Even Degrees as Students Seek to . . . : Enter the Age of Information

Like others who have read headlines trumpeting the promise of telecommunications, Edmond Sanctis thought it would be nice to have a road map to job prospects along the information highway.

But, for all the predictions that the convergence of computers, telephones and television will generate more than a million new jobs over the next decade, Sanctis could find little advice to steer him in the right direction.

So, a few years ago, the former Columbia University student teamed with colleagues and economics professor Eli M. Noam to start one of the first graduate programs in the nation aimed at training students for the Information Age. Columbia’s Institute for Tele-Information offers an MBA in the management of information, communication and media resources.

“Technology-wise, I’ve always been computer-literate, but I’ve never had a sense of what the potential of the information highway is,” said Sanctis, who, after graduating last year, became a management associate at NBC specializing in developing new media. Sanctis said Columbia’s program helped him see “that there is this huge potential unexplored territory.”

Stoked by the spread of cable TV, personal computers and a seemingly infinite number of new wireless communications devices, more and more Americans are becoming intrigued by the idea of careers in telecommunications. And a growing number of schools--including Columbia, UCLA, USC and San Francisco State University--are responding with special courses and new programs.

Just this summer, USC’s Annenberg School of Communications reorganized itself to offer better background instruction in computers and telecommunications, interim dean Gerald Davison said.

The school now draws on resources in its film and engineering departments to train students in new communications technology. In addition, USC has expanded its library resources to allow students to surf the global computer network known as the Internet.

“It was long overdue,” Davison said, adding that the collaboration among academic departments “is consistent with the convergence going on” in the telecommunications industry.

But potential job-seekers are finding that the rapid pace of technological development is creating uncertainty and turmoil rather than career insight.

“At this point, there’s a lot of excitement about the information highway but also a lot of unknowns about how it will develop,” said Michael Wirth, chairman of the department of mass communications at the University of Denver.

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Indeed, the new jobs may not show up for a while, as the telecommunications industry undergoes consolidation prompted by deregulation and heightened competition.

Nevertheless, experts say many new jobs will emerge eventually, particularly in marketing telecommunications services and in creating the programming that will be needed for the expanding number of cable channels and ever more challenging computer games.

President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers recently forecast that private-sector employment in telecommunications and information could rise by as much as 1.4 million jobs by 2003, though that projection is at odds with Labor Department estimates that see communications employment shrinking over the next decade.

The people who have the best crack at whatever jobs emerge, experts say, are those who are technically savvy and can reach out to local markets to explain how consumers can apply or benefit from new technology. Demand is already growing for tech support personnel who can field queries about computer hardware and software operation, industry officials say.

Similarly, there will be demand for creative people who can blend disparate media such as film, text, animation and graphics into entertaining or informative multimedia packages.

“I don’t think I can give people a lot of comfort in saying ‘Here’s the magic formula for success,’ ” said Stewart Personick, vice president for information networking research at Bellcore, the research arm of the regional Bell telephone companies.

“But if I were a student trying to prepare for a career in telecommunications, I would develop competencies for things that involved programming,” he said. “Telecommunications will be a big industry, and I think you can (best) be part of it by being a creator of multimedia--a creator of information.”

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Few schools offer full-time degree programs in multimedia, but a growing number of continuing and adult education programs, including one at San Francisco State, have been started recently.

Drawing from experts such as Buzz Hays, former director of Lucas Films’ THX division, San Francisco State’s multimedia program trains students in Information Age technology, exposing them to everything from the Internet to electronic media production.

“It’s really important that people get this knowledge now, because many careers will involve aspects of the interactive digital world,” said Beth Rogozinski, development coordinator of the multimedia program.

Digital Opportunities

Visionaries are putting a lot of stock in the information superhighway. But the communication and computing industries will need to change in unforseen ways if they are to throw off practical employment opportunities. Only the motion picture business is projected to show job gains over the next decade. Jobs in thousands:

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Researched by ADAM S. BAUMAN / Los Angeles Times