Computerworld - December 19, 2011

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INTERNET IDENTITY

Web ‘Handles’ Vs. Phone Numbers

FOTOLIA / MAREK

IT CAREERS

IT Jobs Up, Skilled Immigrants Act Stalls

A U. S. GOVERNMEN T report showing that hiring is up had some good news for IT workers: The tech industry added about 7,100 jobs in November, an increase of 0.17% from the previous month.

At the same time, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) moved to block legislation that would eliminate per-country caps on employer-sponsored green cards.

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data analyzed by the industry group TechServe Alliance, the overall employment number for the tech industry reached almost 4.068 million last month, representing a year-over-year gain of 2.1%. The total is close to the all-time high of 4.088 million reached in June 2008, according to TechServe.

IT pay might be seeing gains as well, though
the data supporting that is more anecdotal.

Forget phone numbers and email addresses; the era of the Internet “handle” is emerging.

Instead of having to remember someone’s phone number or email address, in just a few years we might be able to find an individual over the Internet via his or her handle, or nickname.

This would be similar to the way handles are used in instant messaging or on Skype, except that the handle would apply to all modes of getting in touch.

“People will no longer seek each
other’s phone numbers or email
address[es] when establishing
personal or working relationships,”
wrote Gartner analyst Adib Ghubril
in a report on mobile predictions
for 2012 and beyond. “Instead,
they will ask each other, ‘ What’s
your handle?’ ”
Handles could have a huge ad-
vantage, Ghubril said. They may
remain unchanged for life, or at
least for a long time.

To use the handle format, an indi-
vidual would need a personal Web
page that could be accessed via his
or her handle. On that Web page,
the user would store phone num-
bers and email
addresses, mak-
ing sure to keep
them up to date.