Infobroker - an Emerging Profession of Informing Mediators?

Abstract

In this paper we share the interim results of an on-going research on the emerging profession "broker of information" (infobroker) in today's Information Society. The infobroker concept is developed and the required knowledge and skills for the infobroker successful professional performance are identified. The research findings are based on an extensive investigation and analysis of existing forms of information brokering and their evolvement and reshaping in the context of the rapid development of computer-based information and communication technologies, and Internet, in particular. The research reported here is limited to the market of information services in Bulgaria - a small, developing, non-English speaking country. The research objectives were to define the critical factors for professional success, including required knowledge, skills, and professional attitude, and to specify the job perspectives for an infobroker. Our further research aims at developing of a curriculum model for training infobrokers. We have found that in the last ten years the requirements for the infobrokers have changed significantly in two areas: professional attitude and computing skills. Changes were observed also in the requirements for foreign languages skills and narrow professional specialization. The research findings show that the infobroker profession nowadays differs significantly from the one in the pre-Internet era and we argue that it has to be considered a new emerging profession.