I have been writing about the need for media engineers since 2005 -- these are people who are part journalist and part software engineer. It seems that it is catching on.

Ryan Tate on Valleywag put together a nice list of people that could easily be called 'media engineers' such as:

Nick Bilton, New York Times: He might be lead blogger on Bits, the Times tech blog, but Bilton has also worked as a user interface specialist and hardware hacker in the Times R&D lab, helping to develop the TimesReader. He also knows his way around a C compiler.

Hack to Hacker: Rise of the Journalist-Programmer

But there is still a long way to go. I know journalists that don't know how to upload a photo. Few can spell well or type with more than two fingers. It's about time they learned a few new skills...

I'm a member of an interesting group 'Hacks and Hackers - where journalism and technology meet.' You can find more information here. It was recently set up by Burt Herman, a veteran journalist, and we've spoken on this topic many times.

I've also been writing about the need for 'media architects.' These are media engineers that help set up media infrastructure for publishers. And now that every company is a media company, every company needs a media architect . . . and some media engineers.

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Please see:

The coming era of the media engineer and media entrepreneur

Move Over Software Engineers It's The Era Of Media Engineers

Journalism Schools Wake Up To Need For Media Engineers

More here.