SIIA Information Industry Summit in NYC - 1/27/2009
Keynote from Marjorie Scardino, Pearson:
I arrived late and there were some issues in setting up the network, but I'm pasting my notes below:
Keynote about public education. TIMS Study – latest result – US students in 4th and 9th grade sci classes have stagnated when compared to the rest of the world. South Korea, Hong Kong, Scandinavia – we made some progress in math but not a lot. PISA study – same deal.
Invokes Obama unicorns and rainbows, and the fact that those of his gen can’t live w/o their blackberries.
Teenage communication – mostly electronic – text/phone/im – but we knew that.
Educational publishing – downloadable language lessons to iPod, semantic analysis, geotagging. “Personal web” – mobileMe – electrophoretic screens that roll up.
How to approach as a corporate citizen – “slay a lot of dragons”, such as…”You have to take a long-term view; innovation takes a long time.” “Sustained investment – innovation funding cannot be turned on and off like a faucet. Any public company will not find this easy. Shareholders don’t find this easy.” “Have customer interaction – release software early so customers can interact and help you refine it.” “Ideas come from everywhere – companies aren’t so great about getting serious about ideas that don’t come from the top. We asked someone from apple where do ideas come from here, and he said…”Steve”.”
“Inclusive and inquisitive culture. Pearson has a long history and now we have to change our history. Content is necessary but not sufficient for everything we do.”
Can’t predict trends in software, but know that jobs will be different, that employers will expect employees to do many different jobs over the course of their careers.
What I offer:
