Earlier this semester, Ms. Ellen East came to The University of Alabama for a lecture series through the business school. She's a graduate of UA, and she currently serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer for Time Warner Cable, Inc. Her lecture focused on the convergence of technology over the past century, and she discussed the future of the cable/media industry. As a technophile, I loved the lecture!
After the lecture, we talked and found a common love for TED.com. I mentioned a TED video and casually asked if she had heard of TED.com, thinking that I had another opportunity to share my "TED head" views with another person. She laughed and said that not only did she KNOW about TED.com, but she attended the official 2011 TED conference.
For those that aren't familiar with TED.com, please, please, please spend an hour looking around and watching videos.
Enjoy the Q&A. I have at least 5 more lined up, and I hope this project will serve as a starting point for discussion! I send a HUGE thank you to Ms. East for participating!
1. What does civic engagement mean to you personally?
I grew up in the South in the ‘60s, with two parents who were great role models of civic engagement. Despite busy careers and caring for a developmentally disabled son, they were active in our community. What I learned is that civic engagement can happen in ways both big and small. You can join an organization and participate in a structured way. Or you can be the first to reach out to the new family on the block, as my parents did when our neighborhood became racially integrated in the late 1960s. I will never forget standing on the neighbors’ doorstep with my parents, coffee cake in hand, to welcome them. It was a small act of kindness, but a big message to the rest of our community. That has stuck with me for more than 40 years.
2. As an executive, what does civic engagement mean to your company?
At Time Warner Cable, it’s both a business imperative and a company value, meaning we practice civic engagement with both our heads and our hearts. It’s a business imperative because we are a government franchised business – we have to have the government’s permission to operate in our communities. So civic engagement often means donating money, time or human resources to causes that are important to the government officials who manage our operating license.
But we also have 48,000 employees who live and work in the communities we serve. We are truly local. And they care about their communities and want to make them a better place to live. So civic engagement also means asking our employees (or in some cases them asking us) to spend their time and energy on improving their community.
We focus most of our energy on inspiring kids to pursue education and careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) topics. This is a critical national issue, as American students are falling farther and farther behind the rest of the developed world, and even some under-developed nations, in math and science proficiency. This will have profound impact on our ability to be world leaders in the future – to be the problem-solvers and innovators in the world. Already, we see a lot of impact in American business and industry, which can’t find the STEM aptitude needed for research and product development among American college graduates. Time Warner Cable has committed to a five-year, $100 million philanthropic program to address this issue.
In addition, we also focus time, energy and dollars on digital literacy and environmental issues.
3. How have you seen the college generation use technology and social media for civic engagement? What most surprises you about their use?
I love how easy it is to build a community today, using social media tools. The reach and efficacy of online social awareness and activation is a huge boon for civic engagement – putting it within almost everybody’s reach. I think this has increased Gen Y’s interest and participation in social causes, which should have a lasting and important effect on our society.
4. How did your experiences as a student at The University of Alabama shape civic engagement in your life—both as an individual and in your career?
Being active on campus really helped me become an adult. As I chose areas of interest and then acted publicly to participate in events or advocate causes, I overcame my lifelong shyness. I also began to form the ideas that became my moral compass and internal set of values as an adult.
5. In the cable industry, you have seen firsthand the convergence of technology in the U.S. How do you see the convergence of technology affecting education?
Technology can have a huge effect on the efficacy of public education if we can change the bureaucracy of the current system. There is a fascinating study going on in Palo Alto, Calif., in which students view an online math lecture at night, and then solve problems in the classroom during the day. This reverses the traditional structure of a teacher lecturing during class, then doing problems at home in the evening. Early results are terrific – the online lectures allow the students to rewind and replay until they understand the concepts; the in-class work allows them to get help from the teacher with the hands-on problem solving and also allows kids who have mastered the concept to help those who still haven’t, creating a nice peer-to-peer learning system. (Khan Academy is doing the study with Palo Alto schools.)
6. You recently attended the 2011 TED Conference; how do you see TED and other similar “knowledge-sharing” initiatives shaping the future?
TED is a phenomenal way to be exposed to new ideas, and technology makes that information easily accessible and affordable to the masses. The ability to get information quickly and easily means innovation can happen more quickly and easily too, and that people can collaborate across the world without the usual burdens of travel and expense.
7. Name one area of civic engagement in your life that you would like to share with everyone. How are you involved in this project or initiative? What are the most important aspects to your choice?
I have a passion for developing women in the workplace and am engaged in a number of initiatives in my company and industry to make sure that women are ready to step up into the highest ranks of management when there is an opportunity. I believe the most important aspect of any civic engagement is that you have passion for it and a personal stake in the outcome.
8. Create any question you would like to ask yourself. Then, please answer it! In addition to your answer, please provide the question that you create.
How do we encourage more young people to make civic engagement an important part of their lives?
I don’t know the answer, but I’d love to see some discussion on the blog about it!
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