Productivity: does it really matter?

We spend a significant portion of our waking hours on our work, and "productivity" has become a ubiquitous term for workers, students, leaders, and more. But what exactly do we mean by "productivity"? 

In this session for the Cambridge Festival 2022, Professor Gloria Mark (University of California, Irvine) and Tyler Shores (Intellectual Forum, Jesus College) will discuss whether productivity is necessarily the best means of thinking about our work, how it can or cannot be quantified, and what ways in which we can think about our sense of self beyond our work. 

More about the speakers

Gloria Mark is Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. She received her PhD from Columbia University in psychology. She has been a visiting senior researcher at Microsoft Research since 2012. Her primary research interest is in understanding the impact of digital media on people's lives and she is best known for her work in studying people's multitasking, mood and behaviour while using digital media in real world environments. She has published over 150 papers in the top journals and conferences in the fields of human-computer interactions (HCI) and Computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) and is author of the book Multitasking in the Digital Age.

Tyler Shores is a Senior Research Associate at the Intellectual Forum, Jesus College and the Manager of the ThinkLab Program, within the Strategic Partnership Office at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses upon digital habits, distraction, productivity and wellbeing.

Prior to Cambridge, Tyler worked at Google in Mountain View, CA as part of Authors@Google, one of the world’s largest online lecture series. In addition he has worked as a director of digital textbooks in the field of nonprofit education, and most recently worked as a manager in online education at Stanford University.

Please register below.