Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Celebrating free expression 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall
Friday, October 23, 2009
(Cross-posted from the
YouTube Blog
)
In 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall became a striking symbol for free expression far beyond the borders of Germany. Just 20 years later, Iranian citizens used online tools like YouTube and Twitter to share
firsthand accounts
of the brutal government crackdown waged against protesters disputing the country's election results.
Many Iranians risked their lives
to document the violence, despite the government's attempts to expel journalists and stifle any voices of dissent.
The democratizing power of the Internet has enabled individuals to share their stories with a global audience in ways never before possible, and given a voice to those who wouldn't otherwise be heard.
To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we're launching a YouTube channel —
youtube.com/GoogleFreeExpression
— to highlight and celebrate free expression around the world, and we want to hear from you.
This channel is designed to feature your stories and reflections on free expression. Tell us about how you or someone you know has taken a stand for free expression. Perhaps you've
protested against
something you didn't agree with,
taken action
when someone else's free speech was being suppressed or
been inspired
by someone who has stood up for the right to speak out. Make a short video sharing your experience, upload it to YouTube, and add it as a reply to this one:
We'll be featuring the best submissions on the
Google Free Expression channel
, so be sure to check back in the weeks to come. We look forward to hearing from you.
Posted by Annette Kroeber-Riel, Senior European Policy Counsel
You Ain't Seen Nothing Net
Friday, October 16, 2009
Brussels, home to the 27-nation European Union, is a linguistic melting pot. The European Union itself has 22 official languages. So when our Vice President for Research and Special Initiatives, Alfred Spector, visited this week, he opened this linguistic window to outline his vision of the future of the Internet. Three years ago, he noted that Google only offered translation in nine languages. We now support 51 languages. Recently, specially excited to announce that we've added additional languages to Google Translate:
Afrikaans
,
Belarusian
,
Icelandic
,
Irish
,
Macedonian
,
Maltese
,
Welsh
, and
Yiddish
. Since we can translate between any two of these languages, we offer translation for 2550 language pairs!
Are the translations perfect? Would they substitute for an official translation of a European directive? No, Alfred acknowledged. For example, our programs may get translate "le garcon" as "boy" when the correct word should be "waiter." So, as Alfred explained, please don't get mad if "Garcon, apporte-moi un cafe" becomes "Boy, bring me a coffee" instead of "Waiter, bring me a coffee." (Although, we're proud to say that if we add an exclamation point after the word "Garcon," the translation would be perfect!) But the translations are improving regularly and can help you
find and translate
local restaurant and hotel reviews into your language when planning a vacation abroad, allow you to read the
Spanish
or
French Editions of Google News
, communicate with people who speak different languages using
Google Translate chat bots
, and more.
Our growing linguistic dexterity shows how Google is investing in the future of the web, and how we believe technological advances will continue to make the web better and more useful to people. "We will break down communication barriers," Alfred explained. In a growing number of cases, People who speak only "small" languages will gain much greater access to the the Web's wonders. And speakers in one language can search for information in other languages and then have this results translated. "The barriers to information exchange" are being disappearing very rapidly, Alfred argued. (Type "Translated Search" to Google to see this capability.)
Translation is another tool that relies on the power of data. Our translation tools are built by comparing existing translations that exist on the web, and we also solicit feedback from users. No human interference is required to conduct a translation. In related fields, Alfred explained how we are working on voice recognition and demonstrated how it has become possible to do searches just by speaking into one's mobile phone. While the capabilities are in various dialects of English now, watch for more... In response to questions, Alfred noted these advances cannot pose privacy concerns - training data collected is anonymous and then aggregated into statistically applied recognition rules -- it is therefore completely untraceable to any individual. Both the use of speech to search from mobile phones and translation are but two examples of many Alfred gave as to how the web will continue to breakdown barriers to communication and understanding.
In Brussels, Alfred also gave the keynote speech at a conference titled
The Future of Space in Europe
. He noted how Google and organisations such as the European Space Agency have much more in common than it may first appear. We are both in the business of setting audacious goals and working over a long time-frame to make them a reality. In both our fields, you cannot possibly anticipate all the challenges you will face, nor predict the innovations engineers will make to overcome them. But one thing is clear: having a bold vision guarantees that huge progress will be made along the way. As they say - "aim for the moon, then even if you miss at least you'll reach the stars"... In our field, we say something similar for how the Internet is allowing us to explore knowledge in surprising, exciting ways- "you ain't seen nothing net."
Posted by Bill Echikson, Senior Communications Manager
Flu Trends Comes To Europe
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog
If you're like us, you're probably thinking a lot about how this year's flu season might affect you and your community. To help you out, we at
Google.org
are excited to announce the expansion of Google
Flu Trends
to 16 additional countries, including much of Europe. We've also made the site available in 37 languages. Flu is a global threat, affecting millions worldwide each year, so we're pleased to make this tool available in more regions and languages.
Last November
, we launched Google Flu Trends in the United States after finding a close relationship between how many people search for flu-related topics and how many people actually have flu symptoms. By tracking the popularity of certain Google search queries, we are able to estimate the level of flu, in near real-time. While some traditional flu surveillance systems may take days or weeks to collect and release data, Google search queries can be counted immediately. Google Flu Trends provides an additional surveillance tool that may help public health officials and the public make more informed decisions about preparing for the flu season.
In the past year, we've expanded our coverage to include Mexico, New Zealand and Australia and have continued to see a good correspondence between our estimates and official flu activity data. In fact, our analysis of last season shows that Google Flu Trends had a close 0.92 correlation with official U.S. flu data.
An important aspect of Google Flu Trends is that we filter out terms that may be popular because people hear about them in the news. What we do not use in the models is a term like [swine flu] since people are more likely to type that into Google because they want to know more information about it, given the news headlines, and not because they actually have H1N1 or swine flu. For more information about how we built this model, take a peek at this video:
If you visit Google Flu Trends for the U.S., you'll notice that the flu season is starting early this year. For tips on how to stay healthy this season, please visit our friends at the U.S.
CDC
and the
ECDC
.
Posted by Matt Mohebbi and Dan Vanderkam, Software Engineers
Navigating Europe's Streets
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
In June we wrote a
blog
about our ongoing Street View conversations with the Article 29 Working Party (the group which brings together representatives from all 27 European Data Protection Authorities).
Just to recap, they had asked that we continue to give advance notice to the public before collecting any images. In addition, they had requested that we set reasonable time limits for keeping copies of the un-blurred images used to create Street View.
As background, we use technology to blur faces and license plates before publishing them on Street View. While our technology is state-of-the-art, it's not perfect and we sometimes mistakenly blur things that are useful or interesting like sign posts, statues, street names, store fronts (
KFC's Colonel Saunders
is probably our most blurred image!) and road signs (like a 'no entry' or 'no right turn' sign, which our technology apparently thinks are faces).
We keep these un-blurred images in our databases so we can build better products, for example by constantly improving our blurring technology so that it obscures more of the things it should and less of the things it shouldn't. We also announced today
another way in which Street View data helps us make our maps better
.
For example, we might need to read a street sign in a Street View image to make sure that the street is properly named on Google Maps. Similarly, we need to know if a street has 'no entry' signs, so that we don't give you bad driving directions.
Starting today, we will permanently blur images on our internal database within one year of their publication on Street View. This means that long term the only copy we keep will be the blurred version. In countries where Street View is already launched the year long retention period will start today.
We think one year strikes a reasonable balance between protecting people's privacy and our ability to reduce mistakes in blurring, as well as use the data we have collected to build better maps products. It's important to remember that European privacy laws allow for the retention of data, so long as it is for reasonable periods of time and the information itself is actually being used.
In addition, where someone specifically requests that we remove an image (even where that particular face or license plate is already blurred in the published version), we'll move those images to the front of the queue, and permanently blur those pictures in our records as quickly as possible. We're also announcing today that over the next few months we'll launch revamped websites in countries where we're driving and/or where Street View is already available. These sites will have additional information about the product, including more detail about where Street View cars are driving--now all we need is good weather so we can show off all the attractions we're photographing in their best light!
Finally, we continue to work on improving our blurring technology. It's good but we think we can make it even better and as we make improvements we'll roll them out globally so that users everywhere get to benefit from them.
Posted by Peter Fleischer, Global Privacy Counsel
Rapping in Brussels
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The invitation sounded cool. Instead of dull, bureaucratic Brussels, I received a link to a European Commission site entitled
IT for Girls
, which featured the arresting title "Cyberellas are IT!" accompanied by - get this - rap music.
Intrigued, I investigated and learned that the European Commission was asking Google to sign up to a
Code of Conduct
in order to improve prospects for women to build careers in information technology. This goal resonates with us. Too few women study engineering and computer science and this gap continues to widen in all but a very few European countries. The IT industry as a whole is finding it hard to fill positions and any serious effort to solve the problem means encouraging women to overcome the "geek stereotype." So I agreed to come to Brussels on October 8 and participate in a seminar with European Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding.
At Google, we aspire to make information access better for everyone. Our users are simply everyone on the planet - so, we need to have an engineering organisation that represents that to the best of its abilities - making products that mean something for people. Having women developing products is key to us developing relevant and meaningful products. It's obvious to me that working in a team ofGooglers from diverse backgrounds and life experiences makes problem solving and creativity a lot more likely - and a lot more fun.
We've already undertaken many of the measures the Commission encourages to improve gender balance, working with universities and sponsoring scholarships for female computer scientists. Four years ago, we posted this inside
look
at our pioneering female engineers at Google. We also sponsor the
Anita Borg Scholarship
for women undergraduate and graduate students in technology. Named after the late and great female computer scientist Anita Borg, scholarship recipients will each receive a EUR 7,000 award for the 2010-2011 academic year and be invited to attend the Annual Google Scholars' Retreat in our European Engineering Headquarters in Zurich. The British Computer Society recognized Google as a great place to work in 2008 and we are shortlisted again this year, so fingers crossed.
We're proud to have a strong lineup of top female executives. Megan Smith, our vice president of new business development, oversees our new-ventures partnerships, explorations, and licensing, FrancoiseBrougher , vice president of business operations, has led us into Sub-Saharan Africa. Marissa Mayer, our vice president of search products, is spearheading efforts in Web search, images, news, maps, Google Earth, and more.Shona Brown joined Google in 2003 to oversee critical operational issues across the company as senior vice president of business operations.
We try to make Google a welcoming place to work for all of its staff, including women. Google offers its staff free lunches and massages, as well as games rooms and 20% time (engineers can choose for themselves what they wish to work on for, on average, one day per week). These are not frivolous perks, but a crafted, thought-out our human resource strategy that we believe pays off in happy, productive employees.Generous maternity leave allows women to pursue careers - and Google's progressive paternity policy gives them a strong support structure at home (actually, we recently made two very high profile promotions of women who were on maternity leave at the time!). For those first few weeks of baby's new life, Google Mums or Dads can also claim the new parent food allowance to, at least, remove one of the household headaches. Both male and femaleGooglers tell us how they appreciate flexibility in working hours - and our company policy of doing all work collaboratively on the Internet improves overall work-life balance.
We have just started this journey to help women get online - and there's lots more we can do. I look forward to explaining our Google culture this week in Brussels - and to enjoying a little more of that surprising rap music.
Posted by Rachel Mooney, Head of Diversity & People Policy for Europe
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Celebrating free expression 20 years after the fal...
You Ain't Seen Nothing Net
Flu Trends Comes To Europe
Navigating Europe's Streets
Rapping in Brussels
Sep
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