Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Data Journalism Awards Now Accepting Submissions
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Last November, we
announced
our support for a new Data Journalism competition, organized by the
Global Editors Network
. The competition is now open to submissions and today we hosted an event at our offices in London to share details on how to compete and win a total of six prizes worth EUR 45,000. The
European Journalism Centre
is running the contest and Google is sponsoring.
Journalism is going through an exciting—if sometimes wrenching—transition from off to online. Google is keen to help. We see exciting possibilities of leveraging data to produce award-winning journalism. “Data journalism is a new, exciting part of the media industry, with at present only a small number of practitioners,” said Peter Barron, Google’s Director of External Relations. “We hope to see the number grow.”
In data journalism, reporters leverage numerical data and databases to gather, organize and produce news. Bertrand Pecquerie, the Global Editor Network’s CEO, believes the use of data will, in particular, revolutionize investigative reporting. “We are convinced that there is a bright future for journalism,” he said at the London event. “This is not just about developing new hardware like tablets. It is above all about producing exciting new content.”
The European Journalism Centre, a non-profit based in Maastricht, has been running data training workshops for several years. It is producing the Data Journalism Awards website and administering the prize. “This new initiative should help convince editors around the world that data journalism is not a crazy idea, but a viable part of the industry,” says Wilfried Ruetten, Director of the center.
Projects should be submitted to
http://www.datajournalismawards.org
. The deadline is April 10, 2012. Entries should have been published or aired between April 11, 2011 and April 10, 2012. Media companies, non-profit organisations, freelancers and individuals are eligible.
Submissions are welcomed in three categories: data-driven investigative journalism, data-driven applications and data visualisation and storytelling. National and international projects will be judged separately from local and regional ones. “We wanted to encourage not only the New York Times’s of the world to participate, but media outlets of all sizes,” says Pecquerie. “Journalism students are also invited to enter, provided their work has been published.”
An all-star jury has been assembled of journalists from prestigious international media companies including the New York Times, the Guardian, and Les Echos.
Paul Steiger
, the former editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal and founder of the Pulitzer Prize-winning
ProPublica
, will serve as president.
Winners will be announced at the
Global News Network’s World Summit
in Paris on May 31, 2012.
Posted by William Echikson, External Relations
A Computer Star Visits Zurich
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
For Google engineers,
Donald Knuth
is a true hero. The 74-year old Knuth, a professor emeritis at Stanford, is one of the pioneers of computer science, best known for his multi-volumed work “
The Art of Computer Programming
.” He is also recognized as the “father” of the field of analysis of algorithms, and of course, algorithms are central to much of what we do here at Google.
When the professor visited
our offices in Zurich
recently, more than 350 engineers packed the conference hall for a question and answer session. While many of the queries were technical, many were pertinent to all of us.
In Europe, Google has made a priority of promoting
science education
, so naturally a number of questions focused on this subject. How should a beginner programming get started? A bottom-up education is best, Knuth suggested, explaining that in his analogue era, some people became interested in science in order to build radios by themselves. In the Internet age, he said it was crucial to give aspiring programmers simple tools to learn coding from the ground up.
Another question was whether “programming is more of an art than a science?” Could programming progress in the same way as, say medieval Christians progressed the building of their soaring Gothic cathedrals from a try-and-see art to a mature engineering discipline?” It is only a matter of time that computing takes the same path, Knuth agreed. Many things start as art (even cathedral building), and systematic, scientific methods evolve. In this way, art feeds science and science nurtures art in a virtuous circle.
Knuth signed books that engineers had brought with them, inscribing each book with the message suggested by each engineer. One engineer brought their copy of “The Art of Computing Programming” in Russian to be signed. Before leaving, we presented him with a plaque showing a fragment of the code describing the Google Search page including “I’m feeling lucky!” We felt the same way about his visit.
Posted by David Harper, Head University Relations, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Ask your question in the 2012 Google Science Fair
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Are human beings born curious, or can curiosity be nurtured through environment, competition or a good teacher? Everyone’s got a question—that’s ours. But we’re sure you’ve got tons of questions, too. Today, we’re inviting students around the world to pose their most pressing questions about the world around them and answer those questions through scientific inquiry.
Along with our partners CERN, The LEGO Group, National Geographic and Scientific American, today we’re launching the second annual
Google Science Fair
, the largest online science competition in the world, open globally to students ages 13-18. Either individually or in teams of up to three people, students pose a question, develop a hypothesis and conduct science experiments to test it. The entire process is detailed and submitted online, via a website template participants fill out themselves, so all you need to participate is curiosity, an Internet connection and a browser.
Last year, we received entries that strove to solve a wide variety of needs, from
“How can I cure cancer?”
to
“Can I teach a robot to learn English?”
to
“Can I build a faster sailboat?”
The breadth and depth of these projects was incredibly impressive, and this year we hope to see even more entries from the next generation of brilliant young scientists.
This year’s fair will be even more global than the last: We’re now accepting submissions in 13 languages (Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Spanish and Russia). We will also be recognizing 90 regional finalists (30 from the Americas, 30 from the Asia Pacific and 30 from Europe/Middle East/Africa). From these 90, to be announced in May, our judges will select the top 15 finalists, who will be flown to Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. for our live Google Science Fair final event on July 23, 2012. At the finals, a panel of distinguished international
judges
(like Vint Cerf, Sylvia Earle and Nobel Laureates David Gross and Ada Yonath) will select top winners in each age category (13-14, 15-16, 17-18).
We’re also introducing a new category for this year’s competition—the Scientific American Science in Action award. We were so inspired by 2011 finalist Harine Ravichandran’s
project
, which attempted to solve energy surges in rural villages, that we decided to recognize an outstanding project that addresses a social, environmental or health need to make a difference in the lives of a group or community, as Harine’s project did for her grandparents’ village in India. The winner will also be flown to Mountain View for the finalist event in July.
The Google Science Fair opens today, January 12, worldwide, and we’ll accept submissions until Sunday, April 1 at 11:59pm GMT (or 6:59pm ET/3:59pm PT). In addition to satisfying your curious mind, your brilliant project can also help to win you some pretty cool
prizes
, like a $50,000 college scholarship from Google, a 10-day trip to the Galapagos Islands with a National Geographic Explorer or an internship at Google or any one of our partners. Our Scientific American Science in Action award winner will earn $50,000 and year-long mentorship to make their project goal a reality.
The winners of last year’s inaugural Google Science Fair became something like scientific rock stars. Shree Bose, Naomi Shah and Lauren Hodge met with
President Obama
, were invited to speak at big events like
TEDx Women
and were
featured
in Wired magazine. Shree, our grand prize winner, was named one of Glamour magazine’s
21 Amazing Young Women
of the Year. White House visits and Glamour aside, every student in the Google Science Fair has the chance to do hands-on research that can truly change the world.
Visit
google.com/sciencefair
and ask your most burning questions at the top of your voice for the world to hear. Google itself was founded through experimentation and with the Google Science Fair, we hope to inspire scientific exploration among the next generation of scientists and engineers, celebrate scientific talent, create scientific role models and unite students around the world in the quest for learning.
Posted by Cristin Frodella, Google Education Team
The Single Market Opportunity - Getting Europe's SMEs Online
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Yesterday, the
European Commission announced
its strategy to build trust in the Digital Single Market. On Tuesday 24th January, we’re hosting a special event -
The Single Market Opportunity: Getting Europe’s SMEs Online
- right here in Brussels’ European district.
We’d like to invite you to to
register
for this event and join us,
Commission Vice President Tajani
and other prestigious guests to discuss how to realise the potential of the Internet as a driver of growth and jobs across Europe’s entire economy. You’ll also hear from entrepreneurs from 15 European countries, who will showcase how they are building successful online businesses that reach far beyond their national borders.
Over the last two years, we've worked with partners in ten European countries to stimulate economic activity and the creation of jobs via the
Getting Business Online initiative
. By providing training, tools and resources, this initiative has helped more than 250,000 small and medium enterprises - from donkey farmers and
butchers
to
magicians
,
beauticians
and
wedding planners
- to go online for the first time.
The Internet already accounts for more than 6% of GDP in some European countries, according to
research
from McKinsey and the Boston Consulting Group, but did you know:
That businesses that use the Internet intensively grow twice as fast as those that don't?
That the web fuels net job creation with more than two jobs created for every one lost in a traditional sector?
That more than 20% of global GDP growth over the last five years can be directly attributed to the burgeoning Internet economy?
That over the next five years, many EU member states will see double digit growth in economic activity enabled by the Internet, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs across Europe in the process?
Secure your place at the Single Market Opportunity on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012, by
registering here
today.
Posted by Antoine Aubert, Head of Brussels Policy team
Europe looks to the Internet for growth and jobs
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Kicking off the year in which the Single Market turns twenty, the European Commission
announced today its strategy
to build trust in the Digital Single Market. We think this is an important announcement, because the Commission confirms the immense potential of the Internet as a driver of growth and jobs, not just in the tech sector, but throughout the entire economy. It also issues a rallying call for Europe to redouble its efforts to enact concrete, positive reforms.
The figures speak for themselves. As today’s Commission report notes (referencing work by
McKinsey
), “in the G8 countries plus South Korea and Sweden, the internet economy has brought about 21% of the growth in GDP in the last five years. It also generates 2.6 jobs for every job cut, and at times accounts for 25% of net employment creation.”
If Europe fails to grasp the opportunity of a true Digital Single Market, however, the Commission warns of an expensive mistake that could cost the continent “at least 4.1% of GDP between now and 2020 - EUR500 billlion or EUR1000 per citizen.”
The Commission’s communication sets out concrete plans for how it intends to help millions of European businesses - particularly small and medium enterprises - foster cross-border e-commerce.
SMEs and policy makers will be talking about these challenges and opportunities at
an event we’re running on January 24
, here in Brussels at the Concert Noble. Small businesses from 18 countries will present how they have succeeded in taking their businesses online. For more on this initiative, check out our blog tomorrow.
Posted by Antoine Aubert, Head of Brussels Policy Team
Israeli Web-Rangers promote online safety
Monday, January 9, 2012
Rangers traditionally guard parks and other areas of natural beauty. In Israel, some modern day rangers - call them Web-Rangers - aim instead to keep the Internet safe. Since last July when Google Israel launched its
Family Safety Centre
, we have encouraged some 200 Israeli teenage Web-Rangers between the age of 15 and 18 to promote online child protection.
The results have been remarkable. More than 80 innovative and creative social campaigns have been launched, ranging from educational videos to tv-style quiz shows. Some Web-Rangers produced creative videos and posted them on a dedicated
YouTube channel
. Others have cooperated with schools, youth movements, and local municipalities to hold seminars for teenagers about online safety.
Our “Web-Rangers” project is run in partnership with two NGOs working for online safety, the
Israel Internet Association
and
Eran
. All the Web-Rangers also have participated in seminars held at Google Israel offices. These included lectures by Google representatives and our partners on digital citizenship, free speech on the net, Google online safety tools and YouTube content policies.
We recently held the graduation for our inaugural Web-Rangers "class." The Israel Ministry of Education’s Head of the Online Child Safety Division participated. She invited the Web-Rangers to take part in the Ministry’s “National Safe Internet Day” and present their projects in schools around the country.
While the Web Rangers started as a Google initiative, the young adults brought the project to life, developed it, and made it their own. The two Web-Rangers who presented the best work, Elad Yam and Yosi Klein, (both from 11th grade) will soon travel to Google’s offices in London to present their work. We look forward to continuing to learn from these creative teenagers about how to create a safe Internet.
Posted by Doron Avni, Policy Manager, Israel
Happy holidays from our Brussels policy team
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
It has been an exciting and eventful year, even by the Internet’s own exacting standards. Arab activists inaugurated 2011 by revealing the web’s power to help bring freedom to their countries. All too many governments have responded by pressing for controls to throttle the Internet’s liberating power.
Yet we have seen policy makers here in Brussels taking a strong stance in support of an open Internet. After the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur
Frank La Rue
published a
manifesto
for Internet freedom, the European Parliament and Commission extended him a warm welcome. E.U. officials were intrigued to meet the creators of our
Transparency Report
that details government requests for content removals and information on users. The European Parliament even hosted part of our
“hackathon”
in support of Open Data.
In other areas, too, appreciation of the Internet advanced in Brussels. A significant shift was visible measuring and understanding the Internet’s economic impact. At the beginning of the year we commissioned a series of studies that demonstrated that the Internet has become the most important single driver of
growth
in the E.U.. Instead of destroying jobs, the net is creating millions of them. Crucially,
small businesses
benefit disproportionately from the web’s power to reach the entire world with a few keyboard strokes. A contest we sponsored even crowned Europe's leading
eTowns
.
Instead of threatening culture, technology provides new and innovative ways to preserve history and heritage. Our
Art Project
brings online masterpieces from great museums across Europe. Our
book project
is digitizing and bringing online public domain books from more than a dozen European libraries. At the end of the year,
StreetView
came to Belgium, allowing anyone in the globe to stroll along the streets hosting European institutions. As the Internet becomes a significant force for policymakers to converse with citizens, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, shown above, appeared live on
Euronews
and
YouTube World View
.
The European Union is heading towards the 20th anniversary of the creation of the single market, and the Internet will play an important in realizing its full potential. Just like the European Union, the Internet represents a major shift towards openness and collaboration. While Europe faces undeniable challenges on the economic and social fronts, the Internet’s progress is an optimistic story that we believe Europe can demonstrate pride in the coming year.
Posted by Antoine Aubert, Head of Brussels Policy Team
Labels
Academics
18
Advertising
10
Africa
26
Austria
7
Belgium
25
Big Tent
11
Bosnia and Herzegovina
2
Browsers
1
Brussels Tech Talk
7
Bulgaria
5
Campus
2
Child Safety
24
Cloud computing
17
Competition
16
Computer Science
35
Computing Heritage
37
Consumers
11
controversial content
2
COP21
1
copyright
34
Crisis Response
2
Culture
116
Czech Republic
16
Data Centre
15
Denmark
4
Digital News Initiative
6
Digital Single Market
1
Diversity
7
Economic Impact of the Internet
57
Economy
24
Elections
7
Energy + Environment
16
Engineering
6
Environment
5
Estonia
6
European Commission
21
European Parliament
14
European Union
104
exhibitions
1
Finland
13
France
77
Free Expression
88
Free flow of information
47
German
1
Germany
65
Google for Entrepreneurs
9
Google in Europe Blog
846
Google Play
1
Google TechTalk
2
Google Translate
1
Google Trends
3
Google+
4
Greece
16
Growth Engine
3
Hackathon
3
Hungary
16
Innovation
70
Internet Governance
7
IP
10
Ireland
16
Israel
17
Italy
42
Journalism
34
Latvia
1
Lithuania
1
Luxembourg
3
Maps
17
Middle East
18
Netherlands
6
News
2
News Lab
1
North Africa
6
Norway
3
online
1
Online Safety
2
Open data
8
Open Government
7
Open source
2
Poland
24
Portugal
6
Power of Data
25
privacy
49
Publishing
30
Right to be Forgotten
9
Rio+20
1
Romania
3
Russia
18
Safer Internet Day
4
San Marino
1
Science
5
Security
7
Single Market
7
Slovakia
16
Slovenia
2
SMEs
24
Spain
39
Startups
6
State of the Union
2
STEM Education
36
Street View
38
Surveillance
1
Sweden
13
Switzerland
11
Telecoms
11
The Netherlands
4
Tourism
1
Transparency
12
Tunisia
4
Turkey
3
Ukraine
3
United Kingdom
94
Vatican
2
Youth
2
YouTube
42
Archive
2016
Sep
Introducing YouTube Creators for Change
Announcing a Google.org grant for XperiBIRD.be, a ...
Bringing education to refugees in Lebanon with the...
Juncker embraces creators -- and their concerns
Tour 10 Downing Street with Google Arts and Culture
European copyright: there's a better way
Digital News Initiative: Introducing the YouTube P...
#AskJuncker: YouTube creators to interview the Eur...
An extinct world brought back to life with Google ...
Project Muze: Fashion inspired by you, designed by...
Come Play with us
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Feed
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
