Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Mind the Gap: Encouraging women to study engineering
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Women make up more than half the global population, but hold fewer than a third of the world’s engineering jobs. In the U.S., female students comprise fewer than 15 percent of all Advanced Placement computer science test takers. Even in high-tech Israel, few girls choose computer science. Not only is this a loss to companies like Google and everyone who benefits from a continually developing web; it's also a lost opportunity for girls.
Beginning in 2008, a group of female engineers at Google in Israel decided to tackle this problem. We established the “Mind the Gap!” program, aimed at encouraging girls to pursue math, science and technology education. In collaboration with the
Israeli National Center for Computer Science Teachers
, we began organizing monthly school visits for different groups of girls to the
Google office
and annual tech conferences at local universities and institutes. The girls learn about computer science and technology and get excited about its applications, as well as have a chance to talk with female engineers in an informal setting and see what the working environment is like for them.
Since we started this program over three years ago, we’ve hosted more than 1,100 teenage girls at our office, and an additional 1,400 girls at three annual conferences held in leading universities. These 2,500 students represent 100 schools from all sectors and from all over the country: Tel Aviv, Haifa, Tira, Beer-Sheva, Jerusalem, Nazareth and more; what they have in common is the potential to become great computer scientists.
The
results
are encouraging. For instance, some 40 percent of the girls who participated in last year’s conference later chose computer science as a high school major.
We encourage people in other countries, at other companies and in other scientific disciplines to see how they could replicate this program. You can read more at the project
site
. Currently, we are working with the
Google in Education
group to expand the program to more offices globally and get even more young women excited about computer science. The difference we can make is real: At one of our first visits three years ago, we met a 10th grade student named Keren who enjoyed math but had never considered computer science as a high school major. Last month, Keren informed us that the visit made such an impact on her, she decided to change her major to computer science. “Talking to women in the field helped me change my mind,” she said.
Posted by Michal Segalov, Software Engineer at Google’s R&D Center, Israel
2012 global award winners RISE to the top
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
Our business at Google is rooted in science education so we’re passionate about supporting organizations that are expanding access to these fields, especially for students who might not have the opportunity otherwise. The annual
Google Roots in Science and Engineering (RISE)
program supports organizations running innovative STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and CS (computer science) enrichment programs for K-12 and university students around the world.
This year, the
Google in Education
group received a record number of inspiring applications for RISE. We expanded the awards to include Sub-Saharan Africa, and in total, we’re awarding more than $340,000 in funding to 13 U.S., eight European and five African organizations.
Our recipients are diverse, ranging from girls robotics teams building high-tech machinery in Nairobi to after-school programs that have students configuring cluster computers in Salt Lake City. Below are just a few of the outstanding organizations receiving RISE awards this year for their efforts in advancing CS and STEM education:
Europe
Frauennetzwerk Informatik at Universität Passau
, Passau, Germany.
University students from Passau act as ambassadors for computer science, engineering and math by reaching out to juniors and seniors at their former high schools and running workshops on topics like robotics and mobile app development. Ambassadors go on to serve as mentors to the students throughout their high school and college careers.
The Centre for Academic Achievement
, Dublin, Ireland.
This center runs free after school educational classes in a university setting for bright primary school students from disadvantaged areas. Each term, students from 32 local primary schools have the opportunity to study science, math and engineering subjects and are encouraged to pursue college degrees in the future.
Sub Saharan Africa
Savana Signatures
, Tamale, Ghana.
Savana Signatures educates youth and women, building their capacity to access information for the benefit of Ghana’s social and economic development.
Fundi Bots
, Kampala, Uganda.
Fundi Bots is a technology outreach program for students in high school and university that uses robotics to introduce young children to the endless possibilities of technology in both their day-to-day lives and potential careers.
United States
Santa Clara Valley Society of Women Engineers
, San Jose, California.
GetSET is a program created for underrepresented ethnic minority girls in the San Francisco Bay Area to expose them to engineering while building self confidence through leadership workshops, tours of technology companies and participation in team-building exercises.
Saturday Academy
, Portland, Oregon.
Saturday Academy serves 2nd-12th grade students from Oregon and SW Washington with high quality and creative learning opportunities taught by STEM experts, including hands-on, real world activities that create meaningful connections between academic content and practical application.
Organizations interested in applying for 2013 funding can sign up for more information
here
. We look forward to hearing about all the great work being done in CS and STEM education.
Posted by Roxana Shirkhoda, K-12 Education Outreach
Supporting Information Age Art in Germany
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
For the past quarter century, some of the world’s most innovative multi-media art is displayed at the
Berlin “Transmediale
.” This year’s event opens today and Google is proud to sponsor a supporting a specific installation - the
Joshua Light Show
.
transmediale 2k+12 in/compatible trailer
from
transmediale
on
Vimeo
.
Joshua Light illustrated psychedelic music from The Doors, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa just to name a few. Its first emerged back in 1967 in New York. For its comeback at Transmediale, founder Joshua White will be in Berlin and will direct his orchestra of lights on three night-sessions in Berlin.
Why are we involved? The Joshua Light Show exemplifies the art that arose at the beginning of today's information age, which mixed sound and light in new ways. As Transmediale’s organizers, say, "before YouTube there was the light-show - a creative meeting between the past and future of art in the age of information freedom."
The 1960's stood on the cusp of our modern global information society. It was a era with a rich counter-culture that connected the wild imagination of scientists and artists. In many cases, the artistic imagination was ahead of technology: inspired by new technologies it presaged an integration of data and audiovisual forms. Its ultimate form was the psychedelic light-show, fusing the latest projection
In their upcoming Berlin performances, today’s Joshua Light Show connects the analogue light show to the latest VJ technologies, fusing old and new and bringing a young audience to reflect on the heritage of today's global audiovisual flows. White ill direct his light-orchestra for three nights at the House of World Cultures Auditorium, each night appearing with new musicians.
Either way, enjoy.
Posted by Ralf Bremmer, Senior Communications Manager, Berlin
Reigniting the global economy
Friday, January 27, 2012
In Davos, leaders are attempting to find ways to restart the sputtering global economy. Two new studies released today at the
World Economic Forum
offer an answer: open up an Internet browser on our laptop, mobile phone or tablet and encourage the Internet.
The Boston Consulting group’s
“Digital Manifesto”
predicts that the value of the Internet economy in of the world's top 20 economies will boom to $4.2 trillion in 2016—nearly double 2010’s number. One of the biggest drivers will be the huge increase in the number of people accessing the web. In four years, the report predicts three billion people will be using the internet, or nearly 50% of the world's population.
The Internet does not just benefit the developed world, either. It contributes an average of 1.9 percent of GDP across 30 countries in the developing world and generated 1.9 million jobs alone in six countries: Hungary, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam, according to the new McKinsey & Co.
report
, also released today in Davos.
Both the McKinsey and BCG reports are the latest chapter in more than a year of work by the two consultancies and others on the Internet’s growing economic impact. Full disclosure: Google funded this joint research effort, though the reports were conducted independently. Until now, the research focused largely on Europe. For example, the BCG’s “Connected Kingdom” report published in the U.K. in October 2010 found (amongst other things) that the Internet contributed £100bn, or 7.2% of GDP, and forecasted that the figure will rise to 10% of GDP by 2015. You can see the full range of all these country reports on a new
website
.
Understanding the economic potential of the web is crucial, especially given Europe's current economic challenges. In Brussels this week, on the same day European Finance ministers were meeting to discuss the situation in Greece, we hosted an
event
to illustrate how countries and companies are able to reap the rewards of the Internet. Google, BCG and McKinsey are well known international businesses, but the the message of all our work is that small businesses going online will drive the majority of growth of the Internet economy in the future.
Posted by William Echikson, External Relations, Brussels
Promoting small businesses and economic growth in Europe
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
As European Finance Ministers gathered in Brussels to address the Euro crisis, we wanted to share our belief that small businesses and entrepreneurs can be at the heart of Europe’s strategy for economic growth. In our view, the key that will unlock this much needed growth is the Internet.
In order to demonstrate this important opportunity, we organised an
event
today in Brussels bringing together small businesses, European Commission officials, European parliamentarians, business associations and others to discuss how the Internet can drive growth and jobs.
Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani keynoted
the event, and picked up on the themes of an important manifesto, published last week by the Commission, that is designed to
build trust in the Digital Single Market
.
The Commissioner said Europe must put the Internet at the heart of its economic strategy. “I think of the third industrial revolution – information technologies are at its heart,” he said. Instead of “destroying” jobs, he insisted that it powers employment, saying that for each position displaced, the Internet creates another 2.6 new positions. Companies with websites grow twice as fast as companies that stay offline, he added. “Our goal is to double the amount of commerce online by 2015,” Tajani said. “We need exponential growth” to get Europe out of its present economic crisis.
Our own European Vice President Matt Brittin announced a new collaboration between
the Lisbon Council
and Google. In some countries, Matt noted,
the Internet already generates more than 7% of GDP
- a figure that is set to grow rapidly - with much of the growth coming from small companies. “SMEs are the unsung heroes of the economy,” he said. “But the internet can give them a voice.” In order to prove the point, we assembled small business owners from 15 countries, including a Polish butcher, a Swedish sweet shop, a Dutch clog seller, a Spanish baby clothes retailer, and a Greek travel agent. All power their businesses by leveraging the Internet.
The focus of the event then turned to the platforms (generally large companies) that support online commerce. Martin Tidell, Telenor’s Head of Business Management for SMEs, joined by Google+ hangout from Stockholm and said that the Internet is not just for high tech businesses. “I cannot think of one business that wouldn’t benefit by going online,” he said.
Back in Brussels, Frank Jahn, the Managing Director of Parcels at Belgium’s post office said his company was bracing for a transformation. “We are now a mail company with a parcels operation,” he said. “We need to become a parcels company with a mail operation.”
Next up were three small businesses who shared their experiences of growing online and selling in both domestic markets and across the Single Market. Their panel session also highlighted the "
Getting business online
” initiative, which has helped more than 250,000 businesses get a website over the last two years.
The final panel of the day, hosted by European Voice, focused on the policy conclusions that the European Commission, European Parliament and the key stakeholder - Europe’s consumers - draw from the debate. And all agreed that the Internet opportunity for businesses is big - and growing.
Posted by Al Verney, Communications Manager, Brussels
Supporting a new Oxford free speech initiative
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
As the debate over free expression online grows ever louder, Oxford University has launched an innovative interactive forum in 13 languages called
freespeechdebate.com
. We’re proud to support the initiative with both funds and technology, including
Google Translate
.
Timothy Garton Ash
- a professor and journalist who has analyzed social movements from the rise of the Solidarity free trade union to the tumult of the Arab Spring - is leading the exciting project. At the event’s launch last week in Oxford, Garton Ash interviewed Wikipedia founder
Jimmy Wales
. Just the day before, Wikipedia had gone black in protest of two proposed U.S. laws threatening Internet freedom, helping force the U.S. Congress to pull back from a vote on the bills. “On a normal day 25 million people see Wikipedia; yesterday, 162 million saw it and I heard that we even crashed the House of Representatives phone system,” an ebullient Wales said. “Congress saw that there is a passionate community out there ready to defend the Internet.”
The reception afterward took place in
Oxford University’s Divinity School library
, an appropriate setting where poet John Milton‘s
censored writing were saved from being burned
almost half a millennium ago. “From yesterday's Wikipedia protest to the role of social media in the Arab Spring, every day brings a free speech controversy to the headlines, Garton Ash said. “Our project aims to contribute structure, depth and detail to this global debate, as well as openness to the views of netizens from different cultures and perspectives.”
Freespeechdebate.com brings together a team of more than 30 graduate students and researchers. It publishes interviews with prominent personalities and case studies from around the globe illustrating the complexity of free speech in the Internet age. At the inauguration, the web site already presented case studies and interviews with a diverse range of free speech defenders. Nobel Peace Prize 2003 winner
Shirin Ebadi
said that criticism of Islam should be permitted in Iran, while arguing that insults to the religion should be prohibited.
Arundhati Roy
, the award-winning Indian novelist, spoke about the limits to free speech in India, including government censorship through the media and "goon squads.”
The site's editorial content is translated into Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Urdu. “Freespeechdebate.com will continue producing material for the coming six months, and everyone is encouraged to participate. Members of the public are invited to register online to join the debate. Details on how to participate are found
here
. The debate will be digitally archived by Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries and become an online educational resource.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
News Innovation contest opens for applications
Monday, January 23, 2012
We are eager to see journalism flourish in the digital age. Last week, we announced our support of the
Global Editor Network’s data journalism prize
. Today, we’re happy to see that the
International Press Institute
has begun accepting applications for the second round of Google-funded media innovation prizes.
Click
here
for more information and to enter. Applicants are eligible from anywhere in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The Vienna-based International Press Institute is our European partner for Google’s ambitious
$5 million global program
announced in 2010 to help journalism create new ways of reaching readers online. As media organizations globally continue to broaden their presence online, we’re eager to play our part on the technology side—experimenting with
new ways
of presenting news online; providing tools like Google Maps and
YouTube Direct
to make websites more engaging for readers. But while we’re mostly focused on working with news organizations to develop better products for users, we also believe it’s crucial to encourage innovation at the grassroots level. Our grants to non-profit organizations are designed to benefit news publishers of all sizes.
More than 300 applications were received for the first round of International Press Institute-run Google-sponsored prizes last year;
three winners
were named at the end of last year.
This year’s News Innovation Contest offers prizes in two categories:
News Platforms: The International Press Institute is looking for projects that leverage online tools to enhance news gathering and delivery. It aims to encourage the creation of new online news platforms that offer new revenue models for supporting high quality journalism.
Training: Little proper training in online media exists. The Press Institute is looking for initiatives that help traditional journalists transition into online media, by improving their technology skills and familiarising them with online news models.
The contest deadline is February 23 at 15:00 Central European Time. Winners can be announced at the beginning of April.
Posted by Simon Morrison, Copyright Communications and Policy Manager.
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