Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Searching for creative young minds
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Are you between 18 and 24 years old and have done something to make an impact in the world? Do you fancy the opportunity to come to the UK and meet some of the great minds of our time?
If so, apply by March 19 to Google's youth challenge,
Zeitgeist Young Minds
, by uploading a short video telling your story, what matters to you and how you’re making a positive impact on your world. We want to find the most exceptional and inspiring young people who are helping others through science, the arts, education, leadership or innovation.
Winners will meet the leaders attending
2012 Zeitgeist
. Previous Zeitgeist speakers have included Archbishop
Desmond Tutu
, The Black Eyed Peas’
will.I.am
, Burberry CEO
Angela Ahrendts
, and Google CEO
Larry Page
.
The inaugural ‘Young Minds’ competition rewarded a series of pathbreakers, ranging from a student who launched free hip-hop dance classes for high-risk youth to a South African AIDS activist to a student who founded an organization offering IT education. A full list of last year's winning projects are found
here
.
Events agency
Livity
is managing the contest and will pick the winners. Zeitgeist Young Minds is open to all young people ages 18-24 who are residents of South Africa, Algeria, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Egypt, Spain, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, Holland, Poland, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Russia , Sweden, Tunisia, and Yemen.
Posted by Elizabeth Dupuy, Event Manager, External Relations
Supporting safety online
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Telefono Azzurro
, one of Italy’s main child protection NGOs, does amazing work on behalf of missing and sexually exploited children and their families. Last year, we donated a
Google Search Appliance
- essentially the Google ‘search engine in a box’ - to improve information retrieval on their internal network and make it easier to search on their public website.
Today, on
Safer Internet Day 2012
, we’re happy to announce that this collaboration is expanding. Telefono Azzuro will share its Search Appliance with all of the members of
Missing Children Europe
(MCE), the federation of national NGOs responsible for the
European 116.000 phone hotline
, who will use Google's search technology on their public websites. Eventually, the Search Appliance will also be linked to MCE’s interconnected
European database
of missing children (currently under construction), enabling
each member NGO
to better organise its own case files and conduct secure searches on its internal network.
This is just one example of how seriously we take the challenge of increasing safety on the web, but on Safer Internet Day, we’re also involved in a whole host of initiatives all over Europe, including:
Digital literacy education / workshops
Italy
: we’re running online safety workshops with Telefono Azzurro /
Sicuri in Rete
and with the Italian
Postal and Communications Police
(at more than 100 schools); and we’re distributing online safety information to parents together with the Italian
Association of Paediatricians
.
Portugal
: we’re launching the
Google Family Safety Center
at an event chaired by the President of National Commission for Support for Children.
Russia
: We’re partnering with
Net Literacy
to engage over 200 Russian journalism students in digital literacy campaigning in schools and communities
Events
UK
: we’re hosting online safety events with
CEOP
, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, and
Raceonline
; we’re also participating in workshops organised by the UK
Safer Internet Centre
.
Russia
: we’re working with the
Russia Safe Internet Centre
and
Russian Association of Electronic Communications
to run a series of international expert panels at the Safer Internet Forum.
Germany
: Wieland Holfelder, Google Engineering Director, is keynoting a session on the platform for safe internet use at the Safer Internet Event in Germany, organized by
Bitkom
and the Ministry of Consumer Protection (
BMELV
).
Research
UK
: we're launching, together with
YAW-CRC
, new research funded by Google into how parents can
keep their families safe online
, and
become more digitally literate themselves
.
Technology
France
: we’re supporting the work of
e-Enfance.org
on a new Google Chrome browser extension called
NetEcoute
, which will make it easy for youngsters to start an online discussion with a helpline counselor.
These initiatives are part of our global outreach on Safer Internet Day - but we hope that each of them will - in their own way - be a step forward for online safety education.
Posted by Laura Bononcini, Senior Policy Analyst, Google
More information on our privacy policy changes
Friday, February 3, 2012
Update, Tuesday 28 February, 14:30 CET
: Today we received a letter from the CNIL, and we have responded with
this letter
.
Update, Friday 20 April, 14:15 CEST
: We have now responded to all the
questions from the CNIL
with
this letter
and
this appendix
.
Update, Thursday 21 June, 14:35 CEST
: We have responded to the second set of questions from the CNIL with
this letter
.
Last night we received a letter from the Jacob Kohnstamm, Chairman of the Europe's Article 29 Working Party, asking for additional information about the changes to our privacy policy.
We briefed most of the members of the working party in the weeks leading up to our announcement. None of them expressed substantial concerns at the time, but of course we're happy to speak with any data protection authority that has questions.
We have responded to Mr Kohnstamm with further information, which you can read
here
.
As we’ve said several times over the past week, while our privacy policies will change on 1st March, our commitment to our
privacy principles
is as strong as ever.
Posted by Peter Fleischer, Global Privacy Counsel
German Office of Information Security recommends Chrome
Friday, February 3, 2012
Last month, we published the
core principles
around Chrome security. This included commitments such as working with the internet community to help increase security for all web browsers, and continuing to design Chrome to offer multiple layers of defence against cyber attacks.
Today, we’re honoured that the
BSI
, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security, has highlighted several of Chrome’s
security features
in a
best-practice guide
for Windows users. The report is part of the BSI’s ongoing efforts to improve cyber security.
According to the report, the browser is the central component for accessing any online service on the web, and a common entry point for cyber attacks. In order to reduce the risk, the BSI recommends that users install a browser with
sandbox technology
.
“The browser that currently most consistently implements this protection is
Google Chrome
,” the report states. “Comparable mechanisms in other browsers are either weaker, or non-existent. By using Google Chrome...you can significantly reduce the risk of a successful IT attack.”
In addition to Chrome’s sandbox, the guide also points to the importance of Chrome’s auto-update feature.
“Equally positive is the auto-update functionality of Google Chrome, which includes a bundled version of the Adobe Flash Player,” the report continues. “By bundling it with Chrome, the Adobe Flash Player will also always be kept up to date.”
We hope our efforts to improve the
security
and
privacy
of our users continue to help make the web a better place.
Posted by Dr. Wieland Holfelder, Engineering Director Google Germany, and Travis McCoy, Chrome Security Team
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
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