Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Saluting African digital journalism pioneers
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Digital tools are an increasing impetus for innovation across African newsrooms. From crowdsourcing content to using infographics to tell stories, journalists are finding new ways to report the news. We're excited to be supporting these innovators through the $1 million Africa News Innovation Challenge,
announced in May this year
—the latest in a series of projects to spur innovation in African journalism.
Run by the t
he
African Media Initiative
, other partners include
Omidyar Network
, the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
, the
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
, the
U.S. State Department
, the
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS)
and the
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA)
. The response to the challenge was really enthusiastic, with more than 500 proposals submitted.
The 20 winners are all exciting digital journalism projects that will contribute to solving some of the biggest challenges facing the African media industry. They range from mobile apps to mobilise citizens against corruption and improved infographics to communicate complex issues, to developing new platforms for sharing content on buses and taxis. Key themes among the projects include a growing concern about manipulated online content, the security of communications with whistleblowers and sources, and the need to improve engagement with audiences.
The projects have the potential to be replicated by media elsewhere in Africa, or to be scaled up across the continent, to create wide and sustained impact. Some projects will also develop new tools to support newsrooms and boost media revenues to support sustainable journalism. Winners will receive cash grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000; technology support from a team of four developers at AMI’s
jAccelerator lab
in Kenya, and business development support from top media strategists affiliated with the
World Association of Newspapers & News Publishers
. Ten of the winners will also be flown to the Knight Foundation’s annual
M.I.T. Civic Media Conference in the U.S., while the rest will be showcased at other important industry events.
The ANIC winners are:
actNOW (Ghana)
AdBooker (
South Africa)
Africa Check
(
South Africa / Nigeria)
skyCAM
(
Kenya / Nigeria)
Africa’s Wealth
(
renamed NewsStack
) (
Nigeria / Namibia)
Citizen Desk
(
Mozambique)
Code4Ghana (
Ghana)
ConvergeCMS
(
Kenya / Tanzania / Uganda)
CorruptionNET
(
South Africa)
DataWrapper
(
Nigeria / Senegal / Tanzania)
End-to-End
(
renamed LastMile Crowdmapping
) (
Liberia / Ghana / Kenya)
FlashCast
(
Kenya)
Green Hornet
(
South Africa)
ListeningPost
(
South Africa)
MoJo: Keeping media honest by monitoring online journalism
(
South Africa)
openAFRICA
(
Kenya / Nigeria / Rwanda / South Africa)
ODADI
(
renamed Code4SouthAfrica
) (
South Africa)
Oxpeckers
(
South Africa)
Wikipedia Zero
(
Cameroon / Ivory Coast / Tunisia / Uganda)
ZeroNews (
pan-African)
You can learn more about the winners’ projects on the
ANIC website
.
We can’t wait to see how these innovations unfold and we look forward to working with more African journalists to help them use technologies to tell important stories.
Posted by Julie Taylor, Communications Manager, Sub Saharan Africa
Libération wins Google-supported digital press prize
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
They were ingenious ideas. At the first ever Google-supported
GEN
Editor’s
Lab
Paris
, a team from the French daily
Libération
developed an online application called Qui+. The application tags faces in photos that are published on the the newspaper’s website, linking to additional information about image. According to Libération’s Florent Latrive, Qui+ will be implemented in the newsroom during the first half of 2013.
Ask Media
was the runner up, with an application called InstaLive that organizes streaming social media photos by hashtags, facilitating the process of photo selection for editorial use.
Held last week in
Le
Nouvel
Observateur’s
headquarters near the Paris Stock Exchange, the day long workshop demonstrated how Google and newspapers can find common ground on bringing high-quality journalism to the net.
Seven different media organizations across a wide range of the French media spectrum participated. They included
Le Nouvel Observateur
,
Libération
,
France 24
,
Play Bac Presse
,
Ask Media
,
Citizenside
, and
OWNI
. Several Google speakers took part.
Daniel Sieberg
, author of the book Digital Diet, gave a keynote speech about the value of innovation in journalism and Christian Witt, Google TV’s development manager, held a masterclass on digital Internet-enabled TV.
During the event, each participating media represented an Editors' Lab teams. At the end of the workshop portion each presented a five minute pitch of their projects. Both winning teams are invited to the next level of the Editors’ Lab: The International News Hackathon, which will take place at the GEN News Summit from 19 - 21 June 2013.
Posted by Alexandra Laferriere, Public Policy & Government Affairs Manager, France
Keep the Internet free and open
Monday, December 3, 2012
Cross-posted with the
Official Google Blog
Update December 17, 2012:
At the conclusion of the ITU meeting in Dubai last Friday, 89 countries signed the treaty, while 55 countries said they would not sign or that additional review was needed. We stand with the countries who refused to sign, and with the
millions of you
who have voiced your support for a free and open web.
Starting in 1973, when my colleagues and I proposed the technology behind the Internet, we advocated for an open standard to connect computer networks together. This wasn’t merely philosophical; it was also practical.
Our protocols were designed to make the networks of the Internet non-proprietary and interoperable. They avoided “lock-in,” and allowed for contributions from many sources. This openness is why the Internet creates so much value today. Because it is borderless and belongs to everyone, it has brought unprecedented freedoms to billions of people worldwide: the freedom to create and innovate, to organize and influence, to speak and be heard.
But starting in a few hours, a closed-door
meeting
of the world’s governments is taking place in Dubai, and regulation of the Internet is on the agenda. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is convening a conference from December 3-14 to revise a decades-old
treaty
, in which only governments have a vote. Some proposals could allow governments to justify the censorship of legitimate speech, or even cut off Internet access in their countries.
You can read more about my concerns on
CNN.com
, but I am not alone. So far, more than 1,000 organizations from more than 160 countries have
spoken up too
, and they’re joined by hundreds of thousands of Internet users who are standing up for a free and open Internet. On an interactive map at
freeandopenweb.com
, you can see that people from all corners of the world have signed our petition, used the #freeandopen hashtag on social media, or created and uploaded videos to say how important these issues are.
If you agree and want to support a free and open Internet too, I invite you to join us by signing the petition at
google.com/takeaction
. Please make your voice heard and spread the word.
Posted by Vint Cerf, VP and Chief Internet Evangelist
Celebrating online entrepreneurs who 'shine online'
Friday, November 30, 2012
What do you get if you combine a
Chinese language school
based in Spain and run by an Italian, a
travel information company
from the UK and a
German online tennis shop
? The answer: the winners of the
euronews Business Awards competition 2012
, which were sponsored by Google.
The three winners were in Brussels yesterday evening for a prize-giving ceremony. Each received a trophy, a Galaxy Nexus phone and a Chromebook, as well as training about how to make the most of the web from Google experts. And best of all, euronews made a mini-documentary about each of the winners, which will be aired on the euronews network and on
YouTube
.
Back in
September
, we launched the competition to find interesting stories of small and medium sized businesses using the internet to successfully attract customers, grow their market share or go global. From
pig farms
to
cooking schools
, more than 100 small businesses sent in their video submissions, reminding us of the vast array of businesses benefiting from the web.
A panel of expert judges whittled down all the video entries to a final shortlist of 15, it was up to members of the public to vote for their favourite videos in each of the three categories: Growing Online; Going International; and Women in Business. Over 4,000 people across Europe participated in the competition by watching the videos and voting for their favourites.
Times are tough across Europe but in Rostock, a town with one of the highest unemployment rates in Germany,
centercourt.de
has thrived online for over 12 years.
Orientalmente
's story demonstrates how the web helps entrepreneurs get new ideas off the ground quickly, creating new jobs in Spain, where finding work is very tough at the moment. And
MyDestination.com
shows how it's possible to build a global business in double quick time thanks to the Internet. All three winners are a timely reminder of how the internet helps small businesses in any part of Europe grow.
Posted by Al Verney, Senior Communications Manager, Google Brussels
Speak2Tweet goes live in Syria
Friday, November 30, 2012
A little less than two years ago, when Internet access was cut off in Egypt, we worked with Twitter to launch
Speak2Tweet
, giving the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection.
Since yesterday, our Transparency Report
has shown
that Internet access is completely cut off in Syria.
Unfortunately we are hearing reports that mobile phones and landlines aren’t working properly either. But those who might be lucky enough to have a voice connection can still use Speak2Tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+90 212 339 1447 or +30 21 1 198 2716 or +39 06 62207294 or +1 650 419 4196), and the service will tweet the message.
No Internet connection is required, and people can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going
here
.
Posted by Maha Abouelenein, Head of Communications, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Discussing creative, constructive copyright reforms in Warsaw
Friday, November 30, 2012
Almost a year ago, massive street demonstrations forced the Polish government to reject an international treaty
ACTA
aimed at criminalizing copyright infringement. Today, we are moving away from this disarray and acrimony and launching a new constructive dialogue.
This week, 300 producers, distributors and consumers of creative content gathered in Warsaw’s
Kino Kultura
for the first ever
CopyCamp
. They shared their experience and perspectives on copyright, stories about how copyright works in practice, and setting the direction for the future of copyright in the digital world. The
Modern Poland Foundation
organized the event, under the honorary patronage of the
Digitization Ministry
. We partnered to make this possible, along with the
Polish Filmmakers Association
, the
ZAiKS Collecting Society
,
Trust for Central and Eastern Europe
.
Nina Paley
opened the event. She is the author of a cartoon film titled “Sita sings the blues” which tells the story of Ramayana using popular songs as soundtrack. Behind the entertaining presentation was a serious message: she started to make money on her films only after she started to apply open licensing to her art.
Paley presented another amusing film.
More than 30 other speakers, among them creators and creators’ organizations, collecting societies, members of the European Parliament, social activists, journalists, lawyers, academics and students, gave fast-paced short presentations. They ranged from a filmmaker’s and musician’s perspective on fair use and creativity, through discussions on the role of collecting societies, copyright education, internet platforms, the complex copyright stories of key icons of Polish culture and the way news publishers work with new internet business models. I talked about how the new technologies and creativity work together for the benefit of the authors and users and how copyright impacts this synergy.
After anti-ACTA protests started the Polish debate on copyright, the speakers agreed that contemporary Polish copyright framework is antiquated. By getting traditional content industries and Internet advocates to sit down together, the CopyCamp represents a hopeful first step in what we will hope becomes a constructive partnership.
Posted by Agata Wacławik-Wejman, Senior Policy Counsel, Warsaw
Big Tent Paris - digital revolution or bust?
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Concrete, not canvas, was the backdrop for our first Big Tent in Paris. We held the event in the imposing Palais d’Iéna, home of our hosts the
Conseil économique, social et environnemental
. The President of the CESE, M. Jean Paul Delevoye, pointed out that concrete was the great symbol of progress when the palace was built in the 1930s.
Today, the Internet represents progress and the day’s theme was to ask how the digital revolution can bring economic growth back to France and Europe. According to a
new OECD study
, the Net already accounts of 13 percent of American business output, impacting every industry, from communications to cars, and restaurants to retail. OECD economist Taylor Reynolds called on other countries to collect data in order to make comparable estimates in other countries. In a video message, the French digital economy minister
Fleur Pellerin
said digital companies grow faster and are more profitable than others in Europe. That’s why, she said, digital companies must be at the heart of future French economic growth.
While that idea sounds uncontroversial, it provoked a series of hotly debated questions during the course of the day. Does the digital revolution create or destroy jobs? How do we balance the value of data and the protection of consumers? Why do investors in digital startups prefer London or Berlin to Paris? We heard about the size of the opportunity for France, as in this
film.
We also heard about the scale of France's competitive challenge, as in this film promoting London, not Paris, as a home for start ups.
For France, will it be a digital revolution, or bust?
Posted by Elisabeth Bargès, Public Policy Manager, Innovation, France
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