Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Supporting open government in New Europe
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
The “New Europe” countries that joined the European Union over the past decade are moving ahead fast to use the Internet to improve transparency and open government. We recently partnered with
Techsoup Global
to support online projects driving forward good governance in Romania, the Czech Republic, and most recently, in Slovakia.
Techsoup Global, in partnership with the
Slovak Center for Philanthropy
, recently held an exciting social-startups awards ceremony
Restart Slovakia 2013
in Bratislava. Slovakia’s Deputy Minister of Finance and Digital Champion
Peter Pellegrini
delivered keynote promoting Internet and Open Data and announced the winners of this year contest. Ambassadors from U.S., Israel and Romania and several distinguished Slovak NGOs also attended the ceremony.
Winning projects included:
Vzdy a vsade
- Always and Everywhere - a volunteer portal offering online and anonymous psychological advice to internet users via chat.
Nemlcme.sk
- a portal providing counsel for victims of sexual assaults.
Co robim
- an educational online library of job careers advising young people how to choose their career paths and dream jobs.
Mapa zlocinu
- an online map displaying various rates of criminality in different neighbourhoods.
Demagog.sk
- a platform focused on analyzing public statements of politicians and releasing information about politicians and truthfulness of their speeches in a user-friendly format.
An award ceremony highlight was a live concert by the
Diplomatic Immunity Band
. The combo (shown above at an earlier gig) includes US Ambassador Theodore Sedgwick on keyboard; Israeli ambassador Alexander Ben-Zvi on conga, Romanian Ambassador Florin Vodita on electric guitar, President of Institute of Public Affairs Grigorij Meseznikov on electro acoustic guitar, and the Banska Bystrica Mayor Peter Gogola on drums. We’re delighted they found the time to make sweet music in favor of open data and data-driven innovation.
Posted by Posted by Ondrej Socuvka, Policy Manager, Bratislava
Here comes the collaborative economy
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
When travelling, have you rented somebody’s flat as an alternative to booking a room in a hotel? Or prefered the car-sharing option to taking the train? These new ways of sharing resources are increasingly becoming common practise and are part of an emerging movement often coined as the “collaborative” or “sharing” economy.
We are proud to support the
“OuiShare Fest”
, the first major European event dedicated to the collaborative economy taking place in Paris from May 2 to May 4. During these three days, more than 600 entrepreneurs, designers, economists, investors, politicians and citizens will come together to reflect about how to build a collaborative future.
European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes
supports the project and even has opened up her blog to a
guest post
from OuiShare’s organizers.
The digital economy has proved a
vector
of economic growth throughout Europe. It has allowed for the emergence of horizontal and networked organizations that offer new opportunities in traditional sectors from health to transportation, education and finance. Online platforms that offer services such as crowdfunding, taxi-sharing or flat-renting are testimony to the rise of new business models which are based on a culture of openness and transparency.
OuiShare will do much to “connect” the actors of this new movement across Europe and we wish them a successful OuiShare Fest.
Posted by Florian Maganza, Policy Analyst, Paris
Introducing the Wonders of the Web
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Today we’re excited to announce a one-stop shop that
explains how the Internet works
and how policymakers can put it to use. Along with
Coadec
,
Decoded
and the
Enso Collaborative
, we’ve produced a series of short videos and text that provide a critical understanding of how the Internet functions in day-to-day language.
We’ve also developed a
section
that shows government officials how to use very basic code and take advantage of the Internet’s speed, scale and reach to let people know who they are and what they stand for. For example, anyone can use our site to copy and paste a snippet of code to add a +1, “like” or “tweet” button to their web page. Adding this social element allows constituents to see different issue platforms and spread news to their friends.
By getting to know the system that underpins the Web, policymakers can also figure out what matters to their constituents and use that data to tailor campaigns that resonate with voters. In fact, the Internet makes it possible to gather and use real-time information, plot the information across a map and even point individuals toward the nearest polling station, policy meeting or political rally.
Protecting a free and open Internet in the long term requires knowing how it operates. As the Web enables more creativity, information exchange and economic growth than ever before, we hope that this site will become a useful resource for people to become familiar with how it came to be.
Posted by Marco Pancini, Senior Policy Counsel, Google
A new way of talking politics in Italy
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Traditionally, politics is conducted top down, with politicians speaking to the people. The Internet can help break this mould, allowing the people to question politicians. We have developed a series of tools on
Google+
and
YouTube
to help connect citizens with their leaders.
In Italy, we worked with
La Stampa
, one of Italy’s most prestigious daily newspapers, to enable citizens to question three senior Italian politicians in a
Google+ Hangout
. Under the headline
A New Relation Between Citizens and Politicians
, La Stampa elicited interview questions from Google+ users on how the web can be used to “rebuild the relationships between citizens and politicians and overcome the populism which is damaging our confidence in our members of parliament.”
Citizens submitted their questions via La Stampa’s Google+ page.
Maurizio Lupi
, Vice President of the Italian Parliament and member of the centre-right PDL Party;
Enrico Letta
, Vice-Secretary General of the centre-left Democratic Party; and
Roberto Rao
, Member of Parliament for the centrist UDC party, answered. Topics focused on the economic crisis and youth employment.
“Most MPs use the web only as a showcase,” acknowledged Mr. Rao. “Just a few of us understand the potential of the web to interact with citizens.”
Politicians using the web “is an important experiment,” said Mr. Letta. “If it succeeds it can be used much more as a way to engage citizens,”
We hope that this inaugural Hangout encourages other politicians to engage with voters online in the run up to the Italian elections in spring 2013. Stay tuned.
Posted by Diego Ciulli, Policy Analyst Google Italy
Watch the Big Tent on YouTube
Friday, March 30, 2012
Our programme of Big Tent events aims to bring together digital businesses, policymakers and advocacy groups to debate some of the hot issues facing the Internet and society.
Now, with the launch of our new
Big Tent YouTube channel
, everyone can engage with these debates online.
The channel includes videos from our sessions so far in
London
,
The Hague
,
Berlin
and
Madrid
. You can filter by topic, speaker and event, so whether you’re interested in privacy or child safety, Hillary Clinton on Internet freedom or Wael Ghonim on the role of the Internet in Egypt’s revolution, it’s all available under the Big Tent.
The launch of our new channel coincides with our first Big Tent in the US--an event on Digital Citizenship held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Over the course of the day, we discussed child safety online, the most effective ways to incorporate technology with educationa and what governments and civil society can do to maintain a responsible and innovative web.
Stay tuned for videos from that and future Big Tents as the programme continues to roll out across the world.
Posted by Peter Barron, Director of External Relations EMEA
Visualise the world’s economic recovery - and win $2,000
Thursday, March 29, 2012
The summer before I left university, banks - overburdened with housing bubble debts - started collapsing. My fellow students and I had anticipated that finding a job would be challenging - but not that we would get to unemployment rates as high as 9.6% in both the
United States
and the
European Union
in 2010, the highest they’ve been in almost 30 years.
So we figured it would be pretty interesting to see which government policies are reversing the trend - which is why we’ve teamed up with the
Guardian Datastore
to launch a
competition
to create the best visualisation of public data sets.
Using information from
Eurostat
,
the World Economic Forum
,
World Bank
,
UN
,
IMF
and some of the world's major
economic
experts
, we want you to make an argument about how to generate sustainable growth in the 21st century.
Finding solutions to these problems is critical to the future of our society and economy. To debate the issues that surface in the visualisations, we’ll be co-hosting public conversations via Google+ Hangouts that are anchored in hard numbers. Stay tuned to this blog or the Guardian Datastore for details.
The competition is open to U.K. and U.S. citizens with a prize of $2,000 going to the most compelling, beautiful and informed visualisation. Entries are due by May 21 and results will be published on the Guardian Datastore’s new site,
Show and Tell
.
A new economic reality is setting in, and if we are going to master it, citizens and leaders alike need to invest in figuring out how to adapt. Check out the data from our list or bring your own as long as it’s freely available to the public - and submit your entry to datavisualisation@guardian.co.uk!
Posted by Dorothy Chou, Senior Policy Analyst at Google
Open government = better politics?
Monday, December 13, 2010
Earlier this year, I blogged about the
Internet & Society Co://aboratory
, a new thinktank here in Germany that brings together independent Internet experts from academia, civil society and the private sector. Google initiated the group and funds its organisation. The Co://aboratory was set up to contribute to the public debate in Germany about how the Internet transforms our daily lives - and how we can ensure it continues to be an engine of innovation and economic growth. Back in July, the Co://aboratory released its
first report
on the state of online innovation culture.
Now, the second circle of
38 experts
has published a second paper, entitled
Open Statecraft - Better Politics Through Open Government?
It examines how the Internet can enable citizens to participate more in the political process. It asks whether open government concepts from other countries can be transferred successfully to Germany - and discusses whether more open policy-making also leads to better policy.
The report includes data from a specially commissioned
Dimap
survey of more than 1000 German voters (full results downloadable
here
), which shows that:
Nearly three-quarters of Germans want to be more involved in making decisions at a national level. Within this group, 85% of 25-34 year olds want to participate more in the political process via the Internet - as do 73% of 55-64 year olds.
Supporters of the German opposition parties are more in favour of open government initiatives than supporters of the current federal government coalition.
69% of people said they would want to participate if - for example - municipalities were to let local residents vote on planned projects or investments
The question whether to open up access to government data - and more specifically, whether national and state authorities should make all of their (non-personally identifying) information publicly available - is still not clear to the wider public. 45% were in favour of open data, but 44% opposed the idea.
On the face of it, it probably isn’t that surprising that German citizens want to be more involved in political decision-making. But it is interesting - especially given recent debates about the Internet in German society - that a high proportion of people, across age groups, want to get involved in the political process
via the web
. There are already numerous examples around the world of how the web can bring citizens, activists and politicians into closer and more productive dialogue - and Google supports and encourages this trend, both by organising
events
and through tools such as
Google Moderator
.
It’s surprising that people do not yet fully understand the benefits of opening up access to public sector information. It seems there is a need for better information about just how useful public data reuse can be - whether you’re talking about
raw weather modelling data
,
public transport schedules
or platforms that enable cool visualizations of public data (
Mapnificent
,
Google Public Data Explorer
).
The Co://aboratory is now undertaking its third initiative, due out in March 2011. This report will look at how the concept of copyright can be updated to better reflect the challenges and opportunities of the information age. In the meantime, please do take a few minutes to explore the
Co://aboratory website
and read the reports.
[BTW: if you’re not a German speaker, you might want to use
Google Translate
to take a closer look at some of the links I’ve included in this post.]
Posted by: Dr Max Senges, Public Affairs and Internet Policy, Google Germany
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