Video affects us like no other medium. It can heighten our passions, stoke our fears, awaken us to new experiences and make our hearts ache. It can educate, build understanding and even change the way we see our world. In fact, over half of our millennial subscribers have said a YouTube creator has changed their life.

It’s a sunny afternoon on a school playground, and a class is having a science lesson. There are a few dozen children, some birdcages, a few sparrows...and an observation camera controlled by a nano-computer that the children are using to collect and share data with scientists.

This is XperiBIRD.be, an initiative of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. It will provide small modular computers to schoolchildren between the ages of 10 and 14 throughout Belgium. Pupils will learn to build and install simple Raspberry Pi computers and infrared cameras in birdcages, then use them to collect information and actively contribute to scientific research. Along the way, XperiBIRD.be will be giving the children an introduction to computer science and other STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.
STEM subjects are increasingly important for our economy — the number of technology-related jobs continues to grow. But these vacancies are proving difficult to fill, which is why we’re excited to support XperiBIRD.be in its entirety with a Google.org grant of over €650,000. Since it makes programming less abstract (and more fun), XperiBIRD.be is an ideal way to spark children’s interest in digital skills — an interest that might inspire them to become technologists and scientists. It’s one more way that we’re working to be a Growth Engine for digital skills, unlocking people’s digital potential through computer science programs.

Posted by Florian Maganza, Program Manager, Google.org

The world is facing the largest refugee crisis since World War II. Last September, we invited people around the world to help us in supporting organizations on the ground — with Google.org matching every dollar. Since that time, Google.org has committed more than $16.5 million to refugee relief efforts, focused on immediate humanitarian assistance, information and connectivity, and education.

Clooney Foundation for Justice Grant

Today, we’re supporting the Clooney Foundation for Justice with a $1 million grant focused on education for refugee children in Lebanon. More than half of global refugees are under the age of eighteen, and in Lebanon, which is hosting the largest number of Syrian refugees per capita in the world, nearly half of those are Syrian refugee children who are currently out of school.

The Clooney Foundation for Justice is teaming up with SABIS, a global education network that has already taught many refugee children in Lebanon. SABIS is taking its accredited teaching methodology and making it accessible to more refugees in Lebanon by setting up semi-permanent schools in areas with a high concentration of refugee children. This grant will support expanding their efforts to develop a new school model, using digital tools, for up to 10,000 out-of-school children in Lebanon. Through our employee volunteering program, we’ll also provide technical expertise to help with everything from connectivity to cloud storage by having Googlers helping both on the ground and remotely.



This grant builds on our work with organizations who also support refugees in Germany, France, Turkey and Greece with access to education and learning opportunities. Collectively, our efforts across humanitarian assistance, connectivity and access to information and education will help more than 1 million refugees.

Information and Connectivity

In October 2015, we granted NetHope $900,000, and our employees from around the world helped set up WiFi hotspots and charging kits at key transit points along the refugee route in Europe. So far, more than 300,000 refugees have been able to access NetHope’s WiFi to access vital information. Googlers also helped build the site RefugeeInfo.eu with the International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, and others. The site is now accessible in 18 locations in Greece, Italy, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia, and is being used more than 1,000 times a day.

We’re also working to help refugees in the United States get mobile connectivity by partnering with the International Rescue Committee to donate 1,000 Nexus devices and Project Fi wireless service to refugees in 24 cities across the country.

Education

In January, together with NetHope, we launched “Project Reconnect” — an effort to to equip German NGOs with 25,000 Chromebooks that help refugees learn more about local languages, resources, and job opportunities. To date, more than half of them have been delivered and used by nonprofits in Germany. Last year, we also gave a grant to Libraries without Borders to send their Ideas Boxes to create safe learning and playing spaces for children in refugee camps. These Ideas Boxes have been visited thousands of times in camps from Lesbos and Athens in Greece to the refugee camp of Grande Synthe in France and in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Discovering the resources of the Ideas Box in the Eleonas refugee camp, in Athens, Greece

A White House call to action

In June, we signed on as a founding partner of the White House’s Private Sector Call to Action for Refugees, an effort by the administration to bring together a cross-section of businesses to help make significant commitments that will have a measurable impact on refugees both in the United States and around the world. We’re participating in the conversation at the White House Summit on Refugees today in New York, and will continue to build on our efforts.

You can learn more about grantees and their work at google.org/refugees, and you can donate directly on our site and via the White House’s AidRefugees.gov.

Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, Director, Google.org https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ortc2qBz65s/V-CCwQEjH5I/AAAAAAAATA4/0hCOAPdRescymVIMl8Lf7bCM6qQPq_BcQCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-09-19%2Bat%2B5.28.26%2BPM.png Jacquelline Fuller Director Google.org

History was made on Thursday, when European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker sat down with some of Europe’s brightest young YouTube Creators. He spent an hour with Jonas Ems, Laetitia Birbes, and Łukasz Jakóbiak answering questions from them and their millions of followers on subjects from the refugee crisis to endocrine disruptors.

“I'm not a big social media user, I don't have the time,” admitted the President. But with a bit of help from Debating Europe and Euronews he took questions in a variety of backdrops, including their apartments. And he had a clear message for European youth. “In dealing with the outside world we have to be able to act not just as an economic power, but also to transmit European values.”

Danke, merci, thank you @jonas_ems @CorpsMaisonEspr @lukaszjakobiak @Isabelle_kumar for the interview! pic.twitter.com/v2JiVnwS9F

— Jean-Claude Juncker (@JunckerEU) September 15, 2016

Discussing what Europe needs to grow, one of his solutions will be music to millennial ears. “We want wi-fi everywhere,” he told Jonas -- who has 1.2 million YouTube followers. “We need to have connectivity right across europe to ensure that nobody is excluded from the new technologies and what they offer.”

He also shared his views on gay marriage. “Why should states prohibit people from loving one another or coming together? I've never understood that.”

What better way to end a brilliant hour than with a #selfie. Thanks to everyone who tuned in to #AskJuncker. pic.twitter.com/WFdjsMyAKa

— YouTube (@YouTube) 15 September 2016

One reason YouTube is so popular is that the stars speak directly to their audience with #nofilter. Laetitia Birbes wasn’t afraid to use this opportunity to ask hard-hitting questions on the environment, taxation and lobbying. But her fresh, young approach was clearly a hit. “Is this your first interview with YouTubers?” asked Laetitia? “Yes, but not my last,” the President replied.

Last up was Łukasz -- who flipped it round and asked President Juncker what he knew about his TV channel 20m2 -- broadcast entirely from his small flat in Warsaw and filmed on his phone. He also asked what young Europeans could do to have more influence. “By taking the floor. By being more vocal. By being critical,” Juncker replied. “If you respect someone you discuss with them.”

It was great to see that discussion taking place today. And the participants definitely had a great time -- this GIF says it all! Łukasz got the famous kiss Juncker uses to greet heads of state at meetings in Brussels. Danke!

We think it's safe to say that @lukaszjakobiak and @JunckerEU got along well. #AskJuncker #SOTEU pic.twitter.com/22SB9XKcnZ

— YouTube (@YouTube) September 15, 2016

Posted by Mark Jansen, Senior Communications Manager, Brussels

The storied halls of 10 Downing Street aren’t often open to the public. Those who want to see inside the Prime Minister’s residence and office usually have to wait for a rare open house...

For hundreds of years copyright has promoted creativity and progress. It’s a principle that holds true today and one we support through leading-edge efforts to combat copyright-infringing activity.

Today the European Commission announced its proposal to update copyright rules for the digital age. There’s an important balance to be struck—one that enables rightsholders to manage and profit from their work while also allowing the creativity and innovation of the web to flourish.

There are things to like in the proposal. We’re pleased to see the Commission mandating more transparency and data sharing for artists and rightsholders, an important step to building fairer and more effective copyright marketplaces. This should empower European creators to connect more effectively with their audiences and better understand how they are rewarded.

We’re reassured that the Commission has recognised that content-management technologies like YouTube’s Content ID play an important role in tackling the unauthorised use of protected content (although we’d caution against rigid requirements that smaller and start-up companies may find hard to implement).

But there are also worrying elements, given that the web depends on users’ ability to share content. Today’s proposal suggests that works including text, video, images and more must be filtered by online services. This would effectively turn the internet into a place where everything uploaded to the web must be cleared by lawyers before it can find an audience.

Under the rules of the European eCommerce Directive, that’s not how it works. Platforms are not obliged proactively to monitor what users upload—but must act when notified of an infringement. Through Content ID, YouTube blocks or monetizes content that has been claimed by a copyright owner according to their instructions. This is an important distinction, without which many hosting services simply could not exist.

We’re also disappointed to see a proposal for a new right for press publishers, despite tens of thousands of voices—including ours—calling for a different approach. The proposal looks similar to failed laws in Germany and Spain, and represents a backward step for copyright in Europe. It would hurt anyone who writes, reads or shares the news—including the many European startups working with the news sector to build sustainable business models online.

As proposed, it could also limit Google’s ability to send monetizable traffic, for free, to news publishers via Google News and Search. After all, paying to display snippets is not a viable option for anyone.

We believe there’s a better way. Innovation and partnership—not subsidies and onerous restrictions—are the key to a successful, diverse and sustainable news sector in the EU, and Google is committed to playing its part.

The Digital News Initiative, which now includes more than 160 European publishers, has already delivered game-changing, open-source technology through Accelerated Mobile Pages, enabling news publishers to deliver their stories and advertising to mobile phones at lightning speed, while maintaining control of their content and monetisation options. The DNI is also investing 150 million Euros in news innovation projects in Europe.

And YouTube’s Content ID, which we’ve spent 9 years and $60 million to develop—including recent advancements in machine learning —currently handles 98% of copyright management on YouTube. Since its launch Content ID has paid out over $2 billion to rightsholders while encouraging innovation by a new generation of creators eager to promote their work.

Today’s proposal is a first step towards a better functioning marketplace for European creators and consumers--but the appropriate balance has not yet been struck. It’s vital to preserve the principles of linking, sharing and creativity on which so much of the web’s success is built, and we’re keen to play our part in the discussion.

Posted by Caroline Atkinson, Vice President, Global Policy

At Google and YouTube, we’re big fans of the news industry and recognise that technology companies and news organisations are truly part of the same information ecosystem--which is why we want to play our part in the fight towards more sustainable models for news in the future.

Today, through a unique partnership between YouTube and a number of leading European news publishers, we’re launching a new video solution specifically tailored to the needs of news industry; with a goal of reducing complexity and increasing reach and revenue potential, so newsrooms can focus on what matters most -- creating stories that educate and excite, engage and inspire.

We owe great thanks to the members of the Digital News Initiative who have helped to craft and customise the Player for Publishers; their feedback, questioning, and testing have helped us to build a great solution. We are delighted with the early feedback from the publishers across Europe who are already testing the solution, and we’re excited to be opening access to the tool out for all European news publishers.

"Providing a truly satisfactory video experience on the internet has always been a challenge, and it's getting increasingly complex with new use cases,” says German Frassa, Digital Product Director at Unidad Editorial, the publisher of Spanish newspapers El Mundo, Marca, and Expansión which is increasingly focusing on video and emerging formats. Creating engaging content is the main concern of news publishers everywhere, but in an increasingly complex marketplace, advertising, security, cross-device compatibility and content protection can put creativity on the back-burner.

In addition to Unidad Editorial and Prisa from Spain, the wave of pilot partners currently testing the Player include France’s France24, The Guardian (United Kingdom), ze.tt (Germany), Dagbladet (Norway), and Oe24 (Austria).

“We’re very excited to partner with the brand that is synonymous of digital video worldwide,” says Frassa, “To make sure that along with our content, we will be delivering the best experience to all our users as well."

YouTube powers video hosting, streaming, rights management including the use of Content ID, user analytics and monetization options for publishers, freeing up precious newsroom assets to focus on content creation, news-dissemination and the critical storytelling that we’ve come to expect from the free press.

Inspired by conversations with newsrooms across Europe, we developed the YouTube Player for Publishers, a new solution to provide a video hosting, streaming and ads management platform for publishers - powered by YouTube. Here’s how it works:

• Better connecting audiences with news videos: The YouTube Player is available across 1000’s of devices, globally, optimised for the best possible user experience
• Increasing control and maximising revenue: The new player gives publishers the option to control ad formats and ad load on their videos as well as giving priority sales rights across videos embedded in their own sites and applications.
• Reducing complexity, enhancing control The Player helps publishers simplify video infrastructure and reduce cost. Over time, we’ll work to help publishers respond in an evolving landscape of user-generated content for news as well.

“The player from YouTube provides us the best of many things: A terrific product for providing video to our audience, lower operating costs, access to continuous technical innovation, ease of distribution on both our own domains and YouTube's network, and flexible monetisation models,” says Stephan Granhaug, Executive Vice President Digital in Aller Media Norway, the owner of Dagbladet.

We’re thrilled that our partners across Europe are finding early success with the Player, and are eager to extend the invitation for additional European publishers to become involved as we’re just getting started. For more information on progress from the Digital News Initiative, please visit digitalnewsinitiative.com. Publishers interested in learning more can contact us via this form.

Posted by Ben McOwen Wilson, Director of Content Partnerships, YouTube

This Wednesday, President Juncker will deliver his State of the Union address at the European Parliament. The next morning, the European Commission — along with partners Debating Europe and Euronews — will turn to YouTube to field questions about the issues that matter most to people across Europe.

YouTube Creators Jonas Ems, Laetitia Birbes, and Łukasz Jakóbiak will travel to Brussels from their homes in Germany, France and Poland to meet with President Juncker at the Commission’s headquarters at the Berlaymont. While Euronews has hosted live Hangouts on Air with European Commissioners in the past, this is the first time that YouTube Creators will have the opportunity to conduct a full interview with the President.

Nineteen-year-old Jonas is already a veteran YouTuber — not only has he built up a large following for his commentaries and comedy, he’s also published a book about his experiences. Laetitia focuses on sharing her values, like ecology and recycling, and she recently participated in YouTube’s Toi-Même Tu Filmes initiative, aimed at fighting hate speech. Łukasz, who conducts interviews from his tiny Warsaw apartment, explained in an inspirational TedX talk last year how he went from dreamer to doer (and how he got to meet Lady Gaga along the way).

It’s up to Laetitia, Jonas, and Łukasz to choose the questions: They’ll focus on the issues that are top of mind for them and their fans. If you want to weigh in, they’ll be looking at suggestions on social media with the hashtag #AskJuncker.

You can watch the whole thing on the European Commission YouTube channel — the live stream will begin at 11 am CET, and the recording will be available afterward.

Posted by Mark Jansen, Senior Communications Manager at Google Brussels

Many millions of years ago, dinosaurs ruled the Earth and sea dragons were not just Hollywood creations, but fearsome predators that stalked the oceans. It’s a world that vanished long ago, but one that continues to fascinate those seeking to understand the origins of life on our planet.

Starting today, anyone, anywhere can explore this world on Google Arts & Culture. We’ve partnered with 50+ of the world’s leading natural history institutions to bring this lost world to life again online. More than 150 interactive stories from experts, 300,000 new photos and videos, and more than 30 virtual tours await you...

With just a few clicks, you can come face to face with a 180 million year old giant, as virtual reality raises the colossal sea dragon from extinction. Discovered in Dorset in the U.K. and residing at London’s Natural History Museum. The Rhomaleosaurus — to give it its formal name — can now be explored in 360 degrees.


We also used VR to bring the Giraffatitan back to life in Berlin’s natural history museum. Standing at 13 meters (42 feet), it’s one of the tallest dinosaurs that ever lived. It was twice as tall as today’s giraffes, and could easily put its head through a fourth floor window.


We wanted to give you a glimpse of how these colossal creatures actually looked. So we worked with ecologists, paleontologists and biologists to put virtual skin and flesh on the preserved skeletons. From the size of the eye to the position of the snout and the bend of the neck, the texture and creases of the skin were all painstakingly recreated, and verified by a team of scientists. For the best experience, use a viewer like Google Cardboard to look the beast in the eye.

In addition to the VR experiences, this global exhibition of natural history has plenty more for experts and armchair explorers alike:

• Turn back time by 4.6 billion years with the help of the Natural History Museum by scrolling through the history of life from the origins of the solar system, through the rise and the fall of prehistoric worlds. 
• See the giant sloth jaw that led Darwin to his groundbreaking theory of natural selection. 
• Explore the diversity of nature from the Lion fish to the Paradise Birdwing and learn from birds about the art of flirting. 
• View 3,000 species on display in one giant cabinet or find out how our own predecessors may have looked. 
• With Street View, walk around dinosaurs in New York, explore 30+ natural history museums from to Australia to Russia and even go underwater with turtles in Brazil. 
• Join YouTube’s Vsauce2 to discover the story of Martha, the last passenger pigeon. 

The free collection opens today at g.co/naturalhistory and through the Google Arts & Culture mobile app on iOS and Android. And if you’re a teacher, there are more than 20 new Google Expeditions waiting for you and your classroom to discover. We hope you enjoy this journey through the history of nature as much as we do.