Tag Archives: Europe

Protecting Europe’s workers: The urgent need for skills

In recent years, new technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics have helped companies increase efficiency and productivity and become more competitive on the global stage. But with these technological advances come challenges for governments and employers: in the short term, technology can fundamentally change the way people work, and in the long term it can displace some jobs altogether. With the additional upheaval of jobs markets as a result of the pandemic, it’s imperative that skills programs are targeted at those most at risk of displacement. 


Governments around the world, including the European Commission, are gearing up for these challenges and initiating programs to re-train their workforces. Over many years, Google has sought to play its part by building products that help European businesses grow and helping over seven million people all over Europe learn new digital skills. 

How will the future work?

We recently collaborated with the McKinsey Global Institute on new research looking at the impact of automation on jobs in almost 1,100 regional labor markets in Europe over the next ten years. The research estimates that, even accounting for expected job losses, Europe may still have a shortage of workers rather than a shortage of jobs in 2030. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the research suggested that the shortfall could be as high as 6 million workers, although that may now be lower. To put it another way, automation in Europe is not the threat to jobs that some people fear.

However, these opportunities are not spread equally across Europe, and there’s a clear gap between the requirements of these future jobs and the skills people currently have. Some jobs will be lost, and people will need new skills to succeed in new types of work. Alongside this, COVID-19 is also having a major impact, accelerating trends that we expected to see over a longer period of time. 

Unlike most prior research about the future of work, which was conducted at a national level, this report puts regions front and centre. Towns like Mannheim and Montpellier, or Dobrich and Douro, are more similar to each other than they are to the rest of their own countries, when it comes to the impact of automation. You can see those similarities clearly in this interactive map that we launched today. 

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The map is a companion to the McKinsey Global Institute report, showing the types of jobs that will be growing and declining across Europe’s diverse regions over the next ten years. It’s also a clear illustration of the importance of tailoring skills and training programs to the needs and opportunities of individual European regions, sectors and communities.

What’s next? 

That’s certainly been our experience: we’ve seen that training is only successful if you open it up to everyone, and especially to those most at risk of job displacement, who too often don’t have the opportunity or means to learn new skills, and may live in lower-growth regions. That’s why we’ve developed partnerships with experts to help reach underserved groups, including working with organisations toreach trade unions and workers in the transport and logistics sector, developing programs to helpwomen build confidence in their leadership skills, and funding nonprofits to provide critical services forunderserved small businesses.

The jobs market turmoil caused by the pandemic has made reskilling even more urgent. During the first few weeks of lockdown, we saw a 300 percent increase in the number of people taking our free Grow with Google training courses. Significantly, McKinsey Global Institute conducted its research shortly before the COVID-19 crisis began, but analysis of more recent data shows a significant overlap between the jobs at risk in the next ten years and those at risk now. 

Every day, we work with European entrepreneurs and businesses to help them grow. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve increased our support by providing funding, tools and programs to help workers and businesses recover faster from the crisis, and help people stay safe, informed and connected. Along with increasing private investment from companies like ours, we call on governments to create the right environments to help citizens learn the skills that are required for the jobs of the future. It’s up to all of us—governments, companies and citizens—to make sure all European regions thrive and the benefits of automation reach everyone.

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Below are some of the key findings from the research and you can read McKinsey’s full report here.

Reskilling is paramount  

  • More than 90 million workers may need to develop significant new skills within their current roles, while up to 21 million may have to leave declining occupations.
  • Automation will affect sectors and occupations differently, with office work, manufacturing, agriculture and construction presenting some of the highest displacement rates. 
  • Europe may still have a shortage of workers rather than a shortage of jobs in 2030, with growth predicted in healthcare, STEM-related sectors and creative and arts industries. So while tech aptitude is an asset, it’s not everything: Europeans will spend 30 percent more time doing work related to social and emotional skills. 

The impact on labour markets will vary across countries and regions 

  • Our research revealed 13 types of regional clusters across Europe. From superstar hubs that drive change and attract worldwide talent to regions supported by public investment, these profiles reveal the continent in a new light. 
  • High-tech jobs will be a major growth area: jobs in science and engineering will grow by 40 percent in megacities like London and Paris, 35 percent in superstar hubs like Geneva and Stockholm, and 30 percent in service-based economies like Manchester and Budapest. 
  • Even before the crisis, remote work has grown steadily since 2007: around 19 percent of German and 14 percent of French workers sometimes or usually work from home. However, this growth has been concentrated in urban areas, and not in the declining regions that don’t have enough jobs.

Read the full report on McKinsey’s site here and visit our interactive map. Google wants to play its part to accelerate Europe's economic recovery through our technology, tools and training and help all Europeans benefit from long term technological advances.


Responding to the European Commission’s AI white paper

In January, our CEO Sundar Pichai visited Brussels to talk about artificial intelligence and how Google could help people and businesses succeed in the digital age through partnership. Much has changed since then due to COVID-19, but one thing hasn’t—our commitment to the potential of partnership with Europe on AI, especially to tackle the pandemic and help people and the economy recover. 

As part of that effort, we earlier today filed our response to the European Commission’s Consultation on Artificial Intelligence, giving our feedback on the Commission’s initial proposal for how to regulate and accelerate the adoption of AI. 

Excellence, skills, trust

Our filing applauds the Commission’s focus on building out the European “ecosystem of excellence.” European universities already boast renowned leaders in dozens of areas of AI research—Google partners with some of them via our machine learning research hubs in Zurich, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris and London—and many of their students go on to make important contributions to European businesses.  

We support the Commission’s plans to help businesses develop the AI skills they need to thrive in the new digital economy. Next month, we’ll contribute to those efforts by extending our machine learning check-up tool to 11 European countries to help small businesses implement AI and grow their businesses. Google Cloud already works closely with scores of businesses across Europe to help them innovate using AI.  

We also support the Commission’s goal of building a framework for AI innovation that will create trust and guide ethical development and use of this widely applicable technology. We appreciate the Commission's proportionate, risk-based approach. It’s important that AI applications in sensitive fields—such as medicine or transportation—are held to the appropriate standards. 

Based on our experience working with AI, we also offered a couple of suggestions for making future regulation more effective. We want to be a helpful and engaged partner to policymakers, and we have provided more details in our formal response to the consultation.

Definition of high-risk AI applications

AI has a broad range of current and future applications, including some that involve significant benefits and risks.  We think any future regulation would benefit from a more carefully nuanced definition of “high-risk” applications of AI. We agree that some uses warrant extra scrutiny and safeguards to address genuine and complex challenges around safety, fairness, explainability, accountability, and human interactions. 

Assessment of AI applications

When thinking about how to assess high-risk AI applications, it's important to strike a balance. While AI won’t always be perfect, it has great potential to help us improve over the performance of existing systems and processes. But the development process for AI must give people confidence that the AI system they’re using is reliable and safe. That’s especially true for applications like new medical diagnostic techniques, which potentially allow skilled medical practitioners to offer more accurate diagnoses, earlier interventions, and better patient outcomes. But the requirements need to be proportionate to the risk, and shouldn’t unduly limit innovation, adoption, and impact. 

This is not an easy needle to thread. The Commission’s proposal suggests “ex ante” assessment of AI applications (i.e., upfront assessment, based on forecasted rather than actual use cases). Our contribution recommends having established due diligence and regulatory review processes expand to include the assessment of AI applications. This would avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts and likely speed up implementation.

For the (probably) rare instances when high-risk applications of AI are not obviously covered by existing regulations, we would encourage clear guidance on the “due diligence” criteria companies should use in their development processes. This would enable robust upfront self-assessment and documentation of any risks and their mitigations, and could also include further scrutiny after launch.

This approach would give European citizens confidence about the trustworthiness of AI applications, while also fostering innovation across the region. And it would encourage companies—especially smaller ones—to launch a range of valuable new services. 

Principles and process

Responsible development of AI presents new challenges and critical questions for all of us. In 2018 we published our own AI Principles to help guide our ethical development and use of AI, and also established internal review processes to help us avoid bias, test rigorously for safety, design with privacy top of mind.  Our principles also specify areas where we will not design or deploy AI, such as to support mass surveillance or violate human rights. Look out for an update on our work around these principles in the coming weeks. 

AI is an important part of Google’s business and our aspirations for the future. We share a common goal with policymakers—a desire to build trust in AI through responsible innovation and thoughtful regulation, so that European citizens can safely enjoy the full social and economic benefits of AI. We hope that our contribution to the consultation is useful, and we look forward to participating in the discussion in coming months.

How AI could predict sight-threatening eye conditions

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the biggest cause of sight loss in the UK and USA and is the third largest cause of blindness across the globe. The latest research collaboration between Google Health, DeepMind and Moorfields Eye Hospital is published in Nature Medicine today. It shows that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to not only spot the presence of AMD in scans, but also predict the disease’s progression. 

Vision loss and wet AMD

Around 75 percent of patients with AMD have an early form called “dry” AMD that usually has relatively mild impact on vision. A minority of patients, however, develop the more sight-threatening form of AMD called exudative, or “wet” AMD. This condition affects around 15 percent of patients, and occurs when abnormal blood vessels develop underneath the retina. These vessels can leak fluid, which can cause permanent loss of central vision if not treated early enough.

Macular degeneration mainly affects central vision, causing "blind spots" directly ahead

Macular degeneration mainly affects central vision, causing "blind spots" directly ahead (Macular Society).

Wet AMD often affects one eye first, so patients become heavily reliant upon their unaffected eye to maintain their normal day-to-day living. Unfortunately, 20 percent of these patientswill go on to develop wet AMD in their other eye within two years. The condition often develops suddenly but further vision loss can be slowed with treatments if wet AMD is recognized early enough. Ophthalmologists regularly monitor their patients for signs of wet AMD using 3D optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of the retina.

The period before wet AMD develops is a critical window for preventive treatment, which is why we set out to build a system that could predict whether a patient with wet AMD in one eye will go on to develop the condition in their second eye. This is a novel clinical challenge, since it’s not a task that is routinely performed.

How AI could predict the development of wet AMD

In collaboration with colleagues at DeepMind and Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, we’ve developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that has the potential to predict whether a patient will develop wet AMD within six months. In the future, this system could potentially help doctors plan studies of earlier intervention, as well as contribute more broadly to clinical understanding of the disease and disease progression. 

We trained and tested our model using a retrospective, anonymized dataset of 2,795 patients. These patients had been diagnosed with wet AMD in one of their eyes, and were attending one of seven clinical sites for regular OCT imaging and treatment. For each patient, our researchers worked with retinal experts to review all prior scans for each eye and determine the scan when wet AMD was first evident. In collaboration with our colleagues at DeepMind we developed an AI system composed of two deep convolutional neural networks, one taking the raw 3D scan as input and the other, built on our previous work, taking a segmentation map outlining the types of tissue present in the retina. Our prediction system used the raw scan and tissue segmentations to estimate a patient’s risk of progressing to wet AMD within the next six months. 

To test the system, we presented the model with a single, de-identified scan and asked it to predict whether there were any signs that indicated the patient would develop wet AMD in the following six months. We also asked six clinical experts—three retinal specialists and three optometrists, each with at least ten years’ experience—to do the same. Predicting the possibility of a patient developing wet AMD is not a task that is usually performed in clinical practice so this is the first time, to our knowledge, that experts have been assessed on this ability. 

While clinical experts performed better than chance alone, there was substantial variability between their assessments. Our system performed as well as, and in certain cases better than, these clinicians in predicting wet AMD progression. This highlights its potential use for informing studies in the future to assess or help develop treatments to prevent wet AMD progression.

Future work could address several limitations of our research. The sample was representative of practice at multiple sites of the world’s largest eye hospital, but more work is needed to understand the model performance in different demographics and clinical settings. Such work should also understand the impact of unstudied factors—such as additional imaging tests—that might be important for prediction, but were beyond the scope of this work.

What’s next 

These findings demonstrate the potential for AI to help improve understanding of disease progression and predict the future risk of patients developing sight-threatening conditions. This, in turn, could help doctors study preventive treatments.

This is the latest stage in our partnership with Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, a long-standing relationship that transitioned from DeepMind to Google Health in September 2019. Our previous collaborations include using AI to quickly detect eye conditions, and showing how Google Cloud AutoML might eventually help clinicians without prior technical experience to accurately detect common diseases from medical images. 

This is early research, rather than a product that could be implemented in routine clinical practice. Any future product would need to go through rigorous prospective clinical trials and regulatory approvals before it could be used as a tool for doctors. This work joins a growing body of research in the area of developing predictive models that could inform clinical research and trials. In line with this, Moorfields will be making the dataset available through the Ryan Initiative for Macular Research. We hope that models like ours will be able to support this area of work to improve patient outcomes. 


Stay “connected to culture” on International Museum Day

Culture is the glue that connects us, even when we can’t be together. Right now people around the world are learning, exploring and finding joy in unexpected places and things, and cultural organizations everywhere are responding with new ways of staying connected to audiences digitally.

Supporting cultural organizations online

To mark this year's rather unusual International Museum Day, together with the International Council of Museums, we’re supporting cultural organizations to continue their cultural programs online with our multi-language resource “Connected to Culture.” It has been inspiring and humbling to see creative cultural organizations from around the globe reimagining the way people interact with art and culture, and adapting to the virtual world. Together, they’re helping to keep our communities connected through shared, digitized cultural moments.

Launching new things to explore for everyone 

Also today, more than 80 museums from over 25 countries are sharing new collections and stories on Google Arts & Culture, joining over 2000 partners already onboard. Discover the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation (China), Parsons School of Design (USA), Meiji Jingu Forest - Festival of Art (Japan), Patronato Ruta de la Amistad A.C (Mexico) or the Casa Buonarroti (Italy). Together, they contribute 250 new stories and over 10,000 artworks as well as virtual Street View tours to exciting places such as the sacred grounds of the Meiji Shrine in Japan.

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    Zoom intothe world of Kandinsky in his painting, “Hard in Soft”

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    Meet the photographers who are revolutionizing the world of fashion through joyful images.

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    Today we’re Mad Hatters! Explore the natural materials used to make your favorite hats.

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    Zoom intothe genius of Michelangelo, to discover his unique military  sketches.

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    Why the long faces? Find outthe history of these 1,000 year old figurines.

Offering tools to teachers and parents

To support teachers, parents, and curious minds throughout this period of quarantine, we’ve launched new educational content—from the Family Fun on Google Arts & Culture hub, to lesson plans, and virtual field trips with digital skills lessons.
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    11 “Learn Anywhere” lesson plans, written by education experts at Lexicon Learning, help to dive into a wide range of themes on Google Arts & Culture. If you’re interested in how the Bauhaus school is still influencing design today, or whether dinosaurs are still alive, check out the free to download lesson plans on TES.

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    29 new educational virtual field trips on Google Arts & Culture lead you to famous places like Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, the CERN tunnel, where scientists research the beginning of our universe, or Kenya to learn about the cradle of humankind.

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    Looking to explore the world from home and boost your digital skills? With new lessons from Applied Digital Skills - Grow with Google’s free, online digital skill curriculum - students can learn practical digital skills while virtually exploring art, historic events, and iconic figures on Google Arts & Culture. These five video-based lessons help students use GSuite tools to make pixel art inspired by Frida Kahlo, create a quiz on the Palace of Versailles for family and friends, and more!

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    Google Arts & Culture is now also featured in Teach from Home, an online website that many teachers and parents have sought ideas and inspiration from during the past weeks.

For many art lovers, culture vultures, creators and curators, the idea of spending International Museum Day at home may not be a familiar one but we hope these new additions to Google Arts & Culture will inspire you to explore and learn more about arts and culture, with the whole family while at home.

Get creative with “do it”

It seems that baking bread, cleaning one's cellar or brewing Kombucha have become popular hobbies while staying at home. But how about creating a work of art? “Do it” are DIY instructions shared by leading creatives you can easily do at home. Today we have created a new hub for ‘Do It’ on Arts & Culture —created in collaboration with Serpentine Galleries,Independent Curators International and Kaldor Public Art Projects. 

 It began as a project by the Artistic Director of Serpentine Galleries, curator Hans Ulrich Obristand 12 artists in Paris in 1993, and now we’re adding new “do its” including ones shared by Virgil A. Abloh, Sumayya Vally from Counterspace Studio, and Arca. 

 More “do its” will be published weekly, you can also try others from the past 27 years: make a wish with Yoko Ono,invent book titles like the Raqs Media Collective or bake a delicious gratin guided by film director Agnes Varda. 

 We hope these instructions will help you release your inner artist—share your creations via  #DoItAroundTheWorld. To find out more about “do it” visit g.co/doitaroundtheworld or discover more on Google Arts & Culture—or download our free app for iOS or Android. 

Header image by Precious Okoyomon

La Scala: the theater comes to you

Back in the 18th century, visitors to La Scala Theater in Milan had to scramble for good seats. Though the aristocrats owned their boxes, most people just had to stand on the ground floor the whole time, with no chairs at all. 

Starting today, nobody will have to worry about getting a good seat because La Scala of Milan, one of the most iconic theaters in the world, is raising its (digital) curtain on Google Arts & Culture. You’re invited to take the best seat in the house.

By bringing its treasures online on Google Arts & Culture, La Scala is opening for a global digital audience, after closing its doors due to the current Covid-19 restrictions. Even with its stage dark, the creativity of the artists endures. To celebrate the theater’s past and present, 92 artists from five countries have come together to create La Scala’s first opera performed in quarantine. Enjoy an aria from Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” that fittingly represents a story of unity and resilience.
At home with artists from La Scala performing Verdi’s "Simon Boccanegra"

By recording 92 artists (6 soloists, 26 choristes, 60 musicians), currently in lockdown in their homes in 5 different countries, the video (re)introduces viewers to an aria from Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra.

In La Scala’s online collection, you can now walk through the theater with Street View. Discover what it feels like to stand on the main stage like an opera star, enjoy a ballet performance from the Royal box or, even look around the industrial workshop, where  artisans create impressive stages, props and nearly 1,000 costumes every year, including creations by fashion designers Gianni Versace and Yves Saint Laurent. With high resolution imagery captured by our Art Camera you can even zoom into the finest details of the costumes—from ivory brocade and gold cabochons to black velvet and ruby mirror stones—worn by opera icon Maria Callas.

Go even further behind the scenes and explore over 259,000 images digitized from the theater’s archive. You can flip through the pages of a rare edition of the rare hand-painted edition of Turandot music score, the first libretto for Verdi’sNabucco or learn about the many different artists whose work has graced the La Scala stage, including artists David Hockney and Giorgio De Chirico.

  • Il Teatro alla Scala from the outside

    Il Teatro alla Scala from the outside.

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    The iconic Luciano Pavarotti playing a part in the opera Aida.

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    The parterre at La Scala Theatreoffers a full view of its spectacular interior.

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    Costumes for Salome designed by Gianni Versace, one of many famous designers creating for the Scala Theater.

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    A reproductions of sketches for Turandot by G.Puccini Umberto Brunelleschi from 1926. 


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    The view from the stage only known to those performing at the Teatro alla Scala.


Wherever you are, you can look behind the curtain of one of the world’s greatest theaters. And while we wait to travel again, La Scala Theatre comes to you, online on Google Arts & Culture.

To discover even more about Performing Arts browse Google Arts & Culture online, or download our free app for iOS or Android.

Go on a cultural rendezvous with “Art For Two”

If you don’t work for a cultural institution, you’ve probably never had the opportunity to wander all alone through a museum’s hallways, exhibition spaces and galleries, after hours, with no one else around. That’s a privilege usually reserved for staff—until now. 


In the first installment of Google Arts & Culture’s new video series called “Art for Two”, curators from three cultural institutions are extending a special invitation to explore their collections, minus the crowds, as they discuss their favorite rooms and pieces with digital curators Mr. Bacchus and The Art Assignment.


You'll hear from the experts themselves: The director of the Museo d’Arte Orientale shows his favorite figurine and explains why it’s unusual. Sit at an antique kitchen table with Olivier Gabet, director of the Musée des arts décoratifs, or learn more about what makes Lucio Fontana’s installation at the Galleria Civica di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea so special.
Marco Guglielminotti Trivel, director of the Museo d’Arte Orientale meets digital curator Mr. Bacchus

Marco Guglielminotti Trivel, director of the Museo d’Arte Orientale meets digital curator Mr. Bacchus

Still itching to explore more? Another new series called “Perspectives” invites you to learn about important cultural destinations through the eyes and with the commentary of an inspirational guide. For the first edition, Grammy-nominated Indian-American artist Raja Kumari takes us on a personal ride to temples in India, including the famous Mahabalipuram—a cultural jewel and popular tourist destination, referred to as “Sculpture by the Sea.”

Raja Kumari shows you the Temples of India

Raja Kumari shows you the Temples of India

Travel isn't just about checking things off your bucket list. At a slow “couch travel” pace, Quiet Journeys, accompanied by the soothing sound of classical music, will help you relax and drift off into museums and masterpieces from all around the world.


“Art for Two”, ”Perspectives” and “Quiet Journeys” are the latest additions to our growing library of video formats that connect art and culture in new and unexpected ways. Check out Art Zoom to explore masterpieces through the eyes of famous musicians, and other videos on the Google Arts & Culture YouTube channel. 


Discover more on Google Arts & Culture—or download our free app for iOS or Android.

Malou Aamund turns career advice into a popular novel

Malou Aamund is the Country Director for Google Denmark—a role that’s typically associated with sales strategy, not fiction writing. But she recently became the author of a new bestselling novel. 

Called Maria, it’s about two women who share the name. One of them chooses her family over everything else, only to find that she’s sacrificed and given away so much of herself that there’s nothing left of her own personality. The other Maria puts her career before everything and, in her determination to become a successful business leader, also loses herself.

“It’s about self help and personal development—this is fiction as a format for helping build your career,” Malou says. Typical career advice books—and there are plenty already—can be dry and detached. “I wanted to drive an experiment to see if you can get different emotions in people by putting this type of advice into fiction,” she says.

We (virtually) sat down with her to learn how her literary pursuits complement her day job—and vice versa.

How do you explain your job at a dinner party?

I’m responsible for all of Google’s business in Denmark, all the amazing things we’re doing with Grow with Google, and helping build small businesses. And I also work with many industries here in Denmark.

Your career has taken some strange detours—what are some of those?

The red thread has been that I’ve spent more than 20 years in tech at Microsoft, IBM and now Google. But along the way I also spent four years as a Member of Parliament in Denmark, representing the then-leading liberal party.

The idea of a political career started after I’d been on an international assignment in the U.S. for a few years. I got back to Denmark and thought, compared to the U.S., there was a standstill in our innovation agenda. As a business leader I could make recommendations, but what I really wanted was to take leadership and ownership. After I helped craft some policy reforms for the party, they asked if I’d be interested in running for office. And from there it was a wild and rewarding experience.

cover of malou aamund's book maria

What made you decide to write Maria?

It started 10 years ago. I was 15 years into my career, and was constantly seeing the same patterns when I was mentoring younger women. They felt there was a big personal cost for them to pursue their career dreams. It was disproportionate compared to how men felt at the same point in their own careers. I saw these amazingly talented women struggle with lower self confidence than men. I could see that in terms of how often women asked for a raise—they lacked the confidence to go in and demand what they deserved.

So I had the idea of creating a story where you had these two opposite personalities—one person who’s thinking so much about other people’s needs that she forgets herself, and the other who’s self-centered and opportunistic. They follow the same life pattern, but react very differently at life-changing moments. I wanted to empower women to have an emotional response to the story and think about how they would actually react.

Is it based on real people?

Not really, but based on a lot of observations throughout my career, along with data and research that I’ve read. We now have so many insights into the fact that women have lower self esteem and how that unfolds in their career. It’s the same research that we focus on in the #IamRemarkable initiative, a Google program to build self confidence in women. It’s becoming an amazing movement, a life-changing moment for women to go through.

What’s been the response to the book? 

I’ve been touring universities and leading career and book discussions. The most positive thing is that I’m seeing so many younger women embrace it, and really resonate with the characters’ problems and emotions.

There have also been a lot of parents who read the book first, and then give it to their adult children. As parents we all want to impart some values, and help our kids not make the same mistakes that we have. Here, parents can actually give moral advice in a fictional format.

Will Maria be translated into any other languages?

The publisher had planned to bring it to the London Book Fair, which is now cancelled due to COVID-19. But they are actively working on bringing it to other countries and languages.

Who has been a strong female influence in your life?

One of the highest ranking female executives in IBM was my mentor when I was pregnant with my second daughter. She asked me to join her team when I was six months pregnant, and showed a very courageous and progressive view on female talent, and took a personal bet on me. She is still a great support and a good friend. 

What advice do you have for women starting out in their careers? 

Choose the right partner. I have many girlfriends whose careers are not as highly prioritized as their partners’. Then, when they decide to pursue their career aspirations, it all of a sudden becomes a choice between their job and their marriage. Fortunately, there are many supportive spouses, but you need to discuss your dreams and aspirations up front to set the right expectations.

Advice for educators learning to teach from home

It can be difficult enough to keep dozens of students engaged in a classroom; imagine doing it from your kitchen-turned office when your students are scattered across the city, dialing in from their homes.

Educators are doing their best to take care of students who are learning remotely, but we also need to take care of educators themselves. Mette Jakobsen, Digital Learning Program Manager for schools in Aarhus, Denmark, and Stu Blackmore, Director of IT and Digital Learning at the British International School of Stockholm, have been leading their schools’ efforts to support the well-being of their educators as they juggle distance learning, and we’ve asked them to share the ideas that they’ve put in practice at their schools.

Educators are adapting their teaching to help students adjust to distance learning. How can we help educators adjust to this new world?

Mette:We need to encourage educators to reframe their expectations for themselves and their work. In Arhaus, the head of our schools has reassured educators by saying, “You don’t have to give students a thousand lessons right now. Just try to find your way… and think about the kids at home, as well as their parents.” This is an important message for educators—to be patient with themselves and make smart decisions about when and how to scale back on classwork, like avoiding assigning too much homework to students.  

Now that homes are workplaces, it’s challenging for educators to know when to stop working. How can educators set boundaries?

Stu:To maintain my own sanity, I don’t work on weekends. And my school day is structured: I work a long, full day, and then I’m done. We need to say to educators, “Decide when you’ll work, and when you won’t work—and create that separation.” It’s important that they have the down time they deserve, whether it’s making time for a virtual coffee break with a fellow peer or just blocking off personal time on their calendars to recharge. 

How are you supporting educators who are new to distance learning?

Mette:Typically, educators in Arhaus receive technology training through professional development workshops, or simply by visiting each other’s classrooms. Though these options are no longer available, this type of support is still important, and we are encouraging educators to create spaces online to continue sharing and learning. In Aarhus, we set up an educator-led daily Google Meet session, where anyone can drop in and ask for tech help. Our digital learning team also created awebsite (Danish only) with Google Sites for sharing tips about distance learning—such as advice for running a lesson on Google Meet.

How are educators at your school staying connected these days?  

Stu:My natural inclination is to laugh in the face of adversity—it relieves the pressure of what is a very stressful time. Our librarian has started a blog where educators can submit funny stories about their experiences with distance learning, or memes and GIFs that can put smiles on faces—and ultimately remind each other that they are not alone. The librarian is even thinking of asking educators to create short “day in the life” videos for posting on the blog—with a friendly competition for the best one.

If you’re looking for more ideas to support educators during this time, check out Teach from Home, a central hub of information, tips, training and tools from across Google for Education to help educators keep teaching, even when they aren’t in the classroom.

On World Art Day, try out this activity for the whole family

We could all use a little inspiration these days. For World Art Day Google Arts & Culture is launching Family Fun with Arts & Culture, a new collection to bring your family new ways to learn about art, animals, science, space, books and music. You can discover what's inside a black hole, hang out with a Jurassic giant in virtual reality in virtual reality, or even practice some Harry Potter magic. And for our little ones, why not follow a pesky penguin through virtual tours of museum galleries?

There’s a penguin loose at the Rijksmuseum!

There’s a penguin loose at the Rijksmuseum! (Shout out to the Shedd Aquarium's real life penguin explorers!)

Thanks to the help of our partners, we’re also making new treasures and stories accessible on Google Arts & Culture. 35 cultural institutions including the Atassi Foundation (UAE), Museum of Contemporary Art in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Palazzo Monti(Italy), the Yale Center for British Art (USA) have brought online more than 100 diverse online exhibitions with over 18,000 new artworks, artifacts and stories. The Nakamura Keith Haring Collection in Japan is the only museum in the world to exclusively feature the artworks of Keith Haring. Explore over 50 of his pieces of art—including the bright yellow angel spreading its great wings—digitized in ultra high definition.

  • Artwork Keith Haring The Angel.png

    One of Keith Haring’s signature characters, "The Angel". Explore it in finest detail thanks to the Art Camera.

  • Kiyoharu Art Colony Street View.png

    "Kiyoharu Art Colony" is a safe haven for artists to awaken their  artistic spirit and share their creativity with the world. Explore it on Street View. 

  • Edo, Antonia Showering at Palazzo monti.gif

    Explore the works of iconic women artists of the Palazzo Monti.

  • Exhibit page what is art therapy.png

    Bangkok Art and Culture Centre contributes an exhibit about the prospects of Art Therapy.

  • Portrait of Friedericke Maria Beer by Klimt.png

    Go on an in-painting tour of Gustav Klimt’s colorful masterpiece, “Portrait of Friedericke Maria Beer” at Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

  • Artwork at Museo Dolores Olmedo.gif

    Museo Dolores Olmedo shares how this famous Mexican muralist copied other artistic styles before finding his own.

  • Artwork at ciputra artpreneur .png

    Ciputra Artpreneur shares a story of passion, intimacy, and heartbreak in this colorful in-painting tour.

If you’re looking for more, check out this list of ways to have fun with Arts and Culture at home, and for more armchair cultural travel, explore the wonders of Italy, France, Spain and the UK. 

Keep discovering on Google Arts & Culture, or download our free app for iOS or Android.