Official Google Canada Blog: September 2017

YouTube Pops Up in Montreal!

Thursday, September 21, 2017

This week, YouTube opened the doors for our first-ever YouTube Pop-Up Space in Montreal - a temporary incubator that offers creators an opportunity to learn from industry experts, connect with fellow YouTube creators in a collaborative setting and use the latest film equipment to create more ambitious and innovative video content.
Over three days, we’ll host 100+ of the top and rising stars of the local Quebec YouTube community for educational workshops, business development training, networking events and hands-on video production in our fully-stocked studio.

Across Canada, we’re watching more YouTube than ever - in fact, watchtime in Canada has grown 30% over last year. And a recent survey from Ipsos* revealed just how much Quebec in particular loves YouTube, showing that 49% Of Quebec YouTube Users would rather give up alcohol than give up YouTube for a week and 45% of Quebec YouTube Users would rather give up chocolate than give up YouTube for a week!
Quebec is home to a thriving YouTube community, with creators like Emma Verde, Chris Ramsay, PL Cloutier and Lysandre Nadeau growing massive audiences both at home and around the world. Quebecois creators are part of a new generation of Canadian artists who are growing up online and reaching global audiences on YouTube.
YouTube’s open model and global scale dramatically reduce the cost of getting content to international markets. As a result, 90% of views on Canadian channels come from outside of Canada, higher than any other country on the platform. By radically lowering barriers to entry, YouTube has become a powerful platform for creators in Canada to share their voices and their ideas with the world.
YouTube builds interactive communities that allow fans and artists to share, comment and contribute, and our YouTube Spaces are a physical representation of that community phenomenon. We’re committed to helping our Quebec creators continue to grow and thrive as digital entrepreneurs, and we can’t wait to see what they’ll create at YouTube Pop-Up Space Montreal!

*Research conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Google Canada, May 2017

NewsWise -- Democracy Demands News Literacy

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Editor's note: The below post is guest authored Natalie Turvey, Executive Director of The Canadian Journalism Foundation and Taylor Gunn, President and Chief Election Officer of CIVIX, The rallying cry of The Canadian Journalism Foundation feels particularly relevant these days: ‘as journalism goes so goes democracy’. More than ever, it’s critical that current and future generations understand the role journalism plays in our democracy. With social media and an abundance of information on numerous platforms, the ways we consume and share news have fundamentally changed. We need to help Canadians better understand how quality journalism is produced and how to determine which sources of information are reliable. News literacy skills are essential to this process. With a $500,000 grant from Google Canada, the CJF is thrilled to be partnering with CIVIX on NewsWise - a program to provide school aged Canadians with the tools and skills to find and filter accurate information online. The program will reach 1.5 million Canadians (ages 9-19) and the goal is to increase students’ ability to analyze media messages and expand their knowledge about how news is produced.

Canadian students participating in Student Vote programming NewsWise will be developed by CIVIX, the organization behind Student Vote, and CJF’s network of news leaders, journalists and academics. The program will be a part of the Student Vote activities, rolling out to coincide with the Ontario provincial election in 2018, and other upcoming local and provincial elections, culminating nationally nationally with the 2019 federal election. Student Vote already has programs in 98% of Canadian school boards. CJF will engage Canada’s journalism community in supporting the delivery of the program. The partnership between the CJF and CIVIX is built on the shared goal that that quality journalism in our country leads to a thriving democracy. Guest authored by Natalie Turvey Executive Director of The Canadian Journalism Foundation and Taylor Gunn, President and Chief Election Officer of CIVIX

Students, get coding in Montreal!

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Today’s guest post is brought to you by Mathieu Perreault and Pierre-Antoine Manzagol, Google Canada software developers and Code MTL advisory board members As kids, we both had an early interest in technology. Somehow though, neither of us really got into programming until university. Today, when we visit classrooms to talk about technology, we witness this same interest. Kids don’t simply want to use technology, but are curious about how it all comes together! Code MTLworkshops and resources

ess than 50 percent of Canadian youth graduate from high school with a senior STEM courseCode MTLPosted by Mathieu Perreault and Pierre-Antoine Manzagol, software developers, Google Canada

Feed your need to know (now in Canada!)

Thursday, September 7, 2017

As the late, great Dr. Seuss once said, “there is no one alive who is you-er than you.” At Google, we know this statement is truer than true. Sure, we all have many things in common, but none of us has quite the same mix of passions, interests and goals as the next person. And, while we each keep up to date on the things that matter to us in different ways—social media, news apps, talking to friends—it’s hard to find one place to stay in the know about exactly what matters to you. Today that’s changing. People have long turned to Google to get answers, learn about the world, and dig deeper on topics they’re passionate about. Today, we are announcing a new feed experience in the Google app, making it easier than ever to discover, explore and stay connected to what matters to you—even when you don’t have a query in mind. A smart feed that changes with you Since introducing the feed in December, we’ve advanced our machine learning algorithms to better anticipate what’s interesting and important to you. You’ll see cards with things like sports highlights, top news, engaging videos, new music, stories to read and more. And now, your feed will not only be based on your interactions with Google, but also factor in what’s trending in your area and around the world. The more you use Google, the better your feed will be. As the world and your interests change, your feed will continue to grow and evolve along with you. You’ll notice that your feed will also reflect your interest level for various topics—for example, if you’re a photography enthusiast but just casually interested in fitness, your feed will show that. But if you see something that isn’t up your alley, unfollowing topics is easy too. Just tap on a given card in your feed or visit your Google app settings.

Follow your favourites While we’ve been getting better at understanding your interests, it hasn’t always been easy for you to choose new topics for your feed. To help you keep up with exactly what you care about, you’ll now be able to follow topics, right from Search results. Look out for a new “Follow” button next to certain types of search results—including movies, sports teams, your favorite bands or music artists, famous people, and more. A quick tap of the the follow button and you’ll start getting updates and stories about that topic in your feed.

Broader context and deeper exploration

To provide information from diverse perspectives, news stories may have multiple viewpoints from a variety of sources, as well as other related information and articles. And when available, you’ll be able to fact check and see other relevant information to help get a more holistic understanding about the topics in your feed. We’re also making it easier to dive deeper into any of the topics you see in your feed. At the top of every card, you’ll see a header that puts your interests front and center, letting you search that topic on Google with one tap.

How to fix a toilet (and other things you couldn't do without Search)

Friday, September 1, 2017

Every year, millions come to Google to search for news and information that helps illuminate the world around them. While people often search for breaking news, the latest sports scores, or what's playing at a local movie theater, they also often look for answers on how to fix the more mundane items around them.
Recently, we noticed that “how to…” searches have increased by more than 140% since 2004, and much of that search interest is directed towards how to “fix” things—whether it’s a lightbulb, window, washing machine, or even the toilet. In fact, “How to fix…” is consistently near the top of the list of most common queries, year after year, around the world. That’s why the Google Trends team teamed up with award-winning designer Xaquín González Veira —formerly of “The Guardian”, “National Geographic” and “the New York Times”—to create our latest visual: How to fix a toilet...and other things you couldn’t do without Search.
The first data visualization shows household items people ask Google how to fix, and how those searches vary by country. For instance, in the United States, the top “how to fix" items are doors, followed by windows, toilets, washing machines and refrigerators. While in Japan, the order is: windows, doors, washing machines, and toilets.
Check out the map of the world below, to see how it shifts:

Xaquin noticed some neat (and weird) patterns in the data. Searches for “how to fix a toilet” and “how to use chopsticks” follow a very similar pattern. Wonder why that is? Just check out the site. You’ll be surprised what tops the list in each country and which places need to fix the same things (washing machines in Russia and Columbia and windows in Brazil and Eritrea).
The visual also showcases data for the top searched “how to’s” around the world. The top ten are:

how to tie a tie

how to kiss

how to get pregnant

how to lose weight

how to draw

how to make money

how to make pancakes

how to write a cover letter

how to make french toast

how to lose belly fat

Check out the interactive guide here, to explore more of this fascinating data.

This data visualization is the latest in the Google News Lab’s series of collaborations with designers, working alongside the University of Miami’s Alberto Cairo to re-examine how news designers can tell stories using new types of data (including new sources of Google data) and by experimenting with new kinds of data visualizations. You can see some more of the projects we’ve launched so far here. We’ve loaded the top how-to’s data on our GitHub page for you to download and explore. And if you do, tell us more about you’re using the data at newslabtrends@google.com.

Official Canada Blog

YouTube Pops Up in Montreal!

NewsWise -- Democracy Demands News Literacy

Students, get coding in Montreal!

Feed your need to know (now in Canada!)

How to fix a toilet (and other things you couldn't do without Search)

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