Google Data

Posted by Pablo Chavez, Director of Public Policy

Last summer Google Fellow Gwen Glazer at the American Library Association focused on digitization, specifically on for content from small or mid-sized public libraries and other cultural heritage institutions. Rare materials, like local history collections and historic photographs and maps, present significant challenges to digitization, and Gwen’s proposal encouraged the creation of a national program that would digitize these archival materials and collect them in a free online interface to make them available to the public.

Ramtin Amtin at the Citizen Lab examined the recent changes to Google in China to study free expression as a human rights issue, and explored Internet censorship as a potential violation of world trade laws.

At the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Carolyn Homer wrote a legal paper on the meaning of online privacy policies, and published two op-eds on privacy on AOL News and in AdAge.

What will Google fellows do summer 2011? That’s up to you. Students of all levels and disciplines interested in Internet policy issues can apply starting today. The deadline for applications is January 17, 2011.

Selected students will spend ten weeks this summer working on issues as varied as free expression, privacy, security, and intellectual property with thought leaders at a diverse range of organizations, including: American Library Association, Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, Cato Institute, Center for Democracy and Technology, The Citizen Lab, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Creative Commons, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Future of Music Coalition, Internet Education Foundation, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Media Access Project, National Hispanic Media Coalition, New America Foundation, Public Knowledge, TechFreedom, and the Technology Policy Institute.

You can learn about the program and host organizations on the Google Public Policy Fellowship website.