How fact checkers and Google.org are fighting misinformation
Misinformation can have dramatic consequences on people’s lives — from finding reliable information on everything from elections to vaccinations — and the pandemic has only exacerbated the problem as accurate information can save lives. To help fight the rise in minsformation, Full Fact, a nonprofit that provides tools and resources to fact checkers, turned to Google.org for help. Today, ahead of International Fact Checking Day, we’re sharing the impact of this work.
Every day, millions of claims, like where to vote and COVID-19 vaccination rates, are made across a multitude of platforms and media. It was becoming increasingly difficult for fact checkers to identify the most important claims to investigate.
We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic. Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus and is just as dangerous.
Last year, Google.org provided Full Fact with $2 million and seven Googlers from the Google.org Fellowship, a pro-bono program that matches teams of Googlers with nonprofits for up to six months to work full-time on technical projects. The Fellows helped Full Fact build AI tools to help fact checkers detect claims made by key politicians, then group them by topic and match them with similar claims from across press, social networks and even radio using speech to text technology. Over the past year, Full Fact boosted the amount of claims they could process by 1000x, detecting and clustering over 100,000 claims per day — that’s more than 36.5 million total claims per year!
The AI-powered tools empower fact checkers to be more efficient, so that they can spend more time actually checking and debunking facts rather than identifying which facts to check. Using a machine learning BERT-based model, the technology now works across four languages (English, French, Portuguese and Spanish). And Full Fact’s work has expanded to South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya with their partner Africa Check and Argentina with Chequeado. In total in 2020, Full Fact’s fact checks appeared 237 million times across the internet.
Google News Showcase is launching in Italy
Google News Showcase, our new product experience and licensing program for news, will begin rolling out with local, national and independent publishers in Italy starting today. News Showcase is backed by our recent $1 billion investment in news around the world. Globally, there are now close to 600 news publications in News Showcase in over a dozen countries including Australia, Germany, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, the U.K. and Argentina, with discussions underway in a number of other countries. Over 90% of our publication partners are considered local, regional or community newspapers.
In Italy, this experience is powered by a series of licensing agreements covering more than 70 national and local publications from publishers including Caltagirone Editore, Ciaopeople, CityNews, Edinet, il Fatto Quotidiano, Il Foglio, Il Giornale Online, Monrif, RCS Media Group, ilSole24Ore, TMS Edizioni, Varese web. These agreements for News Showcase take into account the rights outlined in Article 15 of the European Copyright Directive for specific online uses of press publications, which do not apply to hyperlinks and very short excerpts.
“We are pleased to have signed this agreement, which governs the issue of related rights and acknowledges the importance of quality news and the prestige of our titles,”says Urbano Cairo, Chairman and CEO of RCS MediaGroup, international multimedia publishing group based in Milan. “A new piece in the partnership with Google that enhances the RCS newspapers and offers a further boost to the growth of our customer base, supporting it with an increasingly broad news coverage.”
“The agreement with Google is a further recognition of the value of quality information such as that of Il Sole 24 Ore,” says Giuseppe Cerbone, CEO of Il Sole 24 Ore, the Italian leading newspaper in business, financial and regulatory information. “The remuneration of information, including the rights related to the distribution of digital content, is a front on which our publishing group is committed at the forefront with the aim of protecting our heritage of high added value content.”
Mortal Kombat Mobile, arriva Rain insieme ai nuovi contenuti
Rain di Mortal Kombat 11, il divino semidio principe di Edenia e uno dei personaggi più attesi dalla community, è da oggi disponibile come nuovo kombattente Diamante in Mortal Kombat Mobile. Il lottatore è pronto a scatenare colpi mortali con la sua Ira tonante e la sua abilità di controllo dell’acqua e dei fulmini. Rain MK11 inizia ogni match con una barra di potere e ha la possibilità di contrattaccare subito gli attacchi di base dell’avversario.
LinkedIN copia Clubhouse: nuovo tool in arrivo
L’irruzione di Clubhouse tra i social network è stato come un terremoto, che sta spingendo un po’ tutti verso la voce. Passi in questo senso sono già stati fatti da Telegram, Facebook, Twitter e Spotify, ma anche LinkedIN sembra tutt’altro che immune dal fascino dei podcast. A tal proposito, lo sviluppatore Alessandro Paluzzi rivela che Microsoft sta pensando ad un nuovo tool per l’utilizzo della voce. La versione attuale dell’app di LinkedIN ha già un’interfaccia per uno strumento chiamato Live Audio Room.
Google e FIAT presentano la FIAT 500 Hey Google
Google e FIAT hanno unito le forze per far incontrare due dei prodotti di punta delle due aziende e dare vita ad un’edizione speciale della Fiat 500, una delle auto più versatili, amate e vendute della casa automobilistica italiana.
Google women celebrate being the “first…”
Earlier this month, we celebrated women who achieved historical firsts. From the first woman astronaut to the first woman to climb Mount Everest, in the past year, the world searched for “the first woman” more than ever before. These trailblazers continue to inspire new generations, especially young women and girls striving to achieve their own firsts today.
Our own workplace is filled with inspiring women who have achieved their own personal “firsts,” too. These accomplishments show how women everywhere are breaking down barriers, finding their passions and changing the world. As Women’s History Month comes to an end, we asked 10 amazing women who work at Google offices all over the world to tell us their stories.
Breaking down barriers
Update on campaign targeting security researchers
In January, the Threat Analysis Group documented a hacking campaign, which we were able to attribute to a North Korean government-backed entity, targeting security researchers. On March 17th, the same actors behind those attacks set up a new website with associated social media profiles for a fake company called “SecuriElite.”
The new website claims the company is an offensive security company located in Turkey that offers pentests, software security assessments and exploits. Like previous websites we’ve seen set up by this actor, this website has a link to their PGP public key at the bottom of the page. In January, targeted researchers reported that the PGP key hosted on the attacker’s blog acted as the lure to visit the site where a browser exploit was waiting to be triggered.
Quicksave: The latest from Google Play Pass
Google Play Pass helps you connect with awesome digital content: It’s your pass to hundreds of apps and games without ads and in-app purchases. We wanted to take another moment to spotlight a few of the titles and developers we think you’ll enjoy.
Dive in to the newest games and apps
With this most recent batch of new additions, we’re happy to share that Play Pass now offers access to 800+ games and apps. We’ve added some great, award-winning titles this past month, like:
Always Have A Backup: Why B2B Marketers Must Be Prepared
Are you ready for World Backup Day?
For World Backup Day we want to explore the importance of backing up not only your business’ data, but why B2B marketers should always have a backup plan B — and preferably also a plan C and D — at the ready.
“Don’t be an April Fool. Be prepared. Back up your files on March 31st,” the World Backup Day website admonishes for the annual day celebrating the importance of backups, which falls just ahead of April Fool’s Day.
I remember the first backup I made 37 years ago, when I decided that my heavily-modified BASIC code for the 300-baud computer bulletin board system (BBS) I operated needed to be safely duplicated, in case anything ever happened to the single copy in existence. On that day in 1984 I had to borrow a second Commodore 1541 5.25″ floppy disk drive to backup my BBS program and the data my callers left in the form of public and private text messages — the precursor to modern email.
I still vividly recall the sense of reassurance I felt having completed that first backup — my data safeguarded at least to the extent that I was able to achieve at the time. I still have those two floppies, and about a decade ago I successfully used a piece of hardware to hook up my old disk drive to my modern computer, while a utility copied the disks into a format that present day Commodore 64 emulator programs can read. Those old files then became a part of my regular backup scheme.
Let’s take a look at both smart data backup strategies and why, as B2B marketers, we should always be prepared for the unexpected — and not just when it comes to potential data loss.
Successful B2B Marketers Use Sound Backup Practices
A sound backup practice is fundamental to the success of any business, especially to today’s technology firms that operate almost entirely in the digital realm, creating mountains of potentially irreplaceable data.
Relying solely on the type of cloud-based syncing provided by Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox or countless others is scarcely better than having no backup plan whatsoever in place, as these services typically only offer file synchronization meant for convenience when hopping from one computer or device to another, while a dedicated stand-alone backup program exists solely to protect your data and provide a perfectly restored copy in the event of any number of unforeseen data emergencies.
Similarly, relying too heavily on hard drives using Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technology can also offer a false sense of protection, as the system is not meant to be a data backup measure, but simply a data redundancy solution.
What are some of the elements of a robust data backup strategy?
Let’s examine some of the options.
Cloud, Offline, Offsite, Multiple Copies & More
In the digital realm, a smart data backup plan involves keeping multiple copies of your information in several locations and on a number of different media formats, with a goal of ensuring that even multiple failures can’t delete your priceless data for good.
Even if the backing up of your data is handled by a specialized team within your company, in today’s world that is more remote oriented than ever, many B2B marketers are working from several computers and devices — oftentimes not even located at a centralized office location — which means that we all need a backup strategy that can protect both our professional and personal files.
Important and sometimes overlooked factors of a trustworthy data backup plan are:
- It Needs To Be As Automatic As Possible
- It Needs To Incorporate Regular Restoration Testing
If backup software is installed on all of your computers, that’s not enough, as it should be set up to automatically perform backup operations on a regular basis. In the earlier days of personal computing — the nearly forgotten term we used for the novel and unusual practice of having a computer entirely for home use — backups typically couldn’t be run automatically, and were instead only done when time was available and when we happened to remember.
Today’s backup programs make it relatively easy to schedule regular backups, which can also be encrypted for an added measure of security, especially when the resulting backup archive files are stored in the cloud.
Detailing a thorough data backup strategy is beyond the scope of this article, however here are several resources to help guide those looking to set up or improve their existing backup plan on this World Backup Day:
- Wikipedia’s backup entry offers a detailed introduction to the concepts and terminology of modern data backup practices
- Reddit channels such as r/DataHoarder offers its 433,000-plus members tips and tactics for robust backup solutions
If we’ve already successfully implemented a sound data backup strategy, are there lessons we can apply to our professional and personal lives?
Stay Ahead Of The Marketing Game By Having Plans B, C, & D At The Ready
As important as data backup contingencies are, it makes sense to apply similar strategies to our professional and personal lives, to ensure that when a change of plans inevitably happens, we’ve got the situation covered with backup plans thought out ahead of time.
Unforeseen circumstances are minimized when you’ve taken the time to plan for a wide array of likely — and unlikely — scenarios, and often what sets the best B2B marketers apart is the thorough approach they’ve taken to planning for many varying situations.
As with data backups, smart planning in marketing involves finding solutions to potential roadblocks — whether it’s choosing who will fill in for you should you be on sick leave during an important meeting, or having a plan B and C in place for any number of typical business issues that arise.
The human form of the cloud’s data backup is knowing who is able to be your own backup when you can’t be there in person.
We don’t yet have automatic methods to transfer our individual knowledge from one person to another, however each of us can help others in our organizations by documenting important workflows and procedures.
[bctt tweet=”“Often what sets the best B2B marketers apart is the thorough approach they’ve taken to planning ahead for many varying situations, including having plans B, C and D at the ready.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis” username=”toprank”]Plan Ahead & Avoid Plan 9 From Outer Space Snafus
Don’t just wing it when agendas go awry, or your efforts will start to look like the low-budget special effects in the cult classic film Plan 9 From Outer Space, as savvy clients and associates can tell the difference between dealing with a professional who has a solid plan B in place and one offering only a toy flying saucer dangling from fishing line.
This World Backup Day, as you reexamine your data backup plans, also take time to think about what you can do to help share your unique knowledge with key people in your firm and industry.
Ready to take your own marketing to the next level? Contact us today and see why firms including Adobe, LinkedIn, SAP, 3M, Dell, Oracle and many more have chosen TopRank Marketing.
The post Always Have A Backup: Why B2B Marketers Must Be Prepared appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.
ID.3 1st Plus: l’elettrica per tutti secondo Volkswagen
Auto elettriche: bonus per chi ha Isee inferiore a 30mila euro
Il Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico ha chiuso il provvedimento che prevede degli incentivi per gli acquisti di auto elettriche, come stabilito dall’ultima legge di bilancio. Il testo ora passa al Ministero dell’Economia per l’approvazione finale. A quel punto l’agevolazione sarà accessibile a tutti i contribuenti il cui reddito Isee non superi il tetto massimo di 30mila euro.
DooG Reporter. La realtà raccontata. Intervista ai suoi creatori
– – di Greta V. Galimberti – Trendiest News – – – Gabriele Orlini e Lisa Zillio sono due reporter molto particolari. Lui è un fotoreporter appassionato e impenitente viaggiatore, lei una videomaker forte e talentuosa alla quale piace raccontare il mondo. Entrambi hanno una forte etica della narrazione, acquisita quando si sono accorti che l’informazione e il reportage troppo spesso stavano alle regole della società invece che a quelle della realtà, e data la…
L’articolo DooG Reporter. La realtà raccontata. Intervista ai suoi creatori scritto da REDAZIONE TRENDIEST proviene da Assodigitale.
YouTube testa un sistema per nascondere i dislike
YouTube annuncia l’inizio di una serie di test su un nuovo sistema finalizzato a occultare il numero dei dislike (ma non l’omonimo pulsante) fatti registrare da un video pubblicato sulla piattaforma. Una misura che secondo l’azienda americana si è resa necessaria a causa del proliferare del fenomeno dei “non mi piace” selvaggi, ovverosia quegli abusi del tasto dislike fatto da alcuni utenti magari per attaccare gli autori o i protagonisti di un video, piuttosto che per esprimere un giudizio sullo stesso.
Iliad, prorogato a tempo indeterminato Flash 100 5G
Iliad ha deciso di prorogare la sua offerta Flash 100 5G, la sua tariffa che offre 100GB in 4G/4G+ e 5G, minuti illimitati e SMS illimitati.
A new audio guide for our Augmented Reality Galleries
Since we launched our first Pocket Gallery in 2018, people all over the world have used the augmented reality (AR) feature to explore virtual art galleries ranging from Vermeer to Indian miniatures. With many of us missing the opportunities to explore, we have now collaborated with cultural institutions including the Jean Pigozzi Collection and J. Paul Getty Museum to create three new Pocket Galleries – one of which includes a brand new audio guide feature. Just open the camera tab in the Google Arts & Culture app to get started.
The virtual exhibition space of Jean Pigozzi’s Pocket Gallery invites you to discover highlights from its African and Japanese collections featuring 40 of its most important artworks ranging from renowned painter Chéri Samba to emerging new talent. These treasures are frequently lent to museums across the globe, but until now have never had a dedicated building of their own, making this Pocket Gallery a truly unique space.
Continue your journey with a Pocket Gallery presented by the J. Paul Getty Museum, bringing together celebrated works across 200 years of art history. Here you’ll meet cheerful crowds welcoming you to join, whether you’re craving music and merriment, dinner gatherings, or a city stroll. Dive in and experience the joys of dancing with Henri Rousseau, stolen kisses with Jean-Antoine Watteau, and concerts with Gerrit van Honthorst, all from the iconic LA-based collection.
A new way to experience a virtual exhibition space is by using sound and narration – a feature we are testing first with the guided “Brushes with the World” Pocket Gallery. Here, in each room a narrator will give a short introduction as you follow along on a tour of larger-than-life artworks. Gaze upon immersive landscapes – from Georgia O’Keeffe’s dreamy depiction of Machu Picchu to Hokusai’s majestic vision of Mount Fuji – and take in the city views of Zaha Hadid’s London or Habeeb Andu’s Lagos. As you approach each masterpiece, you will hear a bespoke soundscape inspired by the locations and objects in the paintings. Some paintings are even accompanied by additional commentary to help you learn more along your voyage. Featuring artworks from 27 cultural partner institutions that depict scenes across 24 countries. This gallery is available now on Android and coming soon on iOS.
Together, with our partners, we are always experimenting to find new ways to bring people closer to art and culture and we hope these new Pocket Galleries will help you – not just to explore a diverse set of artworks, but also to feel connected to destinations around the world.
Find the galleries in the Camera Tab of the free Google Arts & Culture app for Android and iOS and jump inside to explore each one from there.