Google Student Blog: November 2008

Students from around the world jam in Mountain View

November 24, 2008

Google Code Jamannounced Code Jamfinalists

picturesPosted by Bartholomew Furrow, Google Code Jam Team

Ancient Rome Comes to Life

November 17, 2008

Ancient Rome 3D LayerOfficial Google BlogGoogle EarthStreetView

earth.google.com/romecontest

K.I.T. with voice and video chat in Gmail

November 13, 2008

Learn more about voice and video chat

Announcing the 2009 Google Anita Borg Scholarship - now accepting applications!

November 12, 2008

In 2003, a group of Googlers decided to establish the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship to honor the work of their friend and colleague, Dr. Anita Borg, a computer scientist who dedicated her professional career to increasing the participation of women and other under-represented groups in the field of technology. In her memory, we're pleased to announce the 2009 Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship program in both the United States and Canada.

We're looking for women who will carry on the legacy of Dr. Borg, with strong academic backgrounds and demonstrated leadership qualities. A group of female undergraduate and graduate students will be chosen from the applicant pool, and scholarships will be awarded based on the strength of each candidate's academic background and demonstrated leadership. All US and Canadian scholarship recipients and finalists will be invited to visit the Googleplex in Mountain View, California next June for the Annual Google Scholars' Retreat. This special networking event includes workshops with a series of speakers, panelists, breakout sessions and social activities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The deadline for the US Anita Borg Scholarship program is Friday, February 6, 2009 and the deadline for the Canada Anita Borg Scholarship program is Monday, February 23, 2009. Tell your friends, or apply yourself.

The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship program is a global initiative available to women studying computer science in Australia, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and New Zealand

Hear from the Global Winners of the Google Online Marketing Challenge

November 11, 2008

You may know that earlier this year, Google launched the Google Online Marketing Challenge to encourage students around the world to get hands-on experience with AdWords and online marketing, with the chance to win a trip to Mountain View in the process. From Nigeria to Australia to Taiwan, 1600 student teams from 47 countries around the world took part in the first ever global online marketing competition. The standard of teams was very high and we're proud to announce our winners and finalists for 2008!

Global Winner

University of Western Australia - Aaron Balm, Lauren Bobridge, Amy Smith, Victor Tsen and Arina Usikov. Taught by Dr. Fang Liu.

Regional Winners

Australian Graduate School of Management - Sean Harpur, Daniel Jolly, Fiona Macrae, Danny Van Clief and Jason von Stieglitz. Taught by Dr. Julien Cayla.
Pennsylvania State University (US) - Caroline Furey, Joe Lewis, Matthew Maisel, Daehee Park and Tonya Podkuiko. Taught by Dr. Jim Jansen.
Universitat Bern (Switzerland) - Raphael Dick, Kilian Imboden, Kevin Meile and Gourav Verma. Taught by Prof. Thomas Myrach and Research Assistant, Natalie Jaggi.

Regional Finalists

National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences (Taiwan) - Shiu Chiau-Ya, Yang Huei-Chuen, Yeh Hui-Ling, Lin Jia-Wei, Wang Shin-Pei and He Tzung-Ting. Taught by Craig Chao.
National Taiwan University - Chu Chao-Yuan, Honggo Ng, Tseng Tzu-Yu, Lee Ta-Jen and Lin Wan-Ching. Taught by Chun-Yao Huang.
Boise State University (US) - Lisa Chipman, Trevor Herbst, Kasey Keller, Chris Mendonca and Lisa Mooers. Taught by Christoph Schneider.
James Madison University (US) - Ryan Farrell, Bethany Kent, Julia Marchetti, Renee Montmeny and Katelynn McGinnis. Taught by Theresa Flaherty.
The Wurzburg-Schweinfurt University of Applied Sciences (Germany) - Johannes Albert, Fabian Drescher, Christian Hoerner and Jochen Saal. Taught by Mario Fischer.
The College for Modern Business Studies (Hungary) - Péter Seres, Tamás Szabó, László Tóth and Anikó Vetési. Taught by Nebojsa Damjanovich.

Below is a guest blog entry by the Global Winners from the University of Western Australia who recently visited the Googleplex in Mountain View as part of their prize. For us at Google, it was immensely gratifying to meet these students and hear them speak of the enthusiasm and benefit they received from competing.

Remember - The Google Online Marketing Challenge is on again in 2009. To find out more visit the 2009 Challenge website at www.google.com/onlinechallenge.

____

The Google Online Marketing Challenge has had a major impact on us as students by not only expanding our knowledge of online search advertising but also by increasing our career prospects. As student marketers it was great to actually get hands-on experience in using an online advertising platform. We got to work with real money and a real business client in a real world situation. The challenge was definitely a refreshing change from the usual theoretical university assessments we've been given in the past.

The challenge gave us the opportunity to put into practice some of the marketing theories we've been learning about in our Advertising and Promotion unit. In addition the resource guides provided by Google and the Adwords help center taught us how to easily and effectively advertise on Google's search and its content network. The knowledge and skills that we picked up will definitely help us in the future, especially at a time when more and more people are using the Internet.

And you don't even have to be studying marketing to benefit from taking this challenge. One day you may be starting your own business, and the skills you picked up through this challenge can be used to help promote your business on one of the world's largest online advertising networks. Also you could easily promote your charity, club or organization using the experience you gained from taking this challenge.

Besides the valuable experience we have all picked up, the challenge has helped increased our career prospects, especially with Google. One of our team members is actually in talks with Google for a job in London. Another one of our team members is currently in part-time employment with a Search Engine Marketing firm as a consequence of the challenge. Taking part in the challenge is definitely a great thing to add to your resume.

As global winners our prize was a trip to the Google headquarters in Mountain View. While we were there we received a tour of the Googleplex, found out what it was like to work there, met the Googlers who worked on the challenge and got plenty of Google's renowned free food and drinks! In addition we each received an awesome Macbook Pro. There are many cool prizes to win, so sign up for 2009 and who knows you and your team may be flying to the Google headquarters in 2009.

Before we sign off we would like to share a tip for everyone taking part in the 2009 challenge. It is highly recommended that you follow the guidelines, read it thoroughly and try to satisfy as much of the requirements as possible. The guides will help you structure your campaign correctly and give you a good understanding of what the judges expect from you. Apart from the resource guides, make sure to use the Adwords help center and other Adwords online resources. Just Google it!

Thank you and best of luck to everyone!

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Posted by Lee Hunter, Product Marketing Manager

More on Halloween and the Election

November 6, 2008

It’s been a busy week at Google between Halloween last Friday (or Googleween as we like to call it) and the election on Tuesday. Halloween 2008 was celebrated in true Google style with lots of creative costumes and pumpkin carving. From current events to technology, Googlers costumes ranged from the simple to the elaborate. And of course our dogs got in on the fun too!

A Googler dressed as T-Mobile's G1, the first phone to support Google's Android platform.

Plymouth Cafe's pumpkin carving contest entry: Seed of Pumpkin

A bumblebee Doogler (Googler dog)

Jellyfish

Michael Phelps shows off his 8 gold medalsOur favorite student submitted costume comes from Ashley Tjader and Ashley Reid from theUniversity of South Carolina who dressed up as their favourite childhood lunch items.

Thanks, Ashley and Ashley, for sharing your Halloween fun with us!The biggest news this week, of course, is the culmination of the 2008 US Presidential election. According to Rock the Vote, American youth turned out in record numbers to cast their votes. A whopping 55% of voters ages 18-29 voted in the 2008 election, up from 49% in 2004. No matter how you voted, we hope you were one of the 133 million people to get their voices heard during this historic election. To see how Google got involved and helped to get out the vote, visit our 2008 Election site or check out our blog post from just a few days ago. And congratulations to President Elect Barack Obama and Vice President Elect Joe Biden on their victory!Posted by Jessica Bagley, University Programs Team

The bus stops here

November 6, 2008

Google Apps for EducationEDUCAUSEthe bus

"App to School" bus touruse products

www.google.com/a/eduPosted by Miriam Schneider, Google Apps for Education team

Get out the vote!

November 4, 2008

1)Get informed2008 Election siteYouTubehistorical voting resultsGoogle MapsIn QuotesAudio IndexingPresidential Candidates gadget2) Vote
U.S. Voter Info sitem.google.com/electionsan hour off to voteVideo Your VoteMcCainObama3) Watch resultsGoogle Maps Election GalleryElections section

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