In conjunction with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Google has mapped the crisis in Darfur in a shockingly real form. The LA Times' Jim Puzzanghera reports:
Zoom in and the words "Crisis in Darfur" appear, along with icons of flames marking 1,600 villages destroyed in fighting between government militias and rebels that has led to the deaths of more than 200,000 people.
Google goes further, taking it from eye-popping information to active participation with a specific "How Can I Help?" link on each pop-up window (see above).
This initiative highlights the genuis and heart of Google in two ways: First, it is fitting that the initiative comes from a company that with the motto "Don't Be Evil," a corporate citizen leading by example (well, mostly, cf censorship in China). The goodwill built up by initiatives like this can't be overstated. Second, this is yet another example of great ideas springing from Google's policy of allowing employees to spend 20% of their time on projects of their choice, and that's when former Google employee Andria Ruben McCool developed the project. McCool, whose family includes Holocaust Survivors, took the idea to the Holocaust Museum for its Genocide Prevention Initiative. That's one way of standing behind another motto: "Never again." McCool hopes they have help:
"I hope it makes a difference," McCool said. "I hope some politician sits down and has a conversation with somebody else who's a skeptic and opens up their computer and goes on the Internet and says, 'How can you dispute this?' "
Indeed. Perhaps someone should email George Bush the link.
Google puts Darfur crisis on its map [LAT]
