Interview: The Google Earth / Holocaust Museum Crisis In Sudan project
For the vast majority of people throughout history war crimes and genocide have taken place in dark distant places. The crimes of genocide in Nazi Germany, Cambodia, Rwanda or the former Yugoslavia were served up through old media: news reports on the breakfast table, heart rending photographs in Time magazine or gripping reports with shaky camerawork on the nightly television news. Yet despite the media coverage of ongoing war crimes in locations like the Balkans or such tragedies often lack immediacy for many people when contrasted against the normality of daily life.A new collaboration between Google Earth and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is seeking to address that distance by a new project to draw awareness to the ongoing genocide in the East African nation of Sudan. Called 'Crisis In Darfur' the project is designed to draw awareness to the ongoing human rights tragedy in that country by using the Web 2.0 functionality of the Google Earth program.
Since 2003 Arab militia groups called Janjaweed, which are backed by the Government of Sudan, have conducted a vicious campaign against African rebel groups in the Western Sudan region of Darfur. In an attempt to suppress the rebel groups, the Janjaweed have targeted innocent civilians on a massive scale, carrying out rape, murder and theft or destruction of property against the indigenous African population resulting in an estimated 300,000 deaths and 2.5 million refugees.
When Google Earth was released in 2005 it quickly became a cult favorite for tech-heads and geography nerds throughout the globe, Google Earth uses satellite images, maps, 3D mapping and community features to let users explore the globe, mile by mile in an experience that makes your average atlas feel like a kindergarten finger painting. By allowing the user to fly from location to location and zoom right down to high resolution satellite photography, the program gives the user a real sense of context in the world - whether that is looking at images of the Great Pyramids, or just checking out what your neighbor's backyard looks like from fifty thousand feet.
According to Lawrence Swiader, the Chief Information Officer of the USHMM, when the program was first released in 2005 museum staff were immediately attracted to Google Earth as a possible tool for drawing awareness to the Museum's work in raising awareness of human rights tragedies such as Sudan. Staff at USHMM immediately put together a working group to develop the concept by bringing together information and examining the technology to understand how it could be used to support the work the museum's online and offline programs.
Swiader says that Google quickly understood the benefit of using their new program for a project of this nature and were soon forthcoming with support, providing a project manager and obtaining high resolution satellite imagery of the Darfur region. Google also extended their support by developing new features of Google Earth specifically for this project in order to make the information more understandable to users.
As we reported last month, Crisis in Darfur shows the tragedy in many dimensions through photographs, statistics and icons which draw attention to areas that have been destroyed or abandoned due to the conflict. According to Swiader, gathering the information on the tragedy proved considerably more difficult than working with Google's technology in order to present it. The completed project used data gathered from organizations such as the US State Department, the UN, Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights, while the photographs came from professional photographers, museum staff and celebrities such as actress Mia Farrow.
To find out more about the project, DS put a number of questions to Swiader by email about how a museum came to be working with a technology giant like Google.
DS: How long has this project been in development?
Swiader: The project was imagined two years ago by two Museum employees-Michael Graham and Matt Levinger-when Google Earth was born. Museum staff wondered how it might be used as a tool for genocide prevention. Over the ensuing few months we explored this through the Museum's Academy for Genocide Prevention at meetings and presentations at the Museum and around Washington DC . In order to move the project forward from theory to reality, an independent volunteer team was established in December 2005. Dubbed "BrightEarth", this team decided to build a proof of concept of what is now known as Crisis in Darfur , bringing together multiple layers of critical information into GE. In fall 2006 the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum decided to take the project on as an official initiative and the Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative was born.
DS: From a technological standpoint, was there anything new that Google developed specifically for this project in addition to the normal Google Earth community features?
Swiader: Google did two important things. First, they procured high resolution satellite imagery of various locations in Darfur that was first put into the Google Earth interface in the fall of 2006. That was really the first manifestation of this partnership in Google Earth. Second, Google made the new "map" of information display, "on" by default, with many data sets so that the systematic destruction that is the genocide in Darfur can be more easily understood.
DS: What were the biggest challenges in launching a project of this nature?
Swiader: The biggest challenge was, and will remain, the data collection process. There were many sources and many formats given at a variety of times, so normalizing data was a first challenge.
DS: From a technological standpoint, was there anything new that Google developed specifically for this project in addition to the normal Google Earth community features?
Swiader: Google did two important things. First, they procured high resolution satellite imagery of various locations in Darfur that was first put into the Google Earth interface in the fall of 2006. That was really the first manifestation of this partnership in Google Earth. Second, Google made the new "map" of information display, "on" by default, with many data sets so that the systematic destruction that is the genocide in Darfur can be more easily understood.
DS: Google has been criticized in the past for working with authoritarian governments in countries such as - was this a concern for you in undertaking this project?
Swiader: That did not enter into our thinking. The Museum is working to educate people worldwide about the genocide in Darfur , and Google Earth has tremendous reach. Even before this initiative, the Museum had tens of thousands of visits to the genocide prevention section of our Web site from . We hope this initiative significantly increases that figure.
DS: How recent is the satellite imagery?
Swiader: The most recent is from 2006 and ranges from 2003-2006. Looking at any data in Google Earth is always a snapshot in time. It is not real time-yet.
DS: Were there any features you were unable to include in the project due to technological constraints?
Swiader: No. From the onset we molded our approach to the capabilities of Google Earth. Any "restrictions" came from the data. For example, we would have liked to utilize Google Earth's timeline functionality, but the data didn't make that possible. That said we will take immediate advantage of new capabilities that Google makes available.
DS: Where did the funding from the project come from - was this funded by Google?
Swiader: Google lent support in many forms-not the least the addition of high-resolution satellite imagery. Humanity United recently became an official supporter of the project though a donation of $150,000. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum , in deciding to make this an official program in the form of the Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative supports the project though its programming budget.
DS: Will this be an ongoing project?
Swiader: Yes, absolutely. We hope to work with Google Earth on similar projects in the future. We will continue to utilize Google Earth technology to draw attention to genocide and genocidal situations worldwide. There are a number of situations the Museum is monitoring. Our Web site already contains information on the massive destruction in the . Other troubling developments are unfolding in , largely as a by-product of the genocide in Darfur . We are monitoring all of these situations. However, the greatest crisis is in Darfur and we are focusing our efforts on keeping abreast of the situation there. We are also continuing to augment the layers of information on the Holocaust.
DS: Finally, how did you find working on a project of a sensitive nature such as this with a large corporation such as Google?
Swiader: Google is a large company that seems small-at least in terms of a working relationship. They have been supportive of the idea from the start.
- - - - -
That's it for our interview. Download Squad would like to thank Lawrence Swiader for taking the time to talk with us.
