March 12, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
How have the Internet and other new technologies affected the work of international-development groups?
Two Google officials — Sonal Shah, head of global development initiatives at Google.org and Bob Boorstin, director of policy communications in Google’s Washington office — discuss that topic on the Google blog.
Last month, Google and Google.org brought together more than 80 technology experts with international charities. Speakers discussed the benefits of cloud computing, which provides an alternative to putting all the burden of computing on a charity’s own servers.
An official at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum highlighted how his organization used Google Earth to document atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region. In a session about the use of YouTube, participants described how cheap video cameras could spread awareness about crises around the globe. (Read The Chronicle’s story on the use of online video).
Watch a video in which participants describe how the Internet has affected international development:
What do you think? How have changes in information technology altered how development workers do their jobs?
