Years ago when it seemed that ABC News was the only television network in the U.S. to offer coverage of the Olympic Games, the network opened its sports segments with a video montage showing various athletes winning or losing in their respective competitions. As the images of the athletes played across the screen, the voice of the late Jim McKay would announce, “Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports . . . the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” Without a doubt, these words accurately depicted what so many athletes experience on the road to the Olympic Games. But no doubt many of us have often wondered not only where these men and women came from, but what happens to them after the games are over . . . after they return home?

Thank you to all those who supported the Genocide Intervention Network's proposal for the NetSquared Mashup Challenge! We were honored to be nominated by the community as a 2008 Featured Project for our proposal to upgrade and extend the DarfurScores.org website:

The Genocide Intervention Network seeks to create a new website, modeled on our successful Darfur congressional scorecard, DarfurScores.org, tentatively named GenocideScores.org.

Our current plan for the site — which could change as we explore different options and hear feedback from our members — has four main components:

• Collecting together anti-genocide data, not only on Darfur but on each of our areas of concern. Instead of being limited to only legislative records, each state would list its status on other anti-genocide initiatives like Sudan divestment and genocide education.
• Provide clear illustrations of legislative status. Instead of just hearing about a bill when a member of Congress does (or doesn't) vote for it, we'll be tracking bills as they move through each chamber.
• Cross-index a bill's status with a member's location. When the latest bill on genocide prevention is up for a vote, anti-genocide activists whose members of Congress represent key votes on the legislation will be able to receive automatic alerts.
• Provide embeddable badges or widgets for activists to place on their profiles, blogs or websites. At a glance, both you and visitors to your website, blog or social networking profile will be able to see how your state and legislators are doing on the question of genocide. And when urgent action is needed, these badges will be automatically updated with a special link to take action.

Now, we want your feedback. If you have a chance, read through our proposal for DarfurScores.org and leave a comment — tell us what you like, what you think could be changed, what we're overlooking. Remember that this is all about our core mission: empowering individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide. We hope this project will result in a valuable new tool, and we'd love to have your input!

—Ivan Boothe, Internet Strategy Coordinator for the Genocide Intervention Network

P.S. If you're interested in the work we're doing, follow us on Twitter!

Are you interested in changing the world by supporting the first-ever permanent anti-genocide constituency? Do you spend a lot of time online and know what an effective advocacy campaign looks like? Can you build a website from the ground up?

If any of the above appeals to you, we hope you will consider the Genocide Intervention Network's online anti-genocide organizer and web developer unpaid internship this fall at our office in Washington, D.C. GI-Net is committed to building the first permanent constituency dedicated to ending genocide. GI-Net empowers its members with the tools to prevent and stop genocide. Currently we are focused on ensuring protection for civilians in Darfur, Sudan.