"Voluntourism" and The Atlas of the Real World

I want to highlight two articles recently published on CNN.com. The first is on The Atlas of the Real World, a book and website that maps social and economic data. The news is extremely relevant to the BOP Source community, because maps give us visuals for how to convey the need for our work in more creative ways, beyond language. In public health we refer to "creative epidemiology" where we use creative comparisons to convey numbers of people affected by disease and hardship. For example, imagine 10 Dodgers Stadiums filled to the max and that many people have HIV in the town of Smallville (this is not true, just a hypothetical example). Maps with data about tuberculosis, unemployment and literacy help us comprehend and in turn convey to others the severity of a given issue we are working on at the base of the pyramid.

The second article is on "Voluntourism," or luxury vacations that give back to the community. I've always been fascinated by the intersection of luxury and charity, whether it occurs in the high fashion community or in the lives of celebrities like Angelina Jolie. The article on CNN details what kinds of voluntourism one can choose and how to maximize impact through reflection on one's goals and careful selection of participating non-profits. It's pretty interesting that the article goes into such depth on maximizing impact, given the perception that many people who want to give back may just be interested in the "feel good" aspects of volunteering; the article, on the other hand, highlights a new kind of volunteer, one who intelligently considers all aspects of the work he/she engages in.