Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 27, 2010

Martin Fisher of KickStart noted that technology innovations don’t tend to be adopted by poor rural farmers: technology that could change their lives dramatically for the better. I think that many social entrepreneurs get intuitively that social change is best done with people rather than to people, and hope that this is more widely adopted.

Bangladesh 100

Bangladesh Proposal Switzerland Adopt 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 28, 2014

As Gerardo explained in a recent blog post , Schema.org—the organization that keeps a list of agreed-upon tags that all search engines can use in common—adopted our proposed standards, so that search engine users can refine their searches to easily find accessible learning resources online.

Open Source 184

Open Source Literacy eBook Empowerment 184

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 3, 2011

Zerofootprint is an exciting social enterprise, and one I hope to see gain expanded adoption. Suddenly, we have a tool to focus on the most wasteful schools, and to help all schools improve their energy efficiency.

Classroom 162

Classroom Demonstration Student Contest 162

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 17, 2015

The international legal landscape for people with these disabilities dramatically changed on June 28, 2013, when the World Intellectual Property Organization adopted the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled. delegation signing the treaty.

Copyright 100

Copyright Law Library eBook 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 10, 2011

He talked about the opportunities and challenges he sees ahead, especially as technology tools continue to be adopted by more of the human rights community, from cell phones to Facebook.

Literacy 150

Literacy Disaster Phone Press 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 15, 2014

As a long-time advocate for a global copyright exception and the founder of Benetech—which I started twenty-five years ago in order to make technology tools to address the needs of people with print disabilities—I was thrilled to become an active player in global diplomacy and witness the adoption and signing of this landmark Treaty.

Accessibility 194

Accessibility Celebrate United States Copyright 194

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 5, 2013

We have a treaty…and it’s great! Thank you to everybody who helped to make the treaty possible! Why is this treaty so terrific?

Morocco 127

Morocco United States Copyright Library 127

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

In fact, the adopted changes are at the heart of the organization’s identity and suggest that every generation reinvents AI. Over the years, AI has altered and expanded its mandate to address new human rights issues and to ease the creative tension between the demands of its grassroots membership and its organizational policy.

International 133

International Asia Global University 133

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Geeks are textbook early adopters. We can't resist a new gadget, or pushing the envelope to find out what's really possible! I'm no exception to this rule. Recently, our family took delivery of a new Nissan Leaf, a completely electric vehicle.

San Francisco 157

San Francisco Virginia San Jose Test 157

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 10, 2009

But, the lousy quality of accessibility of the Kindle presents a civil rights problem: schools can't adopt Kindles and lock out their disabled students. Hopefully, this approach will be adopted sooner so that all people have the right to read! ebook reader with all the books they need for the year is pretty tempting.

Amazon 100

Amazon Accessibility eBook Problem 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 29, 2008

Our group was so affected by these girls that one of the women in our group raised $1500 that day to get the most severely impacted infants the operations she'd need to become adoptable. Her Chinese name meant "happy," so we nicknamed her Happy Hadley and hope she has greater opportunities.

China 100

China San Francisco United States Europe 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 20, 2011

Elaina says that Miradi helped her determine what knowledge was needed by local residents to adopt behaviors that promote clean water. “By using the concept models for the watershed plan, we can be comprehensive and see what other projects we should be engaged in and other organizations that should be involved.”

Guam 124

Guam Conservancy Software Help 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 7, 2013

It provides a crucial legal framework for adoption of national copyright exceptions in countries that lack them. Bookshare expects to make extra efforts to assist with this expanded access: it’s part of our mission to help people with disabilities around the world. It is necessary for ending the book famine, but it is not sufficient.

Copyright 158

Copyright Law United States Library 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 23, 2014

We even convinced schema.org—the standards setting body for the big search engines—to adopt a standard to make it easier to discover accessible materials online. We want to see that students with disabilities have equal opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

Literacy 158

Literacy eBook United Kingdom Accessibility 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 3, 2013

The convergence of standards in digital publishing and major advancements in braille codes – such as the recent adoption of Unified English Braille (UEB) format by the Braille Authority of North America – are on our side. This allows a much broader group of experts to keep working on the problem.

Literacy 208

Literacy eBook Images Accessibility 208

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 15, 2007

Poool could be built today, but it's not clear that the incentives are quite right for adoption by large employers. Imagine the benefits to society if we reduced even 10% of the commuting burden: getting rid of traffic congestion would save more than 10% of pollution and time.

Technology 100

Technology Global Structure Problem 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 10, 2011

Since its adoption at the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, the Declaration has become a universal standard for the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide. 2011 has been an amazing year for human rights defenders.

International 150

International Guatemala Colombia Analysis 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 5, 2010

They don’t tend to lead to widespread adoption that benefits people with disabilities directly, though. Some awards programs are around encouraging students and individual inventors: with the incentive being prestige or a minor amount of money ($5-10,000). These encourage students and professors to think about accessibility.

Accessibility 100

Accessibility Award Proposal Phase 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 17, 2014

On the other, much brighter side, this is definitely a critical and hopeful time where technology and massive industry shifts make it possible to realize our shared dream of equal access to information for all people with print disabilities. often leads the way towards that better tomorrow.

Copyright 196

Copyright Law Accessibility Library 196

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 9, 2005

This is the group charged with advising the Department of Education on the adoption of the new digital standard for electronic textbooks for students with disabilities. I'll dash back to Palo Alto Tuesday night for our quarterly board meeting, and then leave Wednesday night for the NIMAS Technical Committee meeting in Dallas.

Tunisia 100

Tunisia Kansas City Japan Dallas 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 25, 2005

EQUITAS has been among our most innovative Martus adopters. She and her taxi driver were taken to a remote location where her computer, cell phone and other property was stolen, but thankfully, she and the taxi driver were released unharmed.

Colombia 100

Colombia Technique Software Adopt 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 9, 2018

A new copyright exception has been adopted nationwide just a couple of years earlier, the Chafee Amendment (also known as Section 121). I went right away to my lawyer, Gerry Davis, and told him of my vision, which I worried might be illegal. He came back the next day and gave me unbelievably positive news. My idea was completely legal!

Accessibility 135

Accessibility eBook People Copyright 135

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 8, 2010

They would be binding international law if negotiated and adopted, stating that all countries should have an exception for the print disabled. Reasons for Each Recommendation The Treaties The TVI or the AUPT are treaties that would do a great job towards meeting the goal I stated above.

Accessibility 133

Accessibility Global Copyright Law 133

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 26, 2014

The other is the recently adopted Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled – an international copyright treaty that would make a copyright exception for people with disabilities a global norm and allow sharing of accessible books across national borders.

eBook 203

eBook Accessibility United States Student 203

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Adopting eccentric viewing is thus best accomplished by working with a trained low vision therapist. This is a complex biological task that’s difficult to self-teach: it requires the eyes and the brain to learn a new method of seeing, which means acquiring new habits and skills. And this is where the MagnaFlyer comes in.

People 113

People Help Tech Colorado 113

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 27, 2011

The movie and recording industries have made the most negative statements about the treaty: [it would] “begin to dismantle the existing global treaty structure of copyright law, through the adoption of an international instrument at odds with existing, longstanding and well-settled norms.”

Accessibility 150

Accessibility Global United States Copyright 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 13, 2012

We’re pragmatic enough to adopt a proprietary approach when we think it’s the best way to accomplish our mission goals, but we always lean towards open over closed. Whether it’s a student’s disability status or a gripping story of human rights suffering, we need to ensure that confidentiality commitments are honored. We value transparency.

Articulate 137

Articulate Open Source Metrics Open 137

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 5, 2016

Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen set forth the “Innovator’s Dilemma” which states that companies that have accomplished great change are reluctant to adopt the next disruptive innovation because of its impact on the existing successful business.

Change 100

Change eBook United States Conservancy 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 10, 2008

Regulation of nonprofits globally is an important issue, and I'm concerned that someone make actually adopt this package of reforms, making some of the "voluntary" reforms compulsory. I also question a reform package that seems to single out certain social organizations.

Technique 100

Technique Philanthropy Global Problem 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 21, 2008

Betsy, a former teacher with a Master's in Education and Learning Disabilities, has a keen understanding of what educators need to adopt Bookshare.org and other technology in the classroom. She came to us with some very well-developed ideas on how to reach out to our educational users.

Darfur 100

Darfur Sri Lanka Liberia Colombia 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 13, 2011

Miradi – Expanding Throughout the World Images of sea life from the Ytre Hvaler National Park in Norway.I’ve been amazed by the growth in adoption of Miradi, our conservation project management software tool. Our team is helping activists and organizations worldwide ensure that the truth matters.

Conservancy 140

Conservancy Norway Congo Sweden 140

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 24, 2015

I had a chance to meet with staffers involved in the drafting of two key federal bills that are most likely to be adopted, and shared my issues. We recently wrote a piece in Medium on our concerns about new privacy legislation affecting nonprofits that work in schools. This is what my team calls a karma gig.

New York 100

New York Boston Washington Africa 100