Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 28, 2014

On behalf of the Benetech team, thank you, Gerardo, for the immense impact you helped us create in the lives of multitudes around the world, and for establishing Benetech in such a strong position to create more impact than ever in the coming years!

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Open Source Literacy eBook Empowerment 184

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 25, 2014

What if we invest philanthropic capital in creating products that are geared towards the underprivileged, in their customer-focused deployment, and in scaling those tools that prove to work best? What if we brought the power that creates so much wealth in the tech community to bear on the inequality challenge? Let me explain.

Paraguay 144

Paraguay Problem Application Global 144

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

I was delighted when Ron Schultz invited me to collaborate with him on his latest book Creating Good Work – The World’s Leading Social Entrepreneurs Show How to Build a Healthy Economy. What I liked most was the idea to create a body of knowledge that’s truly helpful to prospective and emerging social entrepreneurs.

Develop 144

Develop Social Library eBook 144

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

The Global Treaty for the Blind makes it legal to create ebooks for people with disabilities without having to pay a royalty or getting permission. The majority of donations stay local, sourcing content in local languages and creating jobs. Cheap devices and internet connectivity mean everything is digital. We have the ebooks.

Global 109

Global eBook Library United States 109

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 22, 2013

Unfortunately, these TPMs create collateral damage in the form of disabling or hindering activities that are generally permitted. This has created the ironic situation where blind people, who because of their disability require access to digital copies, have been effectively locked out of purchasing ebooks for the last decade.

Measure 181

Measure Technology Audio eBook 181

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 29, 2018

Today, there are hundreds of tech social entrepreneurs who have followed their passion to create enterprises that prioritize people over profit. Senate and goes into effect this month. When Benetech began, we didn’t know of any other tech for good social enterprise. I can assure you that I am not retiring. I plan to stay involved at Benetech!

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News Syria Conservancy eBook 189

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 4, 2013

We are ramping up an amazing volunteer force of individuals, on their own and from universities, corporations, and other groups, who have created tens of thousands of descriptions, vastly exceeding our expectations. Together, we brainstormed even more ways to create, use, and discover accessible images.

Literacy 166

Literacy Program United Arab Emirates Student 166

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 17, 2014

To better understand why promoting “breathing space” for creativity is crucial for copyright to achieve its purpose of encouraging innovation, consider some examples from Benetech’s work that demonstrate how copyright exceptions can create a framework for innovation in action.

Copyright 196

Copyright Law Accessibility Library 196

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 15, 2012

It is the Power of We that changes the way we create transformative positive change. When Bookshare was first created, most people with print disabilities read printed material via books on tape or hardcopy Braille books delivered through the mail. Converting and delivering these accessible books was expensive and time consuming.

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Library Student eBook Accessibility 164

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

These are exciting times for everyone who’s been working to meet the accessibility imperative, as we are witnessing global movements that will increase accessible publishing and create new and better opportunities for people with disabilities. The first is the shift to electronic distribution of published materials.

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Accessibility Global eBook Copyright 155

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 12, 2014

The HathiTrust Digital Library (HDL) is a partnership of academic and research institutions that had created (with help from Google ) a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. It allows users to search book content that contains a match for their search terms.

Accessibility 205

Accessibility Copyright Law Library 205

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 19, 2013

At the core of our library is the electronic book, which can be easily converted into accessible formats for the blind, on computers, tablets, smartphones, electronic braille displays and simple phones and MP3 players, through Braille embossers and presses that create physical Braille books, and through creating large print.

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Library United States Copyright Accessibility 203

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 24, 2018

He considered himself a “problem-solving lawyer” and warned me against getting involved with “problem-creating lawyers!” That was how the organization we now know of as Benetech was created and how I became a social entrepreneur (this was more than a decade before we had heard the term).

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Mentoring Copyright Law Photography 167

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 4, 2014

I describe the open source tools Benetech builds; clarify why it is important that cybersecurity tools in particular are open; explain how Benetech’s culture of “open” shapes its product development as well as broadly serves its social mission; and reflect on the reasons why the open source ethos is well suited for creating social impact.

Open Source 165

Open Source Open Social Interview 165

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

We take their files and convert them to the DAISY format which is a digital format designed specifically to create accessible materials for people with print disabilities. More and more publishers are asking that we return to them the DAISY files we create. O'Reilly is again leading the charge. Why is this a big deal?

Accessibility 133

Accessibility Marketing eBook Files 133

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 11, 2013

Creating the World’s Largest Collection of Accessible Arabic eBooks Access to knowledge is the critical first step on the path to economic, educational, and social development. In 2011, we began collaborating with the Mada Center (Qatar Assistive Technology Center) to create accessible Arabic-language digital books.

United Arab Emirates 162

United Arab Emirates Qatar eBook Language 162

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 9, 2018

It creates an opportunity to have public benefit being balanced with business interests. Technology advances have created the opportunity for many of us to experiment with one or more of these models. However, experiencing Napster sparked the idea for me of creating Bookster.

Accessibility 135

Accessibility eBook People Copyright 135

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 26, 2013

In my prepared statement, I explained why well-balanced intellectual property laws inspire technology innovation and social good, and described how our Bookshare initiative models the good that copyright exceptions can create. We call this building the last “social mile.”

Internet 142

Internet Copyright Law Open Source 142

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 14, 2012

We also discussed targeted, intensive trainings-of-trainers with partner organizations that specifically want to have in-house Martus instructors, with the goal of creating a loosely interconnected global web of trainers. From a technical perspective, the most exciting theme of the event was the idea of creating a Martus “ecosystem” of tools.

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Global Group Thailand Burma 157

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 19, 2013

Majora realized that creating green projects and jobs empowers communities to see themselves in a different light, and that beautiful things happen in neighborhoods where people feel invested in their own economic and environmental well being.

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Local New York Culture Open Source 129

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 30, 2012

The ESI Award recognizes outstanding individuals and organizations whose innovations blend methods from the worlds of business and philanthropy, and that challenge the status quo to create sustainable social value with a potential for large-scale impact.

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Award Lecture Social Student 154

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 20, 2012

To create as much public good as possible, philanthropists need information about the performance of potential grantees: whether they have clear, measurable goals and the organizational capacity to realize them. They therefore came up with the idea to create an online archive of video interviews with the leaders of nonprofits.

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Library Giving Camera Interview 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Here, we realized, was an opportunity to create real, lasting social impact. If we could create a human rights information management tool to address the needs of a community that didn’t have a technology solution at all—now that was worth doing!

Burma 168

Burma Analysis Guatemala Law 168

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 8, 2013

Wouldn''t that create more demand for our Bookshare online library? It sure would create more demand for Bookshare in the future, but our primary goal is not to sustain Bookshare, although we will as long as Bookshare is needed.

Accessibility 133

Accessibility Amazon Library eBook 133

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 19, 2013

At Benetech, our goal is to create positive social change through technology. We hope you’ll consider them: our ability to sustain our ongoing efforts, while exploring and creating new technology to meet pressing social needs, depends on the generosity of people like you!

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Site Accessibility Press Ideas 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 15, 2012

This week, Benetech’s DIAGRAM Center has announced the release of an open source web application for creating and editing crowdsourced image descriptions in books used by students with print disabilities. Benetech has long been a pioneer in providing innovative services to people with print disabilities.

Images 133

Images Student Accessibility Content 133

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 29, 2016

Unfortunately, the economic model that works so well for creating wealth, falls short when it comes to helping the poor. We believe in wildcards : if you have a creative way to address one of our needs, let us know! Silicon Valley is an incredible force for change. Communities that most need our help are often the least able to afford it.

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Money Children Problem Model 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 20, 2013

We were following in his footsteps, on a path he helped create! While we remain committed to serving people with disabilities, our work with Arkenstone and Bookshare has created a model that is being replicated by Benetech and many others in new fields.

eBook 221

eBook Award Copyright Syria 221

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 3, 2014

Her love for books led her to create the Book Caravans: treks each April out to a village in the desert or the mountains of Morocco. Jamila Hassoune Ten years ago, I started corresponding with a fascinating woman from Morocco, Jamila Hassoune. Over time, I learned more and more about her work and background.

Morocco 199

Morocco Literacy Europe History 199

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 7, 2013

The third blog post in this series on Bookshare International will describe our adventures creating the library’s first offerings in Arabic. For instance, we would like to create a mobile version of Bookshare that would allow users with no easy access to a computer and wired Internet to benefit from our services.

India 225

India Literacy United Kingdom United States 225

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 5, 2015

The Lavelle Fund exemplifies the tremendous social return that bold philanthropy can create. The Fund demonstrates the incredible social impact that private philanthropy can create through smart investing strategies and risk tolerance.

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Fund India United States eBook 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 1, 2012

Since passage of the ADA and the special education laws, we have broken down barriers, created opportunities, and transformed lives. Recently, I had the pleasure to host Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) for exactly such a meeting of minds with ten fellow social entrepreneurs. million to 6 million by 2015.

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Hosting San Francisco Law Education 140

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 18, 2011

The first group was the De Novo Group , co-founded by famed Internet entrepreneur Eric Brewer to take cool, socially beneficial software (often created at UC Berkeley) and bring it to the world. D-Rev wants to create solutions to help the poorest people in the world.

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Uganda Africa Proposal Survey 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 17, 2013

In 1985, he started Fundación Paraguaya in order to develop social innovations that could help create jobs and increase family income among the country’s poor. Martín has worked tirelessly to disseminate the social innovations he has created in Paraguay throughout the world.

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Paraguay Award Africa Conservancy 142

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 10, 2013

And though they use the massive sets of data they collect to help create a better experience for their consumers (such as customized ads or tailored movie recommendations), their primary goal is to use what they learn to maximize profits. But can Big Data also create positive social change?

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Profit Data SWF Syria 171

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 14, 2011

We use technology to create products and projects that serve humanity where the market will fail to go because they offer modest financial returns. To create these breakthrough solutions, our team uses its skills to build upon the incredible talents and productivity of the larger tech community.

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Technology Change Social Literacy 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 10, 2014

Dominated by engineers and high tech executives, our senior leadership fully accepts the premise that in order to create systemic change we must build the capacity to collect, monitor, and interpret data over time. Being more adaptive and less rigid also creates the opportunity for serendipity.

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Data Classroom Measure Accessibility 168