Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

Thanks to our team to making sure our users have equal access to cultural phenomena like The Lost Symbol! Although it's digitally available on the Kindle and other ebook platforms, these aren't accessible to our Bookshare members.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 29, 2011

As I noted in my first blog on my African trip, I was delighted with the entrepreneurial culture in Nairobi, Kenya. A social entrepreneur who very much exemplified this was Stephen Muthee, founder of Daproim, a data entry social enterprise based in Nairobi.

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Kenya Student Africa University 228

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 9, 2013

Together with our partners in the nonprofit, technology, government, academic and publishing sectors, we participate in new cultural and technological movements, deriving new knowledge that we apply for social gain. These relationships generate countless ideas for using technology for social good.

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Spain Language America Law 151

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 9, 2014

Philanthropy plays a role beyond what governments could do—allowing for the testing of innovative models that are responsive to local cultural contexts—and then looks to government for scaling up successful efforts. This is where philanthropy comes in.

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Education Philanthropy Africa Foundation 164

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 20, 2012

I was filmed delivering an extensive Q&A session that provides detailed information about Benetech: our mission, our culture, our major accomplishments, objectives and success metrics, and the gaps we seek to fill as we dream big and work towards expanding our impact to see that technology fully serves all of humanity.

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Library Giving Camera Interview 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 8, 2008

It's great to go to completely different places, spending time learning about history, politics, issues and culture from new perspectives. I also learned about traditional drugs that have important cultural overtones. Micronesia left quite an impression on me. It's supposed to totally numb you and make you mellow.

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Micronesia Reflection Guam Marshall Islands 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 3, 2011

The Day aims to raise awareness of disability issues with a focus on the rights of persons with disabilities and the benefits derived from their integration in the social, economic, cultural and political life of their communities.

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Impact Technology eBook Student 140

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 19, 2009

We heard about how much our commitment to transparency was valued, among other aspects of our culture. It was hard to keep my mouth buttoned up, but it was essential to hearing from the team instead of from the CEO! And we did. We attract incredible people to Benetech, and it showed.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 3, 2006

It was great to see the enthusiasm of the different developers, and at a place with Google's culture, that counts for a lot. Of course, when I talk about accessibility, I'm focusing on access for people with disabilities, and Google people are typically talking about access to more material.

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Accessibility University Google Video 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 16, 2014

These are major milestones in our collective effort to build a culture of systematic, evidence-based documentation and advocacy work, and in our journey to make the defenders of human rights stronger in their fight against injustice and abuse.

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Open Source Africa Zimbabwe Malawi 183

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 15, 2014

And when you sign the treaty, you haven’t succeeded.

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Accessibility Celebrate United States Copyright 194

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

In 2001, its 40th anniversary year, AI expanded its mandate considerably to incorporate economic, social and cultural rights, as well as the body of international law governing armed conflict, thus committing itself to advance all human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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International Asia Global University 133

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 28, 2007

It had more of a feeling of a traditional cultural experience than last year's India party (which was Bollywood to the max). Willing participants in a transaction of an evening of entertainment for a four minute video. The Malaysians had brought a dance troupe, and it was fun. Lots of Motown.

Malaysia 100

Malaysia Brazil Music India 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 16, 2005

I was attending a session organized by the library association, IFLA, and he got up and talked about how Egypt does not have a culture of reading. A tech guy from Egypt was the standout moment for me so far. His point was the 5 million Internet users in Egypt are the people who do read.

Library 100

Library Global Build Tunisia 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 15, 2006

All of this with a culture of accountability and results at a massive scale. In an action-packed hour meeting, I heard about BRAC's efforts to create jobs, change the educational system, expand access to microcredit and other exciting ventures.

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Bangladesh NGO Library Language 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 7, 2013

Americans come from a wide, wide variety of ethnic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and the Treaty will especially improve access for Americans with disabilities. Once the Treaty is in effect, we expect that existing Bookshare users will qualify under the Treaty’s terms for international accessibility.

Copyright 158

Copyright Law United States Library 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

Conclusion The essence of copyright law is to help society's interest in sharing knowledge and culture, while protecting the interests of authors and publishers.

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Copyright Social Law Student 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 3, 2008

There is enormous potential for finding cross-cultural solutions to issues of disability and print access. I returned to Amherst excited and full of questions. I am now pursuing these questions through a study of disability issues in the United States and India.

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Accessibility India United States International 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

The Benetech Truths define our culture and focus our efforts on how we operate. And as we’ve grown, we’ve learned what works for us and what doesn’t, which has led us to codify two frameworks to guide our team. Benetech’s New Project Framework helps us identify the next projects to work on.

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Develop Social Library eBook 144

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 13, 2008

Whether the divides are social, economic, political or cultural, it is often technology that can help overcome these divides. As a foundation, we do more than just write a check; through our community, philanthropic and corporate partnerships, we help nonprofit organizations find new revenue sources to become more self-sustaining.

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San Francisco California Philanthropy Director 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 9, 2007

That being said, in much of Africa and Asia, Kevin didn't see a culture of novel reading among the educated. He noted that PWD will say very different things when their “handlers” are present in the form of teachers, librarians, rehab people, nonprofit people. When teacher is present, it's about textbook access.

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Second Life Avatar Asia Life 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 22, 2009

The library is a unique, neutral social and cultural space. I’ve walked through a few libraries, but I can say that Bookshare is unique within my experience. All libraries bring people together in ways that no other institution does. It’s free, secular, and encourages people to linger.

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Library National India United States 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 12, 2006

And, so my adventure in understanding cultural context began. I had read about a restaurant, called Khyber, that I wanted to try, so I headed over there for a late lunch/early dinner. When I arrived there, it was only 630 pm and the door was locked. A waiter mimed to me that the restaurant opened in an hour.

India 100

India Delicious Stream Raise 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 11, 2006

AIF is definitely part of the social entrepreneurship movement with a results oriented culture that appeals to the tech entrepreneurs who are some of the main funders. I had just read a paper about the LINCOS project in Central America, so this was fresh in my mind.

India 100

India Foundation Student Children 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 24, 2006

India and its neighbors are very well represented, partly because of the entrepreneurial culture of the region and because of the huge issues in the area. China's social entrepreneurs are under-represented in Davos, probably because of the relatively tight control on such things in China.

China 100

China Nigeria India Skype 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 22, 2007

The cross-cultural friendships that are formed by Hadley-China students and the native English tutors are heart-warming, indeed. Another of the Hadley-China students who logs onto the chat has recently been hired by a Chinese travel agency to translate some of their advertisements into English.

China 100

China Skype Student Empowerment 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 20, 2004

Telling her story means overcoming some fierce cultural norms, in order to change attitutudes towards people with AIDS. The most affecting personal story was from a woman, Annamarie, who had nearly died from AIDS and who had come back with the drug therapy.

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Mozambique South Africa Africa NGO 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 27, 2011

Answer: Many Americans want to access materials from other countries, both in English and many other languages, for education, employment and cultural reasons. UK, France, Spain) would have access to crucially important cultural, vocational and educational materials. Question: How would this help Americans with print disabilities?

Accessibility 150

Accessibility Global United States Copyright 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 13, 2012

We asked “What is true about Benetech, what are the truths that define our identity, our culture, and the values that drive our work?” Conclusion I hope this update has given you some insight into the key parts of the Benetech culture and an understanding of how these values are articulated in everything we do.

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Articulate Open Source Metrics Open 137

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 2, 2012

These artists come from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds and have a wide range of ability and experience. Creativity Explored provides supportive studios for artists who receive individualized instruction from mentors, quality art materials, and professional opportunities to exhibit their work.

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Artist San Francisco Support Arkansas 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 12, 2012

On Financial Narratives and Financial Footnotes: The Truth Is in the Fine Print Guest Beneblog by Teresa Throckmorton, Benetech's CFO and VP, Finance In a previous blog post, we shared the Seven Benetech Truths : the core values that define our identity and culture, that guide our work, and that tell our story.

Story 155

Story Grant Fund Library 155

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

A specialist in technology and culture, Janet came to work for Benetech this summer as a communications fellow after a long career in dotcoms and newspapers, most recently USA Today. Janet Kornblum Janet Kornblum began writing about technology in 1994 when she was deemed the newsroom expert because she could actually log on to the Internet.

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Los Angeles South Africa United States Statistics 100