Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Having learning disabilities or various learning differences, they need alternative reading environments that rely on their strengths rather than on their weaknesses. Thousands of students with differing learning styles and language requirements can also benefit greatly from accessible books. There are some 7.5

Student 173

Student Accessibility Copyright Library 173

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 29, 2016

If you’ve been burning to use your considerable talents to make a difference, rather than make a lot of money, it’s time you considered joining our growing team. Your skills and experiences. Combining those three potent ingredients is how we change the world.

Money 100

Money Children Problem Model 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 6, 2013

Thanks for helping us find the right person for this key role at Benetech: it will make a difference to the global cause of human rights! If you’re up for the challenge and want to change the world, or know someone who might fit the bill, please check out or share this job posting.

Job 238

Job Open Source Global Government 238

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 28, 2014

The human brain is an extremely complex organ, but it should be getting easier to tune up different exercises for different recovery needs. Maybe there is a social enterprise in here!

Ideas 223

Ideas Kenya Brain Software 223

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 22, 2009

Every year, the American Library Association picks a different theme for the occasion. When as the Bookshare librarian I fill out membership forms for different library organizations, I want to check all the boxes, as Bookshare is at once a school library, a public library and an academic library. Bookshare is no different.

Library 100

Library National India United States 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 10, 2013

Here big data affected a global policy debate—and will hopefully make a big difference. Working together, we can show how Big Data makes more than big profits—it can make a big difference. This number was significantly more than the existing estimates that had dominated news and policy discussions.

Profit 171

Profit Data SWF Syria 171

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

At least, both groups would be showing up in Geneva with our different positions clear. Apparently, the particular kind of collective license that the publishers were discussing was different, and involved going through the eighty-plus special Reproduction Rights Organizations (RROs). So, the publishers weren’t against all licensing.

Accessibility 247

Accessibility License Copyright Library 247

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. As a pragmatic idealist, Majora acknowledges that asking companies to do good can only go so far.

Local 129

Local New York Culture Open Source 129

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Donations of any amount make a real difference when giving the gift of reading to our veterans. This campaign is a wonderful, easy way to share our work and leverage your support even further with the matching gifts that the Skoll Foundation is generously extending to the Challenge participants.

Support 179

Support United States Literacy Brain 179

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 22, 2013

Authorized entities that distribute audio books often need to remove the TPMs from one flavor of audio book from a different authorized entity, so that they can repackage and distribute that audio book in a different protected audio format that works with the players used by the patrons.

Measure 181

Measure Technology Audio eBook 181

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 27, 2012

He's made a big difference in the area of clean cook stoves and carbon credits, spinning his nonprofit group ImpactCarbon out of UC Berkeley years ago. Evan Haigler is a social entrepreneur I've known for years. Lately Evan's been talking about how to expand their impact even more.

El Salvador 133

El Salvador Profit Nicaragua Liberia 133

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 10, 2015

Are you someone who is burning to make a difference? Someone who values doing good over a whopping salary? Do you want flexibility in your job? Benetech wants to hear from you! It’s hard for most organizations to accommodate nonstandard approaches to work. There are jobs that need doing, and most places have a standard model for doing them.

Help 100

Help Skills Job Professional 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 24, 2011

The Think Different Summit was 15-20 smart people, led by an experienced facilitator, trying to imagine the future of the learning disability rights movement. I received a handful of people we should be talking to, and strong feedback on different aspect of our ideas.

Rhode Island 145

Rhode Island Learning Roles Course 145

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

The projects we select in Benetech Labs are those that have the greatest potential to realize a return on investment, but the difference is that we focus on social good return rather than private profit. There are more ways in which Benetech Labs differs from typical incubators. Click on image to enlarge.

Technology 163

Technology Profit Application Method 163

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 27, 2014

We build our tech-for-good products and reach dollar-by-dollar, and therefore every gift makes a difference for the people we serve. We are competing against other participating organizations—and racing against the clock—to raise funds and secure matching funding from the Skoll Foundation.

Challenge 144

Challenge eBook Social Ohio 144

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 7, 2011

Thanks to commenter Differance bringing up in response to to our last post on this topic that made me want to take a new tack. Captain Lopez helps her team assess the quality, quantity and usefulness of these different streams, each of which plays a part of the picture of the situation.

Picture 140

Picture Data Disaster Map 140

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 4, 2010

One of the great rewards of my job is receiving copies of those many emails praising our team or our software or our content for the difference we’ve made. Together, we’re going to figure out how to make a bigger difference for the better for many thousands, if not millions of people.

Team 100

Team Impact Celebrate Place 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 3, 2016

This question has also been unclear, and different libraries have treated this inconsistently. We often add image descriptions to illustrations, as well as supporting partners developing tactile versions of illustrations today, to further improve accessibility. Serving U.S. citizens abroad under Section 121 as if they lived in the U.S.

United States 100

United States Language Copyright Library 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 3, 2008

Kathy would stop and chat with different people as we walked around the island's circumference, checking in before taking our party further. But, I could sit there and imagine completely changing her access to information as she grows up, and maybe that little extra piece will make a difference to Freda.

Children 109

Children Phone Green Local 109

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 14, 2012

This global Martus meeting brought together individuals who use Martus to address different human rights documentation and security needs in widely varied projects, to share their successes and challenges with the software. The Benetech Human Rights Program (HRP) team is small - and the Martus outreach and training team is no different.

Global 157

Global Group Thailand Burma 157

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 19, 2008

Jim Patell of Stanford's Business School (and the d.school there) gave his pitch for similar principles in his extreme design for affordability class: it was cool to see an academic approach so grounded in reality and making a difference!

Conservancy 100

Conservancy Classes Problem Demonstration 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 7, 2013

This will reduce duplication of efforts in different countries in adapting the same title. Senate ratifies the Treaty, actual differences won’t be seen for at least a year and maybe longer. Second, the Treaty allows for easier import and export of accessible versions of books and other copyrighted works.

Copyright 158

Copyright Law United States Library 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 11, 2007

I thought that meant a small beta test, but it turns out that we already have testers registered from 16 different countries on 6 different continents! Our core beta testers are drawn from the Conservation Measures Partnership , coalition of the leading biodiversity groups (such as The Nature Conservancy, WWF and WCS).

Conservancy 100

Conservancy Software Test Measure 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 10, 2012

We appreciate the opportunity from Wired to talk about our different views on this critically important issue. His oped, When It Comes to Human Rights, There Are No Online Security Shortcuts , was just published on Wired.com. The tech community has immense power in the global battle for human rights.

Online 171

Online Government Tech Design 171

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 18, 2019

Whatever works for the reader who needs to read differently. You can take an ebook, push a button and make it Braille. Make it bigger. Make it talk. Make it read karaoke-style, which happens to be the killer app for dyslexic kids.

eBook 100

eBook United States Literacy Library 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 8, 2015

So if you are driven to make a real difference from a leadership position, at the unique intersection of technology and social change—and you are willing to work on delivering maximum social good—then we want to hear from you. Working for Benetech is hugely rewarding, but not necessarily in a monetary sense.

Technology 100

Technology Literacy Social Uganda 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 30, 2013

It turns out that traditional DRM mechanisms can’t tell the difference between access for the purpose of making an illegal copy and access for the purpose of sending the text to a braille notetaker/display or a voice synthesizer program that will read the text aloud.

Accessibility 171

Accessibility eBook New York City Social 171

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 23, 2009

That's a huge difference compared to copyrighted works that we convert under the copyright exemption, which we have to keep under tight controls to restrict copyrighted works to only the use of people with bona fide print disabilities in the U.S. Since they are open, we can get them and do the adaptations for accessibility.

Accessibility 150

Accessibility Content Open Copyright 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 13, 2009

Q: What's the difference between All for Good and other service websites like VolunteerMatch, Network for Good and Obama's Serve.gov? There are different variations of public service. Service to others takes different forms. The President is focusing on service. Q: What's the connection to Craigslist? Simplicity.

Interview 100

Interview Afghanistan Iraq Government 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 15, 2012

I’m excited to contribute to this topic in honor of the multitudes who work together to make a difference in the world through Bookshare, a global asset we have built with joint efforts of education, technology, publishing, student, parent, and volunteer communities.

Library 164

Library Student eBook Accessibility 164

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 6, 2010

The final half of the meeting was around organizing working groups to tackle different aspects of making this change throughout the field. I particularly heard about the need of Miradi to do more for advocacy groups, foundations and smaller groups (who need a simpler solution). This is a very action-oriented community.

Conservancy 124

Conservancy Measure Effective Washington 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 9, 2007

They are: Highly visual content, multimedia, maps User-created content (an increasing phenomena, with a wide variety of accessibility) Disproportionate cost compared to the benefit (we can't ask Flickr photo sharing users to describe a billion photos) We discussed the difference in priorities and costs.

Second Life 100

Second Life Avatar Asia Life 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

What a difference! Five years ago there is no way I could even carry on a conversation with our friends about what they were reading without being terribly frustrated about all the books I couldn't get. Now, I can read books that are newly published as fast as or even before our friends. Thank you, Bookshare and volunteers!

Volunteer 100

Volunteer Accessibility Sound Comment 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 14, 2009

We all know the limitations of the different traditional approaches to solving problems. The relationship that we have with the communities that we serve is fundamentally different than traditional charity. The power relationship between us and our customers is different from that of typical businesses. Ask them about it.

Business 100

Business Government North Carolina Chapter 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 2, 2006

I have been aware of the incredible advances in human genomics and animal models for different diseases and conditions. If we really understood what impacts Down Syndrome has on different pathways, we could come up with therapies that would make life better for people with this condition.

Denver 104

Denver Model Database Research 104

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 24, 2009

I got to know quite a number of faculty personally, and it made a world of difference to me in my education and frankly, my formation from a youth to an engineer eager to make a positive mark on the world.

Student 104

Student Activities Active Activism 104

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 30, 2011

I can give commands (as above) for different levels of info. I stand in front of a building and pull out the item, and push a button on it or give a verbal command or a method from my wheelchair. The unit opens out to be a hologram. General layout down to exact placements of empty chairs in an office, or location of receptionist at his desk.

Info 123

Info Tech Method Ideas 123