Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 7, 2011

The Guatemalan Attorney General’s office summoned Guzmán to present evidence based on his analysis of random samples drawn from the millions of documents in the Guatemalan National Police Archive. Benetech’s Human Rights Program was asked to help analyze the documents in this vast archive.

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Guatemala Statistics Analysis Sample 129

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 29, 2010

million documents in the archive produced from 1960 to 1996 contain critical information about police operations during Guatemala's 36 years of internal armed conflict during which an estimated 200,000 people were killed or disappeared. The estimated 31.7

Guatemala 145

Guatemala Statistics National Analysis 145

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 13, 2014

We know that surveillance is a common strategy to monitor and repress the efforts of many social justice groups and often leads to harm for those who document and expose human rights abuses. If you are identified as a rape survivor in many parts of the world, you are likely to experience extreme social stigma.

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Data Empowerment United States Government 176

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 22, 2013

The digital text can be accessed, but there is impaired access to the structure of the document. Two examples of this are: Bookshare permits the stripping of fingerprints out of its digital books when used to create master documents for Braille production.

Measure 181

Measure Technology Audio eBook 181

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. What if you could quickly and easily import data from other formats, like a Word document, PDF file or photograph?

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Global Group Thailand Burma 157

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 17, 2010

In 2010, Benetech’s Human Rights Data Analysis Group examined once hidden government documents from Guatemala and Chad that provided key evidence needed to hold former national leaders and security forces accountable for human rights violations. Guzmán’s testimony was based on HRDAG’s analysis of the 31.7

Chad 124

Chad Guatemala Data Liberia 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 8, 2015

We use technology today to help hundreds of thousands of students with disabilities succeed in school, as well as help human rights activists around the world document abuses and seek justice. As one of our partners from an LGBT group in Uganda noted last year, “If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.”

Technology 100

Technology Literacy Social Uganda 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Making Mifos more transparent by empowering staff to more easily use client information for document generation and reporting. Developing SMS communication capability , providing a simple yet powerful way for individuals to interact with Mifos via their SMS-enabled phone.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

As an intern with HRDAG , I was part of the team analyzing data drawn from documents in the National Police Archive, a cache of approximately 80 million sheets of paper kept by the police system during the Guatemalan Civil War, a 36-year long conflict that ended in 1996. It’s funny, my parents asked the same question.)

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Guatemala International Project Statistics 137

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 27, 2014

Our software tools change the ways in which individuals with disabilities can effectively read; enable frontline human rights defenders to safely document abuse; and support environmental practitioners in their efforts to protect species and ecosystems. Our work is made possible thanks to the generosity of our supporters.

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Challenge eBook Social Ohio 144

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 28, 2009

One photo features Patrick Ball, director of Benetech’s human rights program examining documents from the archive. And don’t forget to look at the photo gallery, which features some great pictures taken by Benetech’s Communications Director Ann Harrison.

Guatemala 124

Guatemala California Press Analysis 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 8, 2011

HRP’s statistical analysis of evidence from the Guatemalan National Police Archives, which contains some 80 million documents, has helped to establish forced disappearance as a crime in Guatemala. Now I can report that the two policemen were convicted and sentenced to forty years each for the disappearance of Edgar Fernando García.

Guatemala 159

Guatemala Literacy Qatar Open Source 159

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 12, 2010

We must determine how many victims of violence in Casanare have never been accounted for by any documentation project. “History, victims, and the survivors need to know how many people have been killed and disappeared in Casanare,” said Tamy Guberek, the study's lead author and the Benetech Human Rights Program Latin America Coordinator. “We

Colombia 100

Colombia America History Studies 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 16, 2011

Using this modular approach, HTML and EPUB documents would have graphical elements linked to specific instances of descriptions or image alternatives that use the content model. We are using the modular approach of the DAISY Authoring and Interchange Framework, which defines modules and profiles for the representation of books, journals, etc.

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Images Alternative Student Accessibility 194

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 22, 2006

Guatemalan government investigators eventually found stacks of documents soaked by rainwater from broken windows, inside a decaying building overrun by rats, bats and cockroaches. Escorted by assistant project director Alberto Fuentes and IT manager Jorge Villagran, I toured immaculate storerooms of crated and shelved documents.

Guatemala 124

Guatemala National Switzerland Camera 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 1, 2016

It may be documentation of atrocities they plan to use in later advocacy, or simply items like current membership lists. We have seen this problem here in the United States and around the world. My nonprofit creates the Martus software for human rights activists to securely store their sensitive information (via encryption).

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Develop Government United States Africa 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 12, 2006

I was meeting with the Exegenix team, part of TCS that is working on XML document conversion technology. Exegenix takes PDFs of documents and outputs XML of those documents through a human-assisted pattern recognition process. Since pattern recognition was my career prior to Benetech, I was fascinated.

Consultant 100

Consultant Service India Literacy 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 21, 2006

In my recent blog postings, I documented personal impressions during my recent trip to Bangladesh. This post takes a look at how Benetech is helping to document human rights abuses in that country. Silva's analysis presented in the report, " Judge, Jury, and Death: Torture and Executions by Bangladesh's Elite Security Force."

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Bangladesh Data Analysis Policy 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 2, 2007

Last year, the National Police archive was discovered, with an estimated 80 million pages of documents. Buried in these documents could be the answers to the questions of thousands of families about loved ones who disappeared during the last thirty years.

Literacy 100

Literacy San Jose Guatemala Bangladesh 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 10, 2011

In the case of J-FLAG, Martus enables the organization to protect the identity of victims of abuse who come forward to tell their stories, to secure the information from their interviews, to report on the types of crimes documented, and to aggregate evidence for future court proceedings.

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International Guatemala Colombia Analysis 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

That work includes updates and upgrades to Martus , our free, open source software that enables human rights fieldworkers to securely document abuse that is occurring in dangerous environments. Benetech will of course continue the software and technology development that is the primary focus of our Human Rights Program.

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Analysis Project Open Source Analytics 174

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 5, 2007

This project is supposed to be completed this year, and only a fraction of the 80 million documents will have been touched. ITworld.com's Digging for the truth quotes Benetech's Tamy Guberek and notes that our Martus software is being used in the project. Finally, it notes the time pressure that often accompanies our projects.

Guatemala 100

Guatemala San Francisco Project Software 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 28, 2011

As we've said in each post, crowdsourcing generally and SMS traffic in particular is great for documenting specific requests for help. The data will be far more misleading when the phenomenon being measured is violence. Our critique is that it's not a good way to generate a valid basis for understanding patterns.

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Issue Data Haiti Stream 160

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 10, 2014

Trained to use Martus , Benetech’s secure software tool for human rights documentation to gather accounts of violations and abuses in the community, this group decided to encrypt and backup its members’ list instead.

Data 168

Data Classroom Measure Accessibility 168

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 18, 2012

Write technical descriptions of HRP methods and projects at many levels of detail for academic publications, white papers, grant applications, grant reports, and internal documentation. Automate generation of publications based on data using LaTeX and Sweave. Give technical and non-technical presentations of HRP projects at conferences.

Analysis 150

Analysis Statistics Chart Language 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 1, 2011

We seek to evaluate our people and our work, and to continue to document and improve our procedures. We are a nonprofit technology company serving the unserved, tackling important challenges that the private sector cannot by developing content, products and services to effect social change. We value professionalism, dedication and service.

Literacy 145

Literacy Articulate Open Source International 145

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

This grant will allow us to deliver a set of major enhancements and new language translations for Martus, as well as expanded development and broad deployment of Mobile Martus , our brand new Android-based mobile documentation app.

India 142

India Literacy Global Accessibility 142

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 14, 2005

We have just put up a new page about how Benetech's Human Rights team has analyzed secret police documents discovered by a Human Rights Watch field effort, with much more on this important effort. Be sure to check it out if you're interested in seeing how IT can help with the pursuit of justice for human rights victims.

Chad 100

Chad Help International Team 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 7, 2013

Although it might seem like a complicated document , we’re really excited about it because we think it will greatly improve global access for people with bona fide print disabilities. In the popular online acronym, IANAL (I am not a lawyer). Here’s our laymen’s take on the major provisions of the Treaty.

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Copyright Law United States Library 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 21, 2006

Their website , found at [link] is an on-line memorial honoring over nine thousand victims allegedly killed by the Islamic Republic of Iran since the revolution in 1979 and an extensive library of documents relating to human rights and democracy.

Iran 100

Iran Library Database Websites 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 13, 2005

Also please don't try to help a test subject if they get disoriented, there will be an orientation and mobility expert on hand to offer assistance and document the problem in the test results for that user.

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Test Sound Fun Consultant 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 18, 2010

Over the past few years, I have seen human rights groups become much more sophisticated about how they use technology to document human rights abuses. My most recent visit to Nigeria confirmed this trend.

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Nigeria Training Train San Francisco 138

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 6, 2006

We're going to write a more detailed document together on this by email over the next month (we hope!), Dipendra and I have been talking about working together for years, but during this meeting we were able to get down and plan out our work phase by phase. but the outlines are pretty clear.

India 100

India Tunisia Language Phase 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 25, 2005

Many of EQUITAS' documents were secured by our Martus software using our "key-sharing" technique, see the Martus manual, section 2g. 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

FEBRUARY 3, 2005

Union leaders talked about applying our secure human rights software to documenting the killings of labour organisers and protecting journalists.

India 100

India Brazil Jordan Literacy 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 27, 2011

Through negotiations, four competing proposals have been merged into a single document supported in June by the Latin Americans (led by Brazil), the U.S., Question: What are the two key points of the document? Question: How does the draft document define print disability? the European Union and others.

Accessibility 150

Accessibility Global United States Copyright 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 6, 2009

Statements to the TRC documented more than 28,000 killings, the second most commonly reported violation. Forced displacement was the most commonly reported violation during the conflict — comprising about a third of the 163,615 total reported violations.

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Liberia Statistics Analysis United States 100