Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 10, 2013

Many activities in the social sphere also generate lots of information. These information-centric areas are built for Big Data—data that if better understood could help provide a pathway to maximize our human potential, instead of maximizing profits. We don’t know if the student ever gets past Chapter 1.

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Profit Data SWF Syria 171

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 23, 2014

We want to help lead the charge into a future where the advantages of digital information touch the lives of all people, not just of the richest and most able five percent of humanity. First, we are working to lower the barrier to the use of strong encryption to automatically protect the privacy of sensitive information.

Literacy 158

Literacy eBook United Kingdom Accessibility 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 25, 2012

HRDAG designed a process to randomly sample the Archive and the archivists began using Benetech’s Martus software to organize and secure information generated from the samples. The Archive has also provided valuable information corroborating findings that involve the U.S.

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National Guatemala Texas Online 206

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. We’re delighted that Benetech was selected to be one of the first 250 nonprofits spotlighted on the Giving Library.

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Library Giving Camera Interview 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

A free, open source software application that allows users anywhere in the world to securely gather and organize information about human rights violations, Martus enables human rights defenders on the front lines of fighting abuse to stay safe and protects the identities of those who would face violence and repression for telling their stories.

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Burma Analysis Guatemala Law 168

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 7, 2011

You're absolutely right that information quality comes from people and that data's fitness for a particular purpose is very contextual. To continue in this direction, let’s look at how people use this information. The people who are in most need of information about humanitarian disasters are the organized responders.

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Picture Data Disaster Map 140

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Benetech’s Bookshare initiative was founded to improve the lives and learning of people with some of the biggest challenges—those with visual impairments, physical disabilities and/or learning disabilities that prevent them from reading books and information in most standard formats.

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Support United States Literacy Brain 179

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

I encourage you to check out HRDAG’s new website to get more information and to stay informed about their new and ongoing work. As HRDAG sets out on its own, its primary focus will continue to be on the data-driven and scientific side of analyzing human rights violations around the world.

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Analysis Project Open Source Analytics 174

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 19, 2013

We’ve designed the site to be fully searchable, making it easy to find the information you need, and developed new content to convey the impact of our work and provide resources we hope will be useful. You’ll also find information about several meaningful ways to support our work. We’ve partnered with Knowbility, Inc. ,

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Site Accessibility Press Ideas 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 11, 2015

This is a recurring question that we get at Benetech about Martus —our free, strongly encrypted tool for secure collection and management of sensitive information, built and provided by the Benetech Human Rights Program. “Your secure software is open source: doesn’t that make it less secure?”

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Open Source Open Software License 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 17, 2015

Access to information and knowledge is a basic human right and a necessary first step towards personal, economic, and social development. The good news is that there are now unprecedented opportunities to transform the lives of these millions by removing barriers of access to information  —   and this is where you can help.

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Copyright Law Library eBook 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 10, 2011

Here’s a sample of our accomplishments: Martus , our secure, open-source information management software for human rights defenders continued to empower many human rights groups worldwide to secure thousands of stories of human rights violations and to use this information strategically to advance their causes.

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International Guatemala Colombia Analysis 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 17, 2011

Guest Beneblog by Patrick Ball, Jeff Klingner, and Kristian Lum After the earthquake in Haiti, Ushahidi organized a centralized text messaging system to allow people to inform others about people trapped under damaged buildings and other humanitarian crises. Kristian Lum has analyzed data from the same sources that the JRC team used.

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Statistics Data Haiti Stream 263

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Mifos, HP and SocialCoding4Good will have subject matter experts, technical leads and developer teams at RHoK Bangalore , Dublin and San Francisco , focusing on three key projects: Creating a mobile version of Mifos X , enabling information flows, processes and transactions to be completed via mobile.

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International San Francisco Open Source Global 209

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 7, 2013

While we’re extremely proud of our achievements in the field of accessibility and disability rights, we know that we’ve just scratched the surface of what we could possibly do to bolster parity of access to information by people with disabilities. We invite you to read more information about our international membership.

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India Literacy United Kingdom United States 225

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 17, 2010

As the worldwide debate continues about the release of government information by Wikileaks, history has shown that the uncovering of government data can be an important factor in human rights investigations.

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Chad Guatemala Data Liberia 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 25, 2014

Solve the problem of access to printed information by the world ’ s blind : By putting the right tools into the hands of this traditionally underserved population, we could ensure that blindness is no longer a barrier to education, employment or social inclusion.

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Paraguay Problem Application Global 144

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 3, 2013

“As organizations,” Osborne said, “we must liberate spending to focus on the promotion, learning and innovation around braille,” and recognize that we ought to embrace today’s changing economics and technology so that braille can be part of an equation which delivers access to information for all, not just to those who can afford it.

Literacy 208

Literacy eBook Images Accessibility 208

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 18, 2010

A Guest Beneblog by Vijaya Tripathi As outreach coordinator for Martus , Benetech’s secure software application, I travel to many countries where human rights defenders need tools to gather, organize and back up information about human rights violations. Human rights monitors in Nigeria continue to be harassed.

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Nigeria Training Train San Francisco 138

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 16, 2011

The goal of the DIAGRAM R&D Center is to greatly improve access to graphical information for students with print disabilities (for example, helping blind students get access to important graphics inside textbooks). There had been a recommendation in the HTML 5 standards process to drop LONGDESC, that was greatly concerning to us.

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Images Alternative Student Accessibility 194

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

Plenary Talk at the Eighth General Assembly of the World Blind Union Access to published information is an essential requirement for education, employment and full social inclusion. People with vision impairments and other print disabilities deserve equal access to that treasure of information.

Accessibility 155

Accessibility Global eBook Copyright 155

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 10, 2012

Tech companies supply the tools to help repressive governments suppress human rights and access to information. The Benetech team has looked frequently at web-based (or more precisely: web-served) design for the tools we provide for activists, around securely capturing information about human rights abuses.

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Online Government Tech Design 171

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

You may already know that I plan in earnest to provide my personal President’s Updates as quarterly informal reports, but that all too often I fall behind on this well-intended schedule—as is the case with the update you’re reading now! Don’t get me wrong: I love writing my updates. While the majority of our members are U.S.

India 142

India Literacy Global Accessibility 142

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 You can read more about the case at [link].

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Guatemala Statistics National Analysis 145

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 31, 2011

Donna and I are looking for forward looking articles that will inform the field of what might happen in the future. Technology is advancing at such a pace that so many topics are possible, but to just name a few: Mobile (what might happen next!?)

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Issue Technology Game Journal 198

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 11, 2013

Please help us empower the multitudes who are continuously overcoming social and economic barriers to unlock a world of opportunities and information and improve their quality of life. Access to information, to knowledge, is crucial for realizing opportunity for people with disabilities, no matter where they live!

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United Arab Emirates Qatar eBook Language 162

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 28, 2014

If Andrew and his peers can’t cure their blindness, could we help them with access to information? We’ve been actively engaging in discussions about how to use our Martus software for whistle-blowing and confidential information gathering. Andrew challenged me on that idea. Of course, we’d have to focus on local language content.

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Ideas Kenya Brain Software 223

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

Here are our recommendations to WBU, to inform the next round(s) of negotiation based on the 11/23 draft. Information Point at WIPO Article J needs to be watched, to ensure it doesn’t become a back-door method of control used to exclude authorized entities that would otherwise meet the requirements of the treaty.

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eBook Library Alternative Authoring 193

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009

Last night I was able to meet Vivek Kundra, the new Chief Information Officer of the federal government, at an event organized by Full Circle Fund and the Craigslist Foundation hosted by IBM at their offices on Market Street in San Francisco. For me, it's an amazing change.

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San Francisco Virginia Government DC 129

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 22, 2010

We discussed ideas about web accessibility as well as how to make physical accessibility information available using GIS (imagine a Yelp for accessibility information for each building). Aneesh Chopra, the CIO of HHS and Greg Elin, the Chief Data Officer of the FCC (and former CTO of United Cerebral Palsy) led the brainstorm.

DC 168

DC Demonstration Accessibility Policy 168

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 10, 2014

We’re a technology company and strongly believe in the power of information as a force for good. Here’s Benetech’s outlook: we advocate for a human-centered approach to data in the social sector. Data without context has little value. We ask the question: data for whom?

Data 168

Data Classroom Measure Accessibility 168

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

students with visual impairments, physical disabilities, and severe learning disabilities like dyslexia, but we also serve international members in nearly 50 countries and are working to extend Bookshare’s reach to veterans who need access to books and information. The majority of our members are U.S.

Literacy 129

Literacy eBook Global Audio 129

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

Jerry is involved in collective efforts to advance methods for improving data and models that inform government and private industry decision makers about the role of food systems in achieving “sustainable nutrition security”—our ability to meet growing demand for safe, affordable, and nutritious food in a sustainable manner.

Open Source 174

Open Source Open Illinois Model 174

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

Educate and inform schools and our users about the qualifications. We embed the user's name in the downloaded ebook file, both explicitly ("This book was downloaded by Jim Fruchterman") as well as hiding the same information invisibly inside the main body of the book. We also met with the authors.

Copyright 158

Copyright Social Law Student 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 12, 2014

These image files contain information, such as pictures, charts, diagrams, and the layout of the text on the printed page that cannot be converted to text or speech. None of this is captured by the HDL’s text?

Accessibility 205

Accessibility Copyright Law Library 205

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 22, 2013

Authorized entities are not advocates for the making of illegal copies, or the outlawing of TPMs, or wishing that all information were free. Use of TPMs by Authorized Entities The use of TPMs by authorized entities has been presented as somehow invalidating their concerns about TPMs, but this conclusion is logically flawed.

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Measure Technology Audio eBook 181

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 19, 2008

At the end of the day, I was part of a meeting of leading conservation techies talking about how to share information among different groups. There is a strong interest in having access to information about how other groups addressed similar problems in conservation (failures being at least as valuable as success stories).

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Conservancy Classes Problem Demonstration 100