Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 28, 2014

SocialCoding4Good connects software developer professionals from companies like VMware, HP, and Google to volunteer their time and technical talent to open source social good projects at Benetech and our peers, including the Mifos Initiative , Wikimedia Foundation , Medic Mobile , and Mozilla.

Open Source 184

Open Source Literacy eBook Empowerment 184

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

Employee teams have created new features for Mozilla’s Popcorn project, designed and developed desktop and mobile applications supporting conservation management, education, and human rights, and provided technical image descriptions for accessible STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) textbooks to Benetech’s own DIAGRAM Center.

Los Angeles 205

Los Angeles Mobile Impact Technology 205

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 17, 2012

My interests are Mobile Development and Computational Intelligence. Many thanks to Thushan Ganegedara for this guest post about his summer open source project. I’m Thushan Ganegedara, a 3 rd year undergraduate from the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka 124

Sri Lanka Google API Mentoring 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 23, 2014

One major step to improving security of sensitive information was the recent development and release of Mobile Martus. Built on our Martus technology, Mobile Martus is designed to bring secure data collection, storage, and backup closer to activists working in the field.

Literacy 158

Literacy eBook United Kingdom Accessibility 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

This includes accessible educational materials, such as e-books that can be used with computers, or mobile devices that display enlarged text or read the book aloud while also highlighting text.

Student 173

Student Accessibility Copyright Library 173

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 10, 2009

The first release was about support for mobile phone use with software developer Code Factory of Spain. We had great user parties, listened to our users and talked to other key players in the accessibility field. We also announced a couple of assistive technology partnerships.

Spain 100

Spain Japan eBook Audio 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 18, 2011

KoBoToolbox is a toolkit for making it easy to collect survey data on mobile devices (turns out, I later found out we're already proposing to use this to do a survey in Africa). Plus, we discussed much more exciting tech that's in the De Novo pipeline, contributing to areas Benetech is very interested in!

Uganda 124

Uganda Africa Proposal Survey 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 12, 2011

In 1999, the World Health Organi zation (WHO) and Peter’s International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness launched the VISION 2020 campaign, which has mobilized a community of partner organizations that have been working together towards the 2020 goal. The good news is that trachoma can effectively be eliminated.

Ghana 165

Ghana Tanzania Kenya Africa 165

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 10, 2011

It will make data visualization and comprehension, as well as information collection and sharing much easier by integrating mobile applications, cloud hosting and innovative tools while maintaining the highest level of security. We’re so excited to embark upon this new project!

International 150

International Guatemala Colombia Analysis 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 7, 2013

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. We envision a future in which the world’s people with disabilities can easily access the books they need for education, employment, and full social inclusion.

India 225

India Literacy United Kingdom United States 225

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 11, 2010

Manufacturers of mobility aids like wheel chairs and Perkins Braillers (the leading braille typewriter in the world), Worth Trust’s main office is located in Katpadi, a few hours away from Chennai. The partner we chose, Worth Trust employs people with disabilities, in addition they conduct life skills classes and provide training.

Skype 168

Skype India California Chart 168

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

Anna Berns, longtime Program and Project Manager and now a Director at Benetech, will continue to oversee our human rights field outreach staff and manage Martus product development (including our new mobile Martus tool, which is already working on my Android phone).

Analysis 174

Analysis Project Open Source Analytics 174

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 28, 2014

He quickly came up with the idea of a mobile app that could show a woman the years of life expectancy she (or her family) will lose due to breathing the polluted air inside her dwelling. We kicked around ideas for sensing the air pollution: could you take a picture of a white piece of paper indoors and outdoors?

Ideas 223

Ideas Kenya Brain Software 223

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 25, 2008

We ask for the mobile number of the delivery guy, just in case. He calls the courier mobile. The courier doesn't have a mobile. We're scheduled to check out of the hotel at 9 am to go to our next destination (Thanjavur, aka Tangore). We're just beginning to suspect that things aren't right (ok, I exaggerate). Half an hour.

India 100

India San Francisco Virginia Phone 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 7, 2012

Once one of their ideas is established, they can mobilize large sums of capital restricted to that specific project or area. The best session all week for me was led by Gary White and Chevenee Reavis of Water.org, on an bold new solution that they had created for their social enterprise.

Fund 154

Fund Social Liberia Money 154

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 4, 2007

A cogent vision could mobilize some substantial resources. One of the key points made repeatedly was that the Global Alliance for ICT and Development has no money. In spite of that, it would be great if GAID could outline some big ideas about using ICTs to make real impact on the global poor.

Global 100

Global Develop Alternative Environment 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 1, 2005

The BBC just had a great article that demonstrates the power of this tool: Mobile phones boom in Tanzania. I saw a demonstration of this software at the last Gathering conference, and it looks very well done! People who have heard me speak know how excited I am about the potential of cell phones.

Tanzania 100

Tanzania Demonstration Phone Philanthropy 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Read2Go Bookshare goes mobile! We also want to enable effective information sharing among agencies about what does and doesn’t work. Our goal is to revolutionize the effectiveness of local governments in responding to climate change and other environmental impacts.

Guatemala 159

Guatemala Literacy Qatar Open Source 159

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 1, 2012

Recently, I had the pleasure to host Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) for exactly such a meeting of minds with ten fellow social entrepreneurs.

Hosting 140

Hosting San Francisco Law Education 140

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 10, 2005

Mr. Global X (aka someone from the Skoll Foundation) mobile blogged me while I was talking to the Human Rights in China folks, Sharon Hom and Shirley Hom, who were honored as Laureates last night. Benetech is a past finalist for the Tech Museum Awards.

China 100

China Award Museum Tech 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

At Benetech, we’re expanding our commitment to human rights practitioners and moving forward with our multi-year project of building the next generation of the Martus technology with new funding and enhanced tools, including a mobile application. I invite you to check back on our website for ongoing updates about our work.

Burma 168

Burma Analysis Guatemala Law 168

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 14, 2012

What if we made it easier to send data to Martus directly from a wide range of other tools, like your mobile device? Currently, you can manually enter data into Martus, or import data after formatting it into XML. What if you could quickly and easily import data from other formats, like a Word document, PDF file or photograph?

Global 157

Global Group Thailand Burma 157

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

This change creates an incredible opportunity that will affect the entire world, making access an affordable reality as more and more people have a device in their pocket that is capable of being an accessible e-reader: from inexpensive mobile phones and MP3 players to braille notetakers that can store thousands of ebooks in digital braille.

Accessibility 155

Accessibility Global eBook Copyright 155

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 22, 2013

In recent years, the possibilities of what can be achieved with human rights fieldwork and advocacy has expanded as the worldwide use of mobile phones has increased and significant advances have been made in Internet and mobile technology. We’re excited to share that our Human Rights Program has been awarded a two-year, $2.2

Tools 158

Tools Program Fund News 158

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.

Test 100

Test Sound Fun Consultant 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

Digital and mobile communications are changing the rules about social networks, intellectual property, and the availability of big data, with an overall blurring of the boundaries between state, for-profits, and nonprofits.

Develop 144

Develop Social Library eBook 144

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 4, 2013

For those who want to use audio with other mobile devices or DAISY players, we have added DAISY audio and MP3 format download capability for all of our titles, in addition to our existing DAISY text and Braille Ready Format (BRF) options. We now have a free, open source reading app for you called Go Read.

Literacy 166

Literacy Program United Arab Emirates Student 166

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 11, 2014

Mobile devices are breaking down the barriers to direct connections to staff, volunteers, clients, partners, communities, and the general public. Imagine the impact on social entrepreneurs and their good work if they could easily design and build their own lightweight mobile data collection apps!

Data 187

Data Impact Open Source Mobile 187

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 26, 2014

E-books, therefore, make access to information an affordable reality, as more and more people, including students, have a device in their pocket capable of operating as an accessible e-reader: from inexpensive mobile phones and MP3 players to Braille note-takers that can store thousands of e-books in digital Braille.

eBook 203

eBook Accessibility United States Student 203

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

One important thing to note is that a person with AMD generally retains enough peripheral vision for good orientation and mobility. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1.8 million Americans aged 40 and older are affected by AMD and predict this number will reach close to 3 million in 2020.

People 113

People Help Tech Colorado 113

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 11, 2013

And there are extended engagements that will add features to a mobile ebook reader app for the more than 250,000 print disabled users of Bookshare , the largest online library of accessible content in the world.

Open Source 118

Open Source Lesson Tech Project 118

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 11, 2008

ISIS has a mission around sex ed and STD prevention, and has an array of clever and innovative uses of the web and mobile communications to advance their mission. [Kiva's cool, of course, but everybody already knows that!] One social enterprise I was impressed with is their inSPOT sex partner STD electronic greeting card service.

Service 100

Service Internet Kiva Rate 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 5, 2016

We want to leapfrog the current unjust equilibrium (blind people are read to, but mostly not) to a new place where the widespread availability of cheap mobile phones and MP3 players can be harnessed. But, to make that happen, we need to recreate the favorable copyright policy environment we enjoy in the United States.

Change 100

Change eBook United States Conservancy 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 26, 2006

Isaac from Nigeria makes mobile toilets and gives them to poor widows to use to generate income: "shit business is serious business." His closing remark to us was: "In every single eye in the WEF, is this one sentence from McCartney and Lennon, 'all you need is love.'" I have had great chats with different social entrepreneurs.

South Africa 100

South Africa Nigeria Brazil India 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 7, 2013

For instance, after the first global Martus Users Group Meeting , which ND-Burma hosted in Chiang Mai last year, it became clear that it was paramount to prioritize our development of a Martus mobile application. We are now gearing up to beta test the prototype application and hope to soon release it to our growing Martus user community.

Burma 176

Burma Thailand China Bangladesh 176