Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 18, 2012

Today, we're joining what is probably the largest online protest in history , by blacking out significant portions of the Benetech website, as well as our Martus and HRDAG human rights websites.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 16, 2014

SocialCoding4Good We are very excited about our SocialCoding4Good project, one of our Benetech Labs initiatives, which is working to increase the engagement of the technology sector with social good initiatives beyond just the scope of our own programs.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 19, 2013

On behalf of the Benetech team, including our Board of Directors, I’m delighted to welcome you to our new website and formally introduce our newest program area: Benetech Labs ! Benetech Labs Finally, we’re excited to formally announce the launch of a new core program area: Benetech Labs. Look around—there’s a lot that’s new.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

At Benetech, we always ask ourselves how our existing successful programs can reach more people who need our services and how we can apply technology in new ways to enrich and improve more lives. a11y accessibility Bookshare Braille DAISY ebooks Global Literacy print disabilities Reading'

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

But, I expect that 75% of the job will be about analyzing the legal issues from our programs, especially in our Global Literacy Program, which includes Bookshare, the largest digital library for the blind and dyslexic in the U.S., as well as our Human Rights Program, which supports activists fighting injustice around the world.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

When connecting with reporters, she draws heavily on her own experience working in the newsroom for leading PBS news programs. We’re delighted Nadine has joined Benetech’s senior team to direct our communications program. Developing a strong culture of communications is critical for expanding Benetech’s impact.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 30, 2014

He’s leading the development, testing, and deployment of Benetech’s tools and services across all its program areas. Mark is former Senior Vice President of Engineering, Consumer Products, and Operations at TiVo Inc. We’re thrilled to have Mark join us in this leadership role.

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Award Roles Leadership Profile 186

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 8, 2011

I want to unveil several of these new initiatives, as well as sneaking in some of the incredible things happening in our core programs in literacy and human rights. and James L. Being able to read is crucial for life success and independence, and we’re hoping to empower thousands of people to become readers as teenagers and young adults.

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Guatemala Literacy Qatar Open Source 159

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 17, 2013

Fundación Paraguaya was the country’s first microfinance program and first development NGO. Martín has worked tirelessly to disseminate the social innovations he has created in Paraguay throughout the world.

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Paraguay Award Africa Conservancy 142

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

To meet that need, the Benetech Volunteer Program is piloting a new initiative—and we’re inviting you to join us! The new school year is in full swing, yet across the U.S., all too many students with print disabilities might not have the textbooks they need for class.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 16, 2013

Against all odds, we—a novice bidder with a less than $1 million-a-year program—won a five-year, $32.5 Bookshare today is part of a broader effort by Benetech’s Global Literacy Program to improve the lives and learning of students with the biggest challenges. million contract to do just that. We were elated and eager to get to work.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Delivering my opening remarks at the Martus'' 10th Anniversary A decade later, in 2003, Benetech —the nonprofit tech company I founded and lead—launched our Human Rights Program to address this very question. To that end, we co-hosted a panel discussion on the future of human rights technology jointly with Human Rights Watch and WITNESS.

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Burma Analysis Guatemala Law 168

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 30, 2014

Last week, the Benetech Human Rights Program released version 4.5 of Martus —our free, open source, secure information collection and management software—which includes major updates and usability improvements.

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Literacy Journal Open Source Digital 164

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 3, 2011

Of course, accessibility is right up Benetech’s alley and the focus of our Literacy program. In my Fall 2011 President's Update , I mentioned some of our incredible recent achievements in this core program, including the amazing milestones of our Bookshare library. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).

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Impact Technology eBook Student 140

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 10, 2012

Following an admiring Wired.com profile of the web-based chat program, Cryptocat, a fair amount of discussion ensued about the security risks of using a tool with this kind of web-based design. However, there are times where we need to weigh in on a technical issue that impacts human rights activists.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 19, 2011

Today, Captain Patrick (Ball, not Stewart), our VP Human Rights, led a brainstorm on the next major upgrade of our Martus secure human rights database software with our human rights program team as well as key technical leaders. The graphic above was delivered to us purporting to be our agenda.

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Generation Database Software Team 159

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. Encryption – Delivery through secure/encrypted channels.

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Accessibility eBook New York City Social 171

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 7, 2012

How does it interact with your existing, core programs? I mentioned a mini-grant program that my organization, Benetech, had for a while (and which I would love to have again if I had more innovation funding), where any staff member could propose to spend $25,000 or less on an exciting opportunity. How is it structured?

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) selected our successful Bookshare library as the provider of accessible materials to every student in the U.S. Benetech is working on a new program that will serve these students who are not qualified under the copyright exemption. In September 2007, the U.S.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 22, 2013

Secure tools to document human rights violations, such as those developed by Benetech’s Human Rights Program, have become critically important in efforts to pursue reform and seek justice—and in keeping human rights defenders safe. We’re excited to share that our Human Rights Program has been awarded a two-year, $2.2

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 25, 2012

Guest Beneblog by Ann Harrison In 2006, the Benetech Human Rights Program was asked to participate in one of the most important human rights data projects in the world. You can read about Benetech’s findings from the Archive here and here.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 9, 2013

Random House Mondadori and Expanding the Spanish-language Bookshare Program Benetech’s strong relationships with numerous partners across sectors are fundamental to our continued success. These relationships generate countless ideas for using technology for social good.

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Spain Language America Law 151

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 6, 2013

At Benetech, we’re looking for only the best of the best to take on the leadership of our Human Rights Program. And yet there are also amazing and fulfilling benefits—bringing the truth to light, making human rights defenders more powerful and helping victims find peace through acknowledgment, reconciliation and even, sometimes, justice.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 28, 2012

The Benetech Human Rights Program will greatly miss her warmth, wit, and guidance in the application of science to human rights. Every time we met, she had a story that taught me a little more about scientific ingenuity, integrity, and persistence.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 7, 2013

Bookshare , our flagship literacy program, is the world’s largest accessible library and currently serves more than 230,000 members with visual and learning disabilities. My second blog post in this series will describe how we are growing our Spanish-language program.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

Sabriye and Paul have put together a strong program to enable and empower social entrepreneurs with visual impairments from across the globe. The campus, that feels like a holiday resort and an university at the same time houses the International Institute of Social Entrepreneurs.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 5, 2015

The mission of the Lavelle Fund is to support programs that help people with visual impairments, including blindness, lead independent, productive lives. The Lavelle Fund also supports programs benefiting the developing world. That’s what a lot of foundations would love to see happen: in this case, it’s happened multiple times!

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Fund India United States eBook 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 22, 2010

Kareem Dale, the President's senior disability advisor, was the master of ceremonies, and he got the federal CTO and CIO , an FCC Commissioner, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce overseeing the broadband program, and a senior federal procurement policy guy there. He can also use his cell phone to reprogram his feet!

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DC Demonstration Accessibility Policy 168

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 30, 2012

CASE offers a tremendous program for MBA students and alumni interested in applying their business skills for social purposes. We are grateful for CASE’s recognition of Benetech's work. As part of receiving the ESI Award, I was thrilled to deliver the 2011 Annual ESI Lecture and to meet the Fuqua School’s community.

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Award Lecture Social Student 154

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 3, 2013

Guest Beneblog by Betsy Beaumon, VP and General Manager, Benetech’s Global Literacy Program. That’s why braille is an important focus for us in Benetech’s Global Literacy Program — we know that we must keep braille relevant and make it more available. Department of Education Office for Special Education Programs (OSEP).

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Literacy eBook Images Accessibility 208

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

Converting these models into modern programming languages would make them far more usable and accessible, which, in turn, would tremendously help the scientific community tackle climate change threats. As it turns out, these models were originally developed decades ago and many are written in Fortran !

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 13, 2009

Betsy Beaumon, formerly of BEA Systems and numerous other high tech roles (including founding her own social enterprise in the 1990s), has joined us as our new Vice President and General Manager of Literacy Programs. The press release on the appointment has much more detail.

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Leadership Literacy News Press 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 7, 2011

Benetech’s Human Rights Program supports critical human rights cases around the world helping to end impunity and bring justice to communities torn apart by violence. 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

MARCH 14, 2012

The Benetech Human Rights Program (HRP) team is small - and the Martus outreach and training team is no different. We tossed these ideas back and forth from our various perspectives as users, trainers, technologists, funders, capacity-builders and program staff.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 16, 2010

Miradi is the first software program designed especially by and for conservation planners based on a common set of environmental metrics. The program guides users through a series of step-by-step interview wizards, based on the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 13, 2016

In the pilot phase, you frequently have the best (human) conditions: the best partners and the best program staff making something work. A great teacher is going to be better than a software program on a laptop or tablet. He notes: “the right people can work around a bad technology, but the wrong people will mess up even a good one.”

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 29, 2010

Benetech Statistical Expert Testifies in Guatemala Disappearance Case The Benetech Human Rights Program uses cutting edge computing methods and statistical analysis to provide objective evidence of human rights violations. Will share more details from our team later, but this is a great day for fighting impunity around forced disappearances.

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Guatemala Statistics National Analysis 145