Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 12, 2010

This report provides invaluable estimates of the number of invisible victims. One of our findings was a pattern that we've seen in other conflicts: often, officially reported deaths go down while actual disappearances go up. If we cannot name all the victims, at minimum, we can count them."

Colombia 100

Colombia America History Studies 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 28, 2011

In these contexts, the perpetrators will be actively trying to suppress reporting, and so the SMS streams will not just measure where the cell phones are, they'll measure where the cell phones that perpetrators can't suppress are.

Issue 160

Issue Data Haiti Stream 160

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 16, 2010

The new Miradi 3 release offers a powerful work planning interface that lets users forecast expenses, develop budgets, and export project data to donor reports. Miradi gives conservation planners cutting edge tools to design, manage, monitor and learn from their projects.

Norway 133

Norway Conservancy Sweden Software 133

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 17, 2011

This is not surprising, as most of the text messages in this data set were requests for food, water, or medical help, rather than reports of damage. In fact, once you control for the presence of any buildings (damaged or undamaged), the text message stream seems to have a weak negative correlation with the presence of damaged buildings.

Statistics 263

Statistics Data Haiti Stream 263

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 20, 2011

The campaign, which is currently underway, protects coral reefs in Southern Guam by influencing local communities to prevent and report wildland fires in order to reduce harmful sedimentation. “We Elaina also proposed the introduction of a hotline for community members to report fire violations and a fire violation citations program.

Guam 124

Guam Conservancy Software Help 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 11, 2008

We've now made it easy to report quality issues with Bookshare books, and we have a new wiki-style webpage where all of the reports are posted and updated as the issues are resolved. There are easily a dozen articles in this first issue about our new website, international work and many more.

Wiki 100

Wiki Newsletter Issue International 100

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. She was the Assistant Director of Communications at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and then head of media for Foreign Affairs magazine in New York.

Team 167

Team Los Angeles Chicago San Francisco 167

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.

International 209

International San Francisco Open Source Global 209

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 21, 2006

Romesh Silva, a statistician with Benetech's Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) , has provided key statistical analysis for a Human Rights Watch report issued this week documenting torture and unlawful killings by Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite anti-crime and anti-terrorism force.

Bangladesh 100

Bangladesh Data Analysis Policy 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.

International 150

International Guatemala Colombia Analysis 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

And, we're getting reports from all over the world of Miradi being used in countries like Indonesia and China, among many others. They have just released their management plan (in English). What a thrill to see our software used to figure out how to conserve an exciting nature area I've only just now learned about!

Greece 100

Greece Indonesia China Conservancy 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 29, 2007

Benetech was recently featured in a report to the President (of the U.S.) There was a chapter in the report entitled Social Entrepreneurship and Government, and Benetech was one of the case studies used (see pages 36-37). on small business.

Business 100

Business Social Lecture Case Study 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 19, 2013

Based on their report, we worked with our web developers to both remove any barriers to accessibility and to make many usability enhancements. We’ve partnered with Knowbility, Inc. , Knowbility conducted a thorough accessibility and usability audit of our site.

Site 158

Site Accessibility Press Comment 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 11, 2006

Counting the Human Cost in East Timor Our Human Rights Group just released the statistical report detailing widespread and systematic violations in Timor-Leste during the period 1974-1999. This report provides additional detail to the Timorese truth commission's recently released report "Chega!" ("Enough!"). Benetech Report.

Timor 100

Timor Hunger Statistics Analysis 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Economically disadvantaged individuals are more likely to report having learning disabilities than the rest of the population. They include struggling readers whose learning problems have never been fully diagnosed. Plus, this includes individuals with mild dyslexia and those with a variety of specific learning and other disabilities.

Student 173

Student Accessibility Copyright Library 173

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 29, 2008

The San Francisco ABC News reporter/anchor Teresa Garcia came out and interviewed Kevin Jones of GoodCap, Tim Freundlich of Calvert and yours truly. Just spotted a nice video piece on the SoCap conference that features Benetech as one of the new crop of socially responsible businesses.

San Francisco 100

San Francisco News Conference Interview 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 8, 2010

This update spotlights our new Benetech report celebrating twenty (!) Our report asks the question “How many people can a single idea help?” I hope you will take a look at our report. My latest President's Update is up on the Benetech website. years of technology serving humanity. This is a question we ask every day at Benetech.

Report 100

Report Press Knowledge Profit 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 31, 2008

According to human rights NGOs, between January 2007 and July 30 2008, there have been 535 persons reported to have been summarily executed and then exhibited as fallen guerrilleros – what has come to be known as "false positives." The military units then earn the recognition of their superiors and pick up various kinds of rewards.

Colombia 100

Colombia New York Children Demonstration 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 6, 2006

The report has been completed, but not released publicly. There have been many articles about what the report does or does not say, and Benetech human rights team has not been able to comment because of the still-confidential nature of the report. However, some of the results we helped create are starting to be released.

Timor 100

Timor Statistics Press History 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 5, 2013

I’m excited to report: they did just that. Last month, leaders from around the world gathered in Marrakesh, Morocco, with the hope of taking a huge step forward and designing that international model.

Morocco 127

Morocco United States Copyright Library 127

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 25, 2012

The Guatemalan government and the police long denied the existence of these records - particularly during investigations by truth commissions organized by the United Nations and the Catholic Church during the final years of the conflict.

National 206

National Guatemala Online Texas 206

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 12, 2011

There’s great progress to report on: the first countries (among which is Ghana) have reached or are reaching their intervention goals and the total trachoma burden is shrinking. Controlling trachoma also has important auxiliary benefits to public health, such as improved sanitation and per­sonal hygiene.

Ghana 165

Ghana Tanzania Kenya Africa 165

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 22, 2010

Hope to have more to report on that soon! I'm in DC waiting to head over to the actual White House for an event with President Obama (and I have to assume, hundreds of the leading disability advocates) this afternoon.

DC 168

DC Demonstration Accessibility Policy 168

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 17, 2010

A cache of prison records generated by a former state security force in Chad provided data for a 2010 HRDAG report about human rights violations in Chad. Guzmán’s testimony was based on HRDAG’s analysis of the 31.7 million documents in the Guatemalan National Police Archive which was discovered by chance in 2005.

Chad 124

Chad Guatemala Data Liberia 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 1, 2008

I've had the pleasure of knowing Katie Hafner, New York Times reporter and author, for at least five years. She generally writes on tech topics, so I was interested to see her latest book on the famous pianist Glenn Gould, A Romance on Three Legs. Gould was a real character: maybe even stranger than my Caltech classmates.

Music 100

Music New York Tech Course 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 17, 2009

As a successful example of how to build a scalable approach to a chronic issue, I noticed that PWX was highlighted in the recent Irvine Foundation convergence report. You're known by the company you keep! And of course, under the hood of PWX is technology that makes this kind of network run and hum.

India 113

India Map Proposal Project 113

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 17, 2010

In most of the papers I was reading on the statistical methodology I was trying to employ and modify, the information about the counts described reported cases of a rare disease.

Colombia 122

Colombia Statistics Analysis Data 122

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. Perform a little bit of GNU/Linux system administration. Automate generation of publications based on data using LaTeX and Sweave.

Analysis 150

Analysis Statistics Chart Language 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

First we identified the titles we wanted to add—all requested by Bookshare non-student members, including some of the best science books of 2013 as reported by NPR’s Science Friday show. We decided to create the James Franklin In Memoriam collection, with a focus on science and technology books written for the lay audience.

Life 147

Life Gift eBook France 147

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

The impact that this one report could make is momentous. Last August, I traveled with HRDAG statistician Dr. Megan Price to the Archive in Guatemala City to prepare the statistical evidence with our partners.

Guatemala 137

Guatemala International Project Statistics 137

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 7, 2011

Maps, helicopter overflights, satellite imagery, field reports from first responders, as well as phone calls and SMS messages from the general public. Let’s call our example professional Captain Lopez. Successful approach to crowdsourcing data: Captain Lopez’ team gathers information from every source imaginable.

Picture 140

Picture Data Disaster Map 140

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 16, 2014

The documentation projects of our partners in Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have yielded so far six high-quality publications or reports about violations against LGBTI individuals in their communities.

Open Source 183

Open Source Africa Zimbabwe Malawi 183

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 19, 2008

And sprinkled throughout the report were graphics clearly from our Miradi software! Right before I went to the conference I received a copy of the Proceedings of the Appalachian Salamander Conservation Workshop, held this past May. While at ConEx, I had the chance to talk about our approach to agile, user-centered development.

Conservancy 100

Conservancy Classes Problem Demonstration 100

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.

India 142

India Literacy Global Accessibility 142

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 14, 2006

I am so happy to report that we are receiving over $1.2 million in support from the Skoll Foundation. Jeff Skoll's foundation has been one of our significant supporters over the past few years, but this reflects a quadrupling of their annual general support levels for us, compared to the last two years.

Support 100

Support Award Press Reflection 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 3, 2006

An article of mine just appeared in the Social Enterprise Reporter, entitled High Tech Approaches for Building Social Enterprise. The SER is one of the leading publications in the social enterprise field, and I think it's now one of the membership benefits of joining the Social Enterprise Alliance.

Tech 100

Tech Long Beach Build Social 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 1, 2012

Now that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports regularly on the employment situation for people with disabilities, there is strong evidence that it has gotten disproportionately worse for workers with disabilities since 2009. history, but the work ensuring equality of opportunity is far from over.

Hosting 140

Hosting San Francisco Law Education 140