Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 13, 2014

In the absence of standards that protect that information, the lives of suffering people—victims, witnesses, and the defenders who collect their stories—are all too often put in harm''s way. Unfortunately, there are many other stories of abuse and violation. This is but one incident.

Data 176

Data Empowerment United States Government 176

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.

International 150

International Guatemala Colombia Analysis 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 28, 2012

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

Colombia 133

Colombia Guatemala Haiti Mentoring 133

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 10, 2014

Meet Kevin and “Sophia” (who anonymously shared her story with my team). These stories about the needs in our communities are data points of real, positive change. When Kevin was in kindergarten he had an organic brain injury, which forced him to have to relearn everything from walking to using the bathroom.

Data 168

Data Classroom Measure Accessibility 168

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

It was easy to focus on bringing my story to these students and hoping to help inspire them on their way to doing more social good. I was able to participate in the Naropa tradition of “bowing in” at the beginning of classes: a short meditation exercise to focus the mind on the people in the room.

Impact 100

Impact Colorado Social San Francisco 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

“Frank” (who anonymously shared his story with us) has always been an avid reader, but the progression of his neuromuscular disease to his arms made reading difficult. Frank’s story exemplifies the life-changing power of access to information and reading. Eventually he had to ask others to turn pages for him. I began a reading binge.

Life 147

Life Gift eBook France 147

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 28, 2008

I just received an update from KK Tse entitled The Most Inspiring Story from the Symposium on Social Entrepreneurship, talking about 1KG More, a social enterprise that implemented Voluntourism: combining backpacking with delivering books and other gifts for rural Chinese children.

China 100

China Social Children Student 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 21, 2009

It's fun to go out and tell stories to hundreds of people. I keynoted the Illinois Computing Educators - ICE conference recently, and someone posted a picture on Flickr. Mainly, I talk about where Benetech comes from.

Illinois 104

Illinois Flickr Picture Education 104

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 28, 2009

Check out the whole story here. HRDAG, as we affectionately call the group, is working with the archive of the now disbanded Guatemalan National Police, which as the Smithsonian puts it, was “implicated in the kidnapping, torture and murder of tens of thousands of people during the country's 36-year civil war, which ended in 1996.”

Guatemala 124

Guatemala California Press Analysis 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

Looking forward to seeing more plans and more stories of conservation in action! And, we're getting reports from all over the world of Miradi being used in countries like Indonesia and China, among many others.

Greece 100

Greece Indonesia China Conservancy 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 20, 2012

The resulting video library would allow nonprofits to tell their stories and reach a broader base of philanthropists and foundations, while it would also help philanthropists be strategic about and engaged in their giving. They therefore came up with the idea to create an online archive of video interviews with the leaders of nonprofits.

Library 158

Library Giving Camera Interview 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 23, 2007

Ann's extensive experience as a journalist brings improved story telling to Benetech: combining our technical skills with the social impact that drives us. Bringing Ann on board has been a key part of improving our communications as an organization.

Guatemala 100

Guatemala Photo National Skills 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 10, 2009

The idea is to have stories about people in the past, and the connections between people, with a wiki approach with some extra structure. I saw a neat demonstration at TED, when I got the chance to meet Janice Fraser of Emmet Labs. The focus is on pre-1970, so we have lots of kings and queens featured.

South Africa 100

South Africa Africa Wiki Music 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 7, 2008

Craig Woods started by telling the big rocks, gravel, sand, water story, the one where after filling the jar with rocks, there's still room to add gravel, and then sand and finally water. So, someone came from Amazon.com to speak about this at this years' NFB Convention in Dallas.

Accessibility 100

Accessibility Dallas Amazon Advocacy 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

I've tried them, and I have friends (and kids) that have been totally sucked into them. They punch a bunch of psychological tickets for humans: the game designers know what they're doing.

Game 150

Game Roles Virtual Skills 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 22, 2010

Entitled The Gift of Insight , the story recounts Viji’s personal journey and how it inspired her to work with members of our Bookshare service who have print disabilities that make it difficult for them to read traditional text. "In As the magazine story notes, 15 Indian publishers have now agreed to make their books available to Bookshare.

San Jose 109

San Jose Profile India United Kingdom 109

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 25, 2007

A great radio story aired today on Public Radio International's show, The World, on Guatemala's civil war records. It talks about National Police Archive in Guatemala, and has a quote from Patrick Ball. Clark Boyd of The World took a team to Guatemala earlier this month, and was there for their big election.

Guatemala 100

Guatemala National International Public 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 20, 2008

Patrick's story is getting a lot of deserved attention nationally as a significantly disabled college student who hasn't let disabilities stop him from pursuing his dreams. Our Bookshare.org team is delighted that we've just added I Am Potential, by Patrick Henry Hughes to the Bookshare.org collection.

Copyright 100

Copyright Alternative Student National 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 16, 2009

The announcement got a ton of pickup: more than a dozen stories came out, including one at Publishers Weekly. By announcing we're doing open content college textbooks with Flat World Knowledge, a cool for-profit startup. I mentioned meeting one of their key people at BYU last month in a recent Beneblog post. Why am I so excited?

Knowledge 100

Knowledge License Accessibility Demonstration 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 15, 2012

We look forward to sharing in future blogs the success stories of this and other partnerships. Leveraging the strong community of Bookshare volunteers, we are building a crowd-sourced platform for creating affordable, high-quality image descriptions and tactile graphics in accessible textbooks.

Library 164

Library Student eBook Accessibility 164

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 31, 2006

One of the major themes of working with the Skoll Foundation is the focus on stories. That's what Jeff does with Participant Productions, and a big piece of the Foundation's efforts are around helping us tell stories. Robert Redford is a huge fan of social entrepreneurship, and he really engaged in what we were doing.

Paraguay 100

Paraguay Nepal Brazil Award 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 22, 2010

The next day, I'm getting a full-on tour of the BBC newsrooms, a preview of the new BBC News website design, an in-depth demo of the content management system including how to move approved stories around in response to user interest, a graphical overlay on these pages showing top links being clicks, and so on.

Twitter 118

Twitter SWF Social Media Literacy 118

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 17, 2010

Discovered by chance, these police and prison records told the stories of serious human rights violations from the perspective of the perpetrators. HRDAG analysis of this information was carried out with the support of the current governments and NGO communities in both these counties.

Chad 124

Chad Guatemala Data Liberia 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 12, 2008

From the story: He is urging young entrepreneurs and engineers to stop making some of the sillier software that lets Facebook users throw virtual sheep at their friends or download virtual beer on iPhones, and instead start making a real difference in the world. Great article on Tim O'Reilly in the Los Angeles Times.

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Challenge Brain License 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 30, 2012

I am also hopeful that the Benetech story inspires students to harness their unique skills, incredible creativity, and all the new technology at their disposal in order to create groundbreaking solutions that solve intractable social problems and serve all of humanity, not just the top 10 percent of the population.

Award 154

Award Lecture Social Student 154

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 7, 2011

The story illustrates the crucial role that scientists can play in analyzing large collections of human rights data and presenting findings that can help hold perpetrators accountable for terrible crimes.

Guatemala 129

Guatemala Statistics Analysis Sample 129

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 17, 2013

You can learn more about him by watching the short film I mentioned above, one of the Sundance Institute and the Skoll Foundation’s “Stories of Change.” And there’s more: Martín is the author of books on economics, development, municipal government, education and even poetry!

Paraguay 142

Paraguay Award Africa Conservancy 142

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 20, 2013

From capturing the stories of human rights violations in Guatemala, Burma, Syria and Uganda, to helping a biologist plan a better restoration of a wetlands, or matching up an open source geek with the social good project of his or her dreams, Benetech’s team is using technology to make the world a better place.

eBook 221

eBook Award Copyright Syria 221

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 25, 2008

we get to hear the story of a cell phone banking service that gives the poor effective banking services in Kenya when the country's banks have declined to serve them. Whenever I see a great example of this, I get excited. In M-Pesa is our hippo!

Kenya 100

Kenya Philippines Phone Consultant 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 19, 2013

Majora’s life journey is an inspiring story. Her rise to the position of a renowned urban revitalization strategist is no surprise when you witness firsthand her relentless energy and entrepreneurial spirit. I had the pleasure of meeting her earlier this year for an exciting conversation. Naturally, she was eager to escape.

Local 129

Local New York Culture Open Source 129

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 11, 2010

Every employee on this project has a story to tell, some have moved on to get other jobs, like Vikas who is now a consultant at Tata Consultancy Services after having worked in the Bookshare-Worth Trust project. Today two years later they digitize about 150,000 pages a month and have far surpassed their goal of a million pages.

Skype 168

Skype India California Chart 168

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 10, 2013

Human rights workers collect massive amounts of information about abuse that occurs in their countries—the individual stories are compelling, but scientific analysis of the collective data can inspire action.

Profit 171

Profit Data SWF Syria 171

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

We continue to believe that the stories of individuals suffering abuse, secured with Martus and combined with analysis of the patterns and scale of abuse, can make a powerful contribution to the cause of justice. We will continue to support human rights defenders and other social justice actors and our theory of change remains the same.

Analysis 174

Analysis Project Open Source Analytics 174

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 10, 2005

A newspaper story had come out in the Washington Post about how the Valley had become more friendly to social issues and causes. Skoll also has it posted at their site: Skoll Foundation News , as Sandy Herz was the other main person quoted in the story.

Washington 100

Washington Foundation Channel Local 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 28, 2006

National Public Radio's Morning Edition had a great story on the topic this morning, and Benetech's very own Patrick Ball was quoted talking about this as the largest secret police archive ever made available to the human rights process.

Guatemala 100

Guatemala National Public Story 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 18, 2012

We help the human rights movement speak truth to power, because we believe each story of human rights abuse is a tool for justice. This technology and analysis is used by truth commissions, international criminal tribunals, and non-governmental human rights organizations around the world.

Analysis 150

Analysis Statistics Chart Language 150

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 23, 2007

It is really exciting when a news team takes the time to dig in and understand the story. We just got terrific coverage from CBS Evening News of our Bookshare.org project. Our team is thrilled about the piece, and we're getting lots of phone calls and email as a result.

Tech 100

Tech Help Audio Washington 100