Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 14, 2011

Technology has revolutionized business, but bringing those breakthrough developments to government, education and the nonprofit sectors can take 5, 10, even 15 years. We’re convinced that there are many innovative social applications of technology could make a 5X or a 10X or even a 15X improvement over status quo solutions.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 8, 2015

Guest post by Betsy Beaumon, President, Benetech We are seeking visionary leaders to join Benetech in applying technology to advance the rights of disadvantaged people around the world. We operate at the intersection of technology and social impact, and therefore our ideal candidates will demonstrate these dual interests and experiences.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 3, 2011

This last September, Benetech won a 3 million dollar award over one year from OSEP for a project we call Leveraging Impact through Technology, or, very appropriately, LIT.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 15, 2010

The challenges that people bring are rarely technology problems: they are market problems. One repeating theme came to me during a recent and fascinating meeting with Professor Rebecca Richards-Kortum, the Director of Rice 360, the Institute for Global Health Technologies. Rebecca was looking for help with a familiar problem.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

Using technology as a base for knowing change is possible, change is happening. I entered thinking Benetech was a lone voice for social change using technology. Talking with each of these passionate and amazing individuals was fascinating. It was hard to stop talking to one – so I could move on to the next.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 5, 2010

His concept was that science and technology was critical to the future of society, and he wanted to build an inclusive international forum of top leaders literally from all over the world to tackle major problems. The caliber of attendees is amazing from all countries: ministers of education and science, top scientists, university presidents.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 17, 2008

This is an academic conference on access technology, full of researchers trying out new things that will help people with disabilities. I just got back from a terrific week in Austria at the International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs conference.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 15, 2007

I wasn't surprised to find that Ben has a great idea for a technology social enterprise, and it was fun to talk about it. The concept is improved ride sharing technology for commuters to make carpooling more practical.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 10, 2006

His insights about technology in the social sector have been especially valuable. Jonathan has just published a new book: The Dynamics of Technology for Social Change. IT in the social sector is exploding, and yet many projects are not as successful as they could be.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 29, 2018

Under Betsy’s guidance, Benetech is developing new software for social good enterprises to connect communities with inclusive technology: Service Net: Reshaping the social safety net in human services to better connect people to the services they need. I look forward to staying in touch with you about technology for good!

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

The human rights technology we eventually built and that anchors our Program— Martus —has since played a crucial role in strengthening the human rights community. The Martus story that has unfolded during that time is a tale of hard-won success and focused efforts to bridge human rights and technological innovation.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 13, 2016

I just finished reading Kentaro Toyama’s new book, Geek Heresy, tackling the cult of technology as a cure-all for society’s ills. He’s a geek (former Microsoft Research guy) who is making the case that technology doesn’t make the kind of social impact it claims to deliver. A technology intervention is only a tool, a seed.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 23, 2014

How can we use technology in a new way to improve people’s lives that is an order of magnitude better? Can we help stimulate the creation of far more technology-for-good ventures? Technology currently serves privileged groups through tools that provide access to education, literacy, health, and justice.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 18, 2014

Are you motivated by the power of technology as a force for good that can directly help the world’s poorest communities thrive? Do you believe ours could be a world in which the benefits of technology touch the lives of all people, not just the wealthiest and most able five percent of humanity?

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 22, 2013

There was tremendous optimism about the value of training engineers and scientists and how that would benefit all of humanity, especially in the southern California of a century ago which was reshaped through the wonders of technology. But, allow the benefits of technology to reach far beyond the top of the pyramid.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 25, 2014

To make them truly count, we must put our technology innovations into the hands of real people and see what actually works. Technology has advanced to a point where it is easy to do so. Technology for Good The list could go on and on. Let me explain. Let me explain. What could a billion dollars do?

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 28, 2013

We have the technology, we have the content, and now we have the legal framework to make it possible for every person with a print disability on the planet to get access to the books they need for education, employment and social inclusion! The Benetech team is delighted by its adoption today.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 4, 2014

Adopting an open source philosophy has proven to be quite effective for us at Benetech in our work furthering technology-for-good. We always ask ourselves how we can apply technology in new ways to improve people’s lives, and we believe that the open source model helps spark creativity and more technology-for-good ventures.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 1, 2005

Thursday is World Usability Day, and I'll be giving a on-line session entitled Technology Social Entrepreneurship and Accessibility of Web Services at 20:10 GMT, or 12:10pm PST. I never have done such an event, so I'm looking forward to trying it out!

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 16, 2014

My personal goal is to channel the aspirations of the technology community to do more social good. More and more of my time is spent around both raising money and raising awareness of how much more could be done with technology to increase social impact. Are you excited about technology benefiting the world?

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 20, 2013

This is the field where I found my life’s calling, applying technology to meet critical needs of society, where the market is likely to fail. Together, we all hope to have a world where technology fully serves all of humanity, not just the richest or most able 5%. Thank you again for this honor!

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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.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 30, 2014

With his proven execution in scaling business systems and infrastructures that shaped the growth of award-winning service products for multiple high profile Silicon Valley technology companies, he has the perfect pedigree to spearhead engineering at Benetech as we continue to innovate in the technology-for-good space.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 19, 2013

At Benetech, our goal is to create positive social change through technology. Telling our story is an important way we’re able to accomplish that goal—it allows us to generate the interest and support necessary to develop technology that helps countless people around the world. We’ve partnered with Knowbility, Inc. ,

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 24, 2018

As the prototypical technology social enterprise, Benetech became one of the first organizations using technology to solve social problems rather than seeking to make maximum financial returns. Gerry stayed on Benetech’s board until early this year, because he prized the mental stimulation of doing good with technology.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 17, 2014

It also underscores just how critical a balanced copyright law is for technology innovation. As a different kind of Silicon Valley tech company—a nonprofit with a pure focus on social good—our goal is to see that the best of technology gets applied to social needs left unaddressed by for-profit businesses. copyright law.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 26, 2013

On August 1, 2013, I testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet on the subject “ Innovation in America: The Role of Technology.” We don’t create solutions from scratch: our innovation is adapting existing raw technology to meet the needs of the users in the social sector.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 25, 2016

It’s the brainchild of Donna and Ben Rosen, a New York power couple with connections to science, technology, politics, the arts and more. She and one of her graduate students demonstrated their Emerald technology, and it was the first time I’d seen this capability. The talk that especially blew my mind was by MIT professor Dina Katabi.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 27, 2014

They get frustrated and don’t want to read,” she says, “but access to digital books and reading technologies changed all that for Zach.” Zach Bryant The change happened when Zach was in high school and his Assistive Technology teacher introduced him to Benetech’s Bookshare library. Thank you for your support!

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 16, 2011

The initial part of the project was to do a detailed survey of existing assistive technology products, to get a baseline for current support for accessible graphics. But, it’s turned out to be one of the best surveys of assistive technology we’ve ever seen. We’ve also engaged in a major technical standards issue.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

We decided to create the James Franklin In Memoriam collection, with a focus on science and technology books written for the lay audience. a11y accessibility Bookshare ebook giving philanthropy print disabilities Reading science SEChallenge Skoll Social Entrepreneurs Challenge technology'

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 6, 2013

Why You Don’t Want this Job: You’ll have to show you have a unique combination of both social justice and technology cred; You’ll probably be paid half of what you’d be worth to a for-profit company; You’ll have to travel to both developing countries and Washington, D.C.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

I think they will both make big contributions to building Benetech’s ability to deliver greater impact in the technology-for-good field. a technology and media venture based in San Francisco and Los Angeles. We’re also very excited to welcome to the Benetech family Elaine Wallace, our very first General Counsel.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 9, 2014

As CEO and founder of Benetech —a nonprofit technology company that has been creating and delivering technology solutions to expand the educational and vocational opportunities of marginalized groups—I was thrilled to learn firsthand about this funder collaborative and its interest in supporting innovative approaches to tackling the education gap.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 15, 2012

With technology, you can do incredible things, but with a galvanized community of supporters who work together toward a greater good, we can do anything. By partnering with all these stakeholders, we reinvented the traditional library for people with print disabilities and brought modern ebook technology to this underserved community.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 12, 2014

The imperative to make images accessible to individuals with disabilities is becoming increasingly pressing as digital content is quickly shifting to include richer, more visual components, and is especially critical for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

In my contribution to Ron’s book, I discuss the framework that guides us at Benetech, the technology nonprofit I lead. When I first started pursuing the idea of using technology to solve challenging social problems, it was a pretty radical idea. Low Technical Risk: We focus on applying existing technologies to bear on social needs.

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