Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 18, 2009

We were lucky to have the support of the Surdna Foundation for a policy-specific conference track. I'm especially excited about the significant focus on public policy and advocacy for social entrepreneurship. Experienced practitioners tend to engage at levels above their specific organization. For me, it's about advancing the movement.

Social 104

Social Policy Advocacy Influence 104

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 8, 2015

Whether you are a nonprofit leader with a track record of using technology to improve outcomes, or a for-profit tech leader with a history of commitment to social justice organizations, we want to see a commitment to both sides.

Technology 100

Technology Literacy Social Uganda 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 1, 2016

Whatever the power of search engines or social networks, it’s really the smartphone that is the most incredible tool for tracking our every move and activity. Forcing tech companies to weaken their products through compelling the creation of backdoors would be a massive step backwards.

Develop 100

Develop Government United States Africa 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 3, 2009

Kushal is a great example of that, and I look forward to tracking the success of Vittana! This is what I think about when I dream about Raising the Floor with technology: finding ways to meet society's most pressing problems with the brains and resources of the tech community.

Education 100

Education Nicaragua Kiva Amazon 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 20, 2015

I also learned that our collection development team keeps track of exam schedules in Kenya, and arranges our book flows to Daproim accordingly, so that students can focus on their school work during that period. Her limitation is not lack of human capital.

Kenya 100

Kenya Social Student India 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 12, 2008

Tim is the kind of person that holds immense influence because of his track record for spotting new trends. We need a movement to form that is much bigger than Gates/Omidyar/Skoll (and Benetech!). The creative brains in the Valley have a lot to offer when they are motivated.

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Challenge Brain License 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 10, 2013

From Facebook to Netflix, companies are tracking and analyzing our searches, our purchases, and just about every other online activity that will give them more insight into who we are and what we want. Right now I''m in Oxford, England, for the annual Skoll World Forum! Big Data is all the rage in Silicon Valley.

Profit 171

Profit Data SWF Syria 171

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

If you’re a wicked smart attorney with intellectual property chops and a track record of being interested in social good, please consider throwing your hat in the ring! Will we act as a fiscal sponsor, something we’ve avoided to date? That’s just a taste of what’s on the plate at Benetech. Will you be my lawyer, please? Benetech Labs Brand'

United States 134

United States Library Copyright License 134

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 9, 2009

I've been tracking local researcher Leslie Field and her Ice911 concept for more than a year. I'm always interested in fresh approaches to social problems. The global climate crisis is one that is engaging a lot of creative brainpower. It's still in stealth mode, but I got Leslie's permission to blog about it.

Global 100

Global Problem Reflection Ideas 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 14, 2013

There are many social needs that continue to go unmet and we have both a passion and a solid track record of successfully meeting those needs for the benefit of all of humanity. As social entrepreneurship moves from niche to mainstream, and the social enterprise economy grows, Benetech looks forward to growing our impact.

Technology 129

Technology Pledge Music University 129

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 16, 2014

In fact, his reading skills are above average and he is on track to be an honor roll student. He reads accessible ebooks from Benetech’s Bookshare library in braille format, and learns as quickly as his peers without disabilities. Bookshare has made my homework easier,” Brennan says.

Open Source 183

Open Source Africa Zimbabwe Malawi 183

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

From helping clean water and sanitation groups in Latin America, assisting American farmers reduce greenhouse gases, helping labor rights groups track debt bondage or child labor, or conceiving innovative extensions to Benetech’s existing projects, we’re exploring ways that software can make lasting social impact.

India 142

India Literacy Global Accessibility 142

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

We drove around the neighborhood, passing joggers and cyclists (also a group that doesn't suffer much from range anxiety), as we kept track of the miles we'd gone with no range showing on the display. Five, six and seven miles all passed as we circled the area, freely burning electrons. Finally, at the 8.8

San Francisco 157

San Francisco Virginia San Jose Test 157

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

This may sound challenging, but we have a track record of successfully creating multiple break-even social enterprises. We find and build the teams around the enterprises. The follow-on funding we have to raise comes from philanthropic donations or grants. Five or ten years later, we often have a successful exit.

Technology 163

Technology Profit Application Method 163

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 7, 2010

The proofreaders track down every accent mark and put them back. If you see typos, a few will be ours in oversight, but most are in the original printed text. When Bookshare scans a book, the OCR program removes all accent marks from non-English languages. Italics often come through with errors so they must also be carefully checked.

Community 129

Community Files Student Language 129

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 1, 2008

Jeff has a track record of following through on his ideas. Jeff Skoll spends an hour and a half explaining what he's been up to since stepping down as CEO of Participant Productions (actually, seems like stepping up to Chairman).

Movie 100

Movie Sound Award Foundation 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 29, 2005

And, everyone at Benetech needs us to find the right Office Administrator, the jack of all trades who can keep our entire team and our stakeholders connected and on track. our landmine detector project).

Literacy 100

Literacy Environment Track Project 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 30, 2005

According to Nielsen Bookscan, which tracks sales from major booksellers, only 2 percent of the 1.2 Tim O'Reilly (who has been hugely helpful to us and especially Bookshare.org) published an op-ed in the New York Times about the Authors Guild suing Google's Library project. AUTHORS struggle, mostly in vain, against their fated obscurity.

San Francisco 100

San Francisco Copyright New York Attitude 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 22, 2010

BBC tracks me down! But rather than making this an extensive essay on the glories of social media, I just want to give some examples from my UK trip, just from Twitter. I spend less than 15 minutes a day on social media, but the payoffs are huge!

Twitter 118

Twitter SWF Social Media Literacy 118

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 4, 2013

As a Route 66 Literacy user, you’ll see a great new user interface, progress tracking, and a cool new video review feature. We also reach more people through our partnership with the Lions Clubs International in their Reading Action Program. We are excited as we jump into a new year.

Literacy 166

Literacy Program United Arab Emirates Student 166

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 18, 2010

Then we spent the next five days mapping how human rights information flows into the organization and how Martus could be used to track that data using efficient and secure methods. For five days, we focused on teaching the NHRC staff to use the Martus software.

Nigeria 138

Nigeria Training Train San Francisco 138

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 10, 2004

State has an active program tracking the state of human rights around the world. We have multiple projects going right now in Sierra Leone. Our big news is major support for more work by Benetech in Africa, thanks to the U.S. Department of State. We're just announcing this project.

Sierra Leone 100

Sierra Leone Algeria Nigeria Africa 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 30, 2009

There's so much going on these days at Bookshare: a growing community that's getting hard to keep track of! We came up with a book wishlist for donors who wanted to pitch in and buy specific books requested by Bookshare members. We have talented members of the team that whip together graphics and even videos to promote these!

Gift 100

Gift Accessibility Giving Volunteer 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 28, 2005

Bookshare has made reading more possible and pleasurable for me, and has allowed me to use more of my time at college for learning, and less for the busy-work of tracking down and finding ways to access printed resources. Chancey Fleet William & Mary student Bookshare.org Volunteer since 2001

Bookmarking 100

Bookmarking Student Demographics Alternative 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 10, 2009

Stallman outlines the long term implications of surrendering the freedom we have today with books: the freedom to read without being tracked or to lend a book to a friend. And of course, we have the dystopian vision from Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software movement, in his short story from the 90s, The Right to Read.

Amazon 100

Amazon Accessibility eBook Problem 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 23, 2007

The panel was moderated by Greg Dees of Duke University, one of the leading business school professors tracking and analyzing the social entrepreneurship movement. Out of all the panels I attended, I especially wanted to let you know about the kickoff panel on Monday.

Social 100

Social South Africa India Global 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 31, 2006

He tracked me down to explain what we were doing in our new environmental project! The films were an outcome of a Sundance story-telling workshop where filmmakers and social entrepreneurs got together to create better ways of telling their story.

Paraguay 100

Paraguay Nepal Brazil Award 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 5, 2016

Our Silicon Valley tech community roots give us an inside track on technology and business model change. We believe that our track record demonstrates how to drive this kind of equilibrium change repeatedly. Putting these ideas for social change into action is a key part of the Osberg/Martin definition of social entrepreneurship.

Change 100

Change eBook United States Conservancy 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 21, 2011

And thank you for believing in crazy entrepreneurs, even those with little or no track record. Thank you for seizing opportunities, which others miss, enabling new approaches and creating social value.

Mentoring 174

Mentoring Indiana Press Profit 174

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 21, 2012

Based in Luang Prabang, one of Laos premiere tourist destinations, Virginia and I tracked down their bookshop in Vientiane on the edge of the downtown area. It turns out to help adults as well as kids, since many adults hadn’t seen books in their native Lao language before.

Laos 202

Laos Asia Thailand Virginia 202

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

His job: running and tracking national communications campaigns for Bookshare and maintaining relationships with Kindergarten through 12th grade district administrators, assistive technology coordinators and special education teachers. Stan, who recently completed his MBA from Duke, is now the interim education program manager for Bookshare.

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles South Africa United States Statistics 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

The unofficial Iraq Body Count (IBC) , which tracks civilian casualties in Iraq based on press reports and administrative records, has initiated a comparison of their own data to the deaths documented in the SIGACTS data.

Iraq 134

Iraq Data Timor Press 134

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 24, 2015

There were also some successor CEOs in the crowd, along with an explicit track for senior colleagues (like Betsy Beaumon, Benetech’s new President ), as the Skoll Foundation increasingly recognizes the importance of strong teams to their grantee organizations.

Mind 100

Mind New Zealand Global Asia 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 30, 2011

The incident made me wonder if technology could be developed to help prevent such atrocities, and that idea led to the creation of the open source Martus software for tracking and reporting on abuses. -trained battalion of the Salvadoran army. I reminded participants that free speech alone is not enough to secure human rights.

Conference 167

Conference Yemen Syria Skype 167

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 9, 2008

For those tracking the progress of this debate, I would say that Michael and I have a similar view of the other's arguments: distorted, misrepresented and ignored seem to sum it up. Michael's post provides ample opportunity to make my points more clearly.

North America 100

North America Europe Asia Africa 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 24, 2015

Kipp’s idea was that we could take this paper-based rape reporting system and build it on top of our Martus secure human rights software platform.

New York 100

New York Boston Washington Africa 100