Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 18, 2019

The nonprofit Benetech team built the revolutionary Bookshare library for this community, all online, and based on the powerfully flexible ebook. We named this library Bookshare because it was created with an army of crowdsourcing volunteers, many of them blind people themselves, who scan the books using optical character recognition.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 16, 2013

You see, several months later, the federal Department of Education challenged us to compete against a well-respected national nonprofit 60 times our size in a bid to provide accessible educational materials for US students who are blind, dyslexic, or otherwise print disabled. million contract to do just that. Fast-forward six years.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 3, 2013

Guest Beneblog by Betsy Beaumon, VP and General Manager, Benetech’s Global Literacy Program. Betsy Beaumon I recently had the honor to speak at the first-ever Braille Summit , hosted on June 19-21, 2013 by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) and Perkins School for the Blind. Accordingly, U.S.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 23, 2014

Technology currently serves privileged groups through tools that provide access to education, literacy, health, and justice. Global Literacy Sixth Grader and Bookshare member Kevin Leong with Jim Fruchterman at Benetech''s offices. Our Bookshare online library is continuing to multiply its impact.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 8, 2015

Benetech is hiring new Vice Presidents for our Global Literacy and Human Rights programs. We use technology today to help hundreds of thousands of students with disabilities succeed in school, as well as help human rights activists around the world document abuses and seek justice.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 17, 2014

The tools we develop for that purpose span a range of fields—from human rights , to global literacy , to the environment —but no matter what area we work in, we depend on an IP system that’s friendly to technological advances and to positive social impact. copyright law. In the U.S.,

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

For them, Bookshare —Benetech’s Global Literacy initiative and the world’s largest accessible digital library for people with print disabilities—opens up a lifeline to reading. SEChallenge a11y accessibility Bookshare crowdfunding CrowdRise Huffington Post print disabilities Reading Skoll Foundation veterans'

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Tech Soup

JULY 16, 2013

And what if a person, regardless of age, could learn anything from typing to HTML to using an iPad without any cost or accessibility barriers? Libraries, nonprofits, and schools are already working hard to teach digital skills and competency, but they need support of the entire community to help people thrive in the technology age.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 2, 2012

Bookshare, Benetech’s pioneering digital library for people with print disabilities, celebrated its 10th birthday last night with a terrific party that was attended by many of our long-time friends and supporters. As a result, we quickly became the largest online library for people with print disabilities. said Stevie. Thanks Stevie!

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 3, 2011

One of these sub-themes is “Accessibility: removing barriers and promoting disability-inclusive development.” Of course, accessibility is right up Benetech’s alley and the focus of our Literacy program. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).

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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. We’re thrilled that students and other readers who have disabilities that keep them from reading standard print can now read the same books as their peers, using the same devices.

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Tech Soup

JULY 25, 2012

Valerie Hill is an adjunct instructor at Texas Woman's University School of Library and Information Science and is also a librarian herself. She came to the Nonprofit Commons to share her areas of expertise in media literacy, human-computer interaction, and the impact of the digital revolution on education and libraries.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 20, 2006

We have been helping blind and print disabled people gain access to books for over 17 years. Two recent experiences underscored different parts of this struggle to deliver access. It's great to see someone still using one of our products to access books for this length of time.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 16, 2014

From people in Latin America who face severe water scarcity to at-risk human rights defenders and students with disabilities, our users and their families are the ones who best convey the impact of our work. Consider third grade student Brennan Draves. Brennan Draves and his mother, Lindsay Draves, at school. Martus Desktop 4.5

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Tech Soup

AUGUST 26, 2011

TechSoup has partnered with goQ Software to make their writing assistance and speech recognition software, WordQ + SpeakQ , available to eligible nonprofits and libraries. The National Commission on writing stated that 80 percent of grade school students are not proficient at writing. roundup on building a culture of accessibility.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 4, 2007

Although the members of our board were impressed with all three nominees, they awarded Carrie Karnos of Palo Alto, CA, the 2006 Veale Award for her work with an accessible online library called Bookshare. She wrote, "Carrie Karnos is a Bookshare.org volunteer who has given blind readers access to more than 2,000 books.

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Tech Soup

JUNE 22, 2015

Over the past year, we've been doing TechSoup Impact stories about nonprofits, churches, and libraries doing great work with TechSoup product donations. " Waukesha Public Library. An increasing number of public libraries are discovering TechSoup donations, but few are maxing them out like Waukesha Public Library in Wisconsin.

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Tech Soup

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

For nonprofits, libraries, and their constituents, education is essential to keep knowledge and skills up to date. Online courses from easyLearning by Serebra provide busy nonprofiters with access to more than 1,500 technical and professional courses. Hear what other nonprofits and libraries are saying in our Community Forums.

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Tech Soup

MARCH 10, 2015

" In this spirit, New Heights provides everything from tutoring services to curriculums, a library with more than 3,000 books, field trips, and online classes. New Heights, by promoting literacy through a wide range of programs, has produced radical results. " Equal Access Through Online Collaboration.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 28, 2012

The great majority of social enterprises are nonprofit organizations dedicated to the social good through employing disadvantaged people, educating students, improving the environment, advancing health care, respect for human rights and so many other beneficial activities.

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Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Stopping fund raising and subscription revenue for Bookshare, the largest online library for people who have print disabilities. Bookshare is an online library for people who can’t read standard print books. We provide accessible ebooks that can be spoken aloud, turned into Braille or large print.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 13, 2011

Bookshare Hits 100,000 Members Boy reading at a computer with teacher in the background.Since the beginning of 2009, we’ve tripled the number of people with disabilities Bookshare is serving with our accessible library of ebooks. The amazing thing about serving 100,000 students right now is that our commitment to the U.S.

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