Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Elections amid coronavirus: How officials aim to keep voters safe

    Many are looking to in-person voting alternatives already used on smaller scales to address the challenges of holding an election during the Covid-19 pandemic. Online or mobile app voting is allowed on a limited basis in several states. Voatz is a mobile voting app that has been used in 50 elections since 2016, with more than 80,000 votes cast. The company uses blockchain to encrypt the data and has offered to discuss the free use of its software for the 2020 presidential election. Experts caution the possibility of cyber-attacks as well as the difficulty of widely implementing new technologies so quickly.

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  • South Korea Shows World How to Slow Spread of Coronavirus

    South Korea has taken a softer approach to preventing and containing the coronavirus, in large part because they’ve prioritized accessible testing and have an already-existing strong and affordable healthcare system. Beyond that, the government has centered on citizen education – sending daily updates about new cases and provided a hotline for questions and concerns.

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  • Map the Vote app finds unregistered voters in cities and helps get them to the polls

    Register2Vote (R2V) identified unregistered voters in Texas and built a platform for them to fill out the form online, which R2V printed and mailed to them with a stamped envelope addressed to their county’s registrar’s office. 112,000 of the 156,000 new voters they registered voted in 2018. R2V later created Map the Vote, a nationwide crowdsourced app that maps where unregistered voters live. It also provides tools to help organizations, or even neighbors, register new voters, including scripts that people can use to start a conversation about registering to vote and respond to common voting concerns.

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  • Lebanon's refugees use technology to fight food insecurity

    Training refugees in digital skills provides them with a path toward self sufficiency. A pilot program developed with the UN World Food Program and the American University in Beirut offers computer literacy and English courses to Syrian refugees living in Lebanon. The approach aims to reduce reliance on food relief and empower individuals to find employment with new skills.

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  • Out of sight, out of mind: Teachers take action on phones

    When students enter many of their classrooms in Oregon, they are asked to place their phone in a pouch, locker, or other container. The strategy is helping students stay focused and break distracting habits and returning key instruction time to teachers who were spending time policing phone use.

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  • Coaxing Cops To Tackle Cybercrime? There's An App For That

    Training more local police officers in the latest cybercrime tactics poses daunting obstacles. But a pilot project by New York Police Department found the next best alternative: teaching cops how to collect the information an expert will need to solve complex crimes involving the use of technology. Their Cyber Investigative Standards phone app walks an investigating officer through the questions to ask. The experiment showed NYPD that such crimes are indeed more local than assumed, and more solvable if tackled diligently and quickly.

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  • Cities Struggle to Boost Ridership With ‘Uber for Transit' Schemes

    Data-driven transport can improve access and efficiency if properly implemented. In Shanghai, China, users benefit from customized bus routes designed by artificial intelligence software. Other countries, however, have discontinued pilots of programs similar to the one implemented in China. Elsewhere, in Innisfil, Ontario, a different kind of program helps to fill the gap in public transport--namely, subsidized Uber rides.

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  • Penn Medicine-created texting tool may save hundreds of new moms' lives in Philly and beyond

    After deducing that preeclampsia was "the number one cause of maternal hospital readmissions and maternal mortality," doctors at Penn Medical began sending new mothers home with a blood pressure cuff and then texting them for readings. Proving to be a successful intervention methodology, this practice has expanded to other hospitals in the state and may soon scale nationally.

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  • Public Defender Turns to Texting System to Notify Clients of Santa Barbara County Court Appointments

    California’s Santa Barbara Public Defender’s office is working with the company, Upstart, to use a texting notification system to remind people about their court dates. Upstart costs $20K to set up and then $2 per client, but has worked with counties across the country and seen a 75% drop in failure-to-appear violations. For California, the Heising-Simons Foundations is funding its implementation in seven different counties.

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  • Where Tech Is Helping People Become Better Neighbors

    From Google's India-focused app Neighbourly to the wellknown Nextdoor app, social media specifically targeted at connecting neighbors is gaining ground. Whether being used to rate neighborhood attractions, encourage borrowing or sharing of resources, report suspicious neighborhood activity or simply to find a way to make connections, these apps are aimed at decreasing social isolation and increasing community interactions.

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