The Tech4Good awards showcase products from entrepreneurs working to
create a brighter digital future, from a Braille e-reader to a
cancer-diagnosis ap
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/11/technology-save-lives-improve-them-tech4good
With so much coverage about the dark underbelly of the internet and
how many of our technological advances have been hijacked for
nefarious activities – whether it’s our computers having the potential
to spy on us, Russian hackers interfering with democratic elections or
our hospitals’ IT systems being hacked – it was a relief to be asked
to judge this year’s AbilityNet Tech4Good awards. As the name
suggests, these awards showcase the people and organisations using
technology to make the world a better place. And I’m pleased to report
that there are many amazing tech entrepreneurs working across the
globe to create a brighter digital future
Among the winners in the eight categories who were announced
yesterday, are Bristol Braille Technology, the winner of the
accessibility award. The social enterprise has created an affordable
braille electronic reader, designed with, by and for blind people.
Unlike existing readers which can only display a single line of text,
Bristol Braille’s device can show a full page of words and numbers.
This means users can deliver speeches, use spreadsheets easily and
read music notation, scientific and mathematical formulas. Currently
being trialled in Britain, Ireland and the US, the social enterprise
hopes to launch the device later this year or early 2018 for around
£600–£800.
Chatterbox, another communications aid, was developed by Mursal
Hedayat, a refugee from Afghanistan, to provide language tutoring. It
recruits, trains and supports talented individuals who are refugees
through a website to find work as language tutors. Refugees, who are
dispersed across the UK, are linked up with individuals and
organisations – often based somewhere else – which require those
language skills.
The Chatterbox app teaches refugees how to teach English and matches
them with people who need the skills. Photograph: AbilityNet
One of the most inspiring categories this year was the digital health
award. The winner, Haiyan Zhang, developed a wireless sensor, Fizzyo,
in her free time, to make physiotherapy exercises more fun for two
teenage brothers with cystic fibrosis. By connecting the sensor to
their physiotherapy equipment, she turned the exercises into controls
for video games. Working in conjunction with Great Ormond Street
hospital, Zhang is developing the sensor further, so it can be
trialled in 100 homes around the UK to study the long-term efficacy of
physiotherapy treatment
Another entry in this category, which also won the public vote for the
best entry, aims to improve cancer diagnosis. Co-founded by two
doctors based at Kings College London, C the Signs hopes to improve
earlier diagnosis of cancer. With over 200 different types of cancer,
it is hard for GPs to spot all the potential signs of cancer in a
10-minute appointment. C the Signs, available on smartphones and as a
website, allows GPs to enter patients’ symptoms and see what tests or
urgent referrals the patient may need, in under 30 seconds. A pilot
launches this week by Herts Valleys and Luton clinical commissioning
groups, where the tool will be used by 1,000 GPs covering a population
of 850,000 patients
It was also good to see the Guardian 2014 Charity Awards winner, Sky
Badger, pick up an award from the tech community for helping parents
with disabled children through its extensive website and social media
platform.
Praekelt’s MomConnect project allows pregnant women in South
Africa with a mobile phone to access vital information and advice to
improve maternal health during pregnancy.
Praekelt’s MomConnect project allows pregnant women in South Africa
with a mobile phone to access vital information and advice to improve
maternal health during pregnancy. Photograph: AbilityNet
A new category, in conjunction with Comic Relief, recognised the
contribution of technology to improving lives in sub-Saharan Africa.
The winning entrant, Praekelt’s MomConnect project, allows pregnant
women in South Africa with a mobile phone to access vital information
and advice to improve maternal health during pregnancy.
Technology can seem remote and tricky to grasp. But as in previous
years, the 2017 Tech4Good winners prove that it can not only improve
people’s lives, but save them.
--
Avinash Shahi
Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU
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