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To Save Lives, This Nonprofit Links Blood Donors To Recipients Using Telegram Bot, Facebook Messenger

Angela Umoru

July 06, 2021 |

Prime Progress |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Nigeria

J Blood Match uses intelligence-enabled bots to match people in need of blood with registered donors. Registered users answer a series of prompts to determine their needs, the program identifies matches among a pool of registered donors, and once a match is accepted contact information is shared.

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ShotSpotter tech eyed as possible tool in gun violence prevention

Maria McGinnis

June 21, 2021 |

The Land |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Cleveland, Ohio

An audio alert service called ShotSpotter uses audio sensors and algorithms to detect gunfire and report it to the Cleveland police. The technology is helping to bridge the gap in unreported gunfire in the city.

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Internet from the moon: Varsity scholar nurtures his concept on inexpensive internet.

David Owino

June 11, 2021 |

Zulani |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Kenya, Nairobi

To make internet connectivity accessible and affordable across Africa, Dr. Harold Omondi developed “internet from the moon,” a technology that uses satellite dishes to communicate with transponders placed in the moon several years ago by NASA. The transponders can send and receive information and, since the moon keeps the same side of its surface pointed towards earth, the connection cannot be lost. Still in the piloting phase, the system currently offers free internet at Jomo Kenyatta University, where over 1,200 people login every day, and has another station in South Sudan serving 300-500 people daily.

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Art Teachers Are Teaching Girls to Code

Celeste Hamilton Dennis

June 10, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Miami, Florida

Code/Art trains art teachers in a curriculum that combines art and coding, with the goal of inspiring girls to code. They also offer weekly clubs for elementary and middle school girls, a Future Female Tech Leaders program for high schoolers, and an annual conference to celebrate the girls’ achievements. Teachers who take the training can satisfy continuing education requirements by learning four lessons: an abstract art generator and donut maker game, coding self-portraits using JavaScript, and 3-D modeling. Facilitators are assisted by college-age interns, who are available to help in the classroom.

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St. Louis technology detects lots of gunfire, but calls often lead to a dead end

Erin Heffernan

May 31, 2021 |

St. Louis Post-Dispatch |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis was one of the first cities to adopt ShotSpotter technology, which uses a network of microphones, software, and human monitors to detect and analyze gunshot sounds. The detection system summoned police more than 15,000 times last year. Only 1% of those calls in a 10-year span yielded enough evidence to result in a police report, and only 13 arrests resulted. There is no evidence that the system actually reduced gun violence. Advocates say the system, which costs St. Louis taxpayers and a nonprofit group more than $1 million per year, yields other useful intelligence and should be maintained.

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Young People Are Digitally Rebuilding Tulsa's Black Wall Street

Kristi Eaton

May 26, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Urban Coders Guild provides STEM education opportunities to underrepresented communities and is working with local students to build websites for the businesses destroyed during the Tulsa Race Massacre. While none of the businesses operate today, the program builds awareness of the massacre while also teaching students coding skills to build websites. The course is also considered a “prep” course for the future because it teaches students how to interact with others as well as listen to and accept feedback from others. The group partnered with Tulsa Community College students to create the content and logos.

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Jirogasy's solar computers power offgrid schools in Madagascar

Chuma Asuzu

May 03, 2021 |

Hardware Things |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Madagascar, Antananarivo

Jirogasy developed solar-powered computers and, maximizing a partnership with an education NGO, has helped expand computer access among rural schools without access to a grid. Using internationally-funded grants, they created the Jirodesk II, a Windows 10 powered PC that can be powered by the grid or charged via a solar panel. The computers are monitored remotely, which allows users to quickly get tech support, and the company monitors usage in Watt-hours for its “pay-per-use-until-you own model,” where users pay per number of Watt-hours used, and after a certain number of Watt-hours the machine is paid off.

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Algorithmic Redlining Is Real. Why Not Algorithmic Greenlining?

Vinhcent Le

March 31, 2021 |

Governing |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Detroit, Michigan

Urban planning algorithms have contributed to the racial wealth gap by prioritizing funding for communities that don’t need extra funding, but which would create a higher return on investment. The algorithm bias negatively impacts neighborhoods that are typically Black and poor. Detroit’s water and sewage utilities were disconnected as a result of an algorithm, highlighting the “fundamental pitfall of algorithms, as well as the risks that they can be misused or produce unintended consequences.”

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Schools Look To Algorithms To Flag Students Who May Harm Themselves

Alisa Roth

March 03, 2021 |

NPR |

Radio |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Mason City, Iowa

Companies like Gaggle are typically used by school districts to track student online behavior, but now they are tracking something else—self-harm. Machine learning flags words that might indicate a student is thinking of hurting themselves. “It gives us insight into what the student's thinking.” Gaggle identified 64,000 student references to suicide and self-harm. The company claims to have saved 927 student lives. In Mason City, districts receive alerts when a student’s search is flagged. “Nicole Pfirman says there have been a few times where she believes an alert saved a kid's life.”

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An AI is training counselors to deal with teens in crisis

Karen Hao Abby Ohlheiser

February 26, 2021 |

MIT Technology Review |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Crisis hotlines and chat services are turning to technologies such as AI tools to help assist an oft-overburdened system. At The Trevor Project, AI is used as both a risk assessment tool and as a role-play simulator to train volunteer counselors to correspond with callers. Users of these tools stress that they are not a replacement for counselors, but rather a tool to help the humans in these roles.

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