ACM Honors Open Source Software Creator as Humanitarian

Patrick Ball Applied Science and Technology to Human Rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Palo Alto, CA, April 28, 2004: The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) will present the 2003 Lawler Award for humanitarian contributions to Dr. Patrick Ball for his leadership in the creation of Analyzer and Martus, the open source technologies that enable non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to document and analyze human rights violations around the world. Dr. Ball, Director of the Human Rights Program for the Benetech Initiative, is a leading innovator in applying scientific measurement to human rights. With the development of Analyzer and Martus, he helps human rights groups to securely collect, safeguard, organize, disseminate and statistically analyze individual human rights abuses. The Eugene L. Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions Within Computer Science and Informatics carries a $5,000 prize.

For more than a decade, Dr. Ball and his team have helped NGOs use information management techniques and advanced statistical analysis to track human rights violations. They provided technical assistance to NGOs in Afghanistan, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Peru, Russia, Sri Lanka and the US, among other nations. Their technical expertise helped grass roots organizations to build information management systems that can function effectively in the often dangerous environment of human rights work. Dr. Ball and his group provided assistance to technical areas ranging from networking and security to data backup, database construction, data collection and classification systems, and statistical analysis.

“Dr. Ball is committed to enabling the mission of human rights groups as they seek to clarify history, assist in the reconciliation of their societies and bring their worst criminals to justice,” said Nina Bhatti, Chair of ACM’s Lawler Committee and a research scientist for Hewlett-Packard Laboratories. “He demonstrates a vision of technology used in the service of humanity,” she said.

A graduate of the University of Michigan with MA and Ph.D. degrees in political sociology, Dr. Ball received a BA from Columbia University. Prior to joining the Benetech Initiative, he was Deputy Director for the Science and Human Rights Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC.

Dr. Ball has written extensively on data analysis and human rights. His most recent publication is “How Many Peruvians Have Died?”, a report to the Peruvian Commission for Truth and Justice. In addition to his work with NGOs, he has provided training on the use of cryptographic tools and conducted quantitative analysis of large-scale right projects for truth commissions, tribunals and United Nations missions in El Salvador, Haiti, South Africa, Ethiopia and Kosovo.

ACM will present the Eugene Lawler Award at the annual ACM Awards Banquet June 5, 2004, at the Plaza Hotel in New York, NY. The award, initiated in 2000, is given once every two years. Financial support for the award is provided by individual contributions.

About Benetech

The Benetech Initiative is a Silicon Valley nonprofit that develops sustainable, technology-based solutions to address pressing social challenges in areas such as disability, human rights, education and literacy. Many beneficial technologies have compelling social applications that are not developed because such efforts do not meet for-profit investors’ financial expectations. Benetech specifically pursues endeavors with a strong social, rather than financial, rate of return on investment, bringing commercial technology and private sector management techniques to bear in creating innovative, non-traditional solutions to challenging social issues. More information on Benetech and its projects can be found at www.benetech.org or by calling (650) 475-5440.

About ACM

ACM (www.acm.org) is widely recognized as the premier organization for computing professionals, delivering resources that advance the computing and IT disciplines, enable professional development, and promote policies and research that benefit society. ACM hosts the computing industry’s leading Digital Library and Portal to Computing Literature, and serves its global membership with journals and magazines, special interest groups, conferences, workshops, electronic forums, Career Resource Centre and Professional Development Centre.

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