Each year, the Nominet Trust 100 – the NT100 – brings together 100 of the world's most inspiring examples of how digital technology has been used to tackle a significant social challenge.
This year’s NT100 has just been published, and it makes for inspirational reading.
It lists projects such as the revolutionary use of fingertip-readers to record tuberculosis treatment in India; the philanthropic food-photo-sharing app Feedie from South Africa; and HarassMap, an anonymous crowd-mapping platform for sexual harassment in Egypt.
Annika Small, CEO of Nominet Trust, told us: "More people than ever before are using technology to solve problems that matter to them in bold new ways. This year's NT100 list is populated by extraordinary people with inspirational stories to tell and it shows us that imagination, social conscience and technology make a potent mix to affect change."
We've picked out four of the most inspirational stories.
01. WikiHouse - 3D printed housing that anyone can build
WikiHouse is an open source construction system. A design commons for high-performance, low-energy homes which can be customised, printed and self-assembled. The project aims to put design tools and knowledge into the hands of everyone.
02. E-NABLE - Affordable 3D printed prosthetics
e-NABLE, a global online community of humanitarian volunteers is leading the way by designing, building and disseminating inexpensive functional 3D printed prosthetics.
03. Game the News – Use games to introduce serious news stories
Game the News is an experiment from Auroch Digital, a small digital studio based in Bristol, UK, to use rapid prototyping techniques to tell news stories through computer games. Its team has set out to make one game a day for a year, to explore how, and if, games can help grow people’s understanding and curiosity about current affairs.
04. Wheelmap – Crowd-mapping accessibility in cities for wheelchair users
Wheelmap is an open and free online map for wheelchair-accessible places. It helps users to share and access information on the wheelchair-accessibility of public places. Taking a lead from Wikipedia, it encourages everyone to participate by tagging places they've visited.
Discover the full NT100 list on the Social Tech Guide website.
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