Harness Technology for Social Good
Telemental
Health:
What Digitally Curious
Social Workers
Need to Know
Intimate
Relationships,
Technology & Abuse:
What a Gender-Based
Violence Framework
Can Teach Us About
Online Danger
Using Digital
Mapping
Technologies to
Inform About
COVID -19
Harnessing
Thanatechnology
to Cope with
Illness, Death
& Grief
Digital Mapping
for Public Good
Developing Child
Welfare Skills Using
In-person & Virtual
Reality (VR)-based
Simulations
2020
Webinar
Series
The Grand Challenge to Harness Technology for Social Good is unique among the Grand Challenges
in that it sets out not to address a specific issue or problem, but to fundamentally transform the field
of social work with respect to its relationship to technology. Specifically, it aims to harness big data
and deploy information and communication technology to improve the efficacy of social programs,
accelerate the pace of social discovery, and reduce inequalities.
During the past five years, network members have led the field in this direction through their practice,
research, teaching, and advocacy. They have served as a resource for the field, providing information
and serving as a forum for people to meet and connect around the technology issues affecting them
and their work.
A great deal of movement has occurred in 2020, as COVID-related social distancing measures drastically
accelerated the field's adoption of technology - from remote working and teaching to virtual conferences
to telehealth. In this sense, the coronavirus pandemic brought new attention and urgency to this
Grand Challenge.
24 | Progress and Plans for the Grand Challenges