Compassionate Coding: Students Compete in Microsoft Competition to Write Humanitarian Apps [Slide Show]
As society's reliance on information technology surges, software has become an indispensable component of any disaster response effort. This includes programs for maneuvering robotic subs (as with the efforts to contain BP's Deepwater oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico ) or sophisticated mapping tools for emergency-response crews using mobile devices to assess earthquake damage ( as in Haiti ). With the understanding that emergency, health care and other services' reliance on software will only grow over time, Microsoft has for the past eight years hosted a global competition that challenges high school and college students to develop applications that address some of the planet's most urgent needs. [More] Microsoft - Haiti - Gulf of Mexico - Business - Allegedly Unethical Firms