The USABLE team is proud to announce the UXFund results for the small, but targeted usability enhancement grants. Many great proposals were received and, after a thorough review process, five organizations for short-term awards were selected. A core component of all grants will be to more directly engage and listen to users, so tool creators can better understand and implement usability improvements that are needed from high-risk communities across the globe.

Profiles of the UXFund grantees can be found below:

Mailvelope – https://www.mailvelope.com Mailvelope is a free browser plugin for Chrome and Firefox that enables end-to-end encryption that integrates directly with your web-based mail provider, whether you are using Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or Microsoft webmail. Mailvelope is an open-source project currently hosted on github (https://github.com/mailvelope/mailvelope).

Martus (product of Benetech) – https://martus.org Martus is a free, open source, secure information collection and management tool that empowers human rights activists to effectively collect, store and transfer potentially sensitive information. Martus enables more secure information management and backups for groups and individuals across the globe.

Peerio – https://www.peerio.com Peerio is an end-to-end encrypted communication client that works on both desktop and mobile phone. The client allows users to setup an account for free, with paid premium versions. Peerio is an open-source project currently hosted on github (https://github.com/PeerioTechnologies/peerio-client).

Postcard (product of Operator Foundation) – http://operatorfoundation.org Postcard is an open-source and free encrypted email client with a simple user-interface for maximum ease-of-use. Postcard is free and open-source and is currently hosted on github (https://github.com/OperatorFoundation/Postcard).

Gridsync (product of Least Authority) – https://leastauthority.com Gridsync aims to provide a cross-platform, graphical user interface for Tahoe-LAFS, the Least Authority File Store that allows for backing up local files, synchronizing directories between devices, and sharing files and storage resources with other users across all major desktop platforms (GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows). Gridsync is a free and open-source software that is hosted on github (https://github.com/gridsync/gridsync).

If you are interested in working to help any of these organizations or getting involved in supporting the USABLE project, please contact us!