Conmergence

openSUSE-Medical looking for developers

The openSUSE-Medical project (http://en.opensuse.org/OpenSUSE-Medical) is seeking developers and additional packagers. The distribution is an openSUSE sub-project aimed at doctors and medical staff and will include various open source software applications for medical use. The developers plan to start reviewing a list of open source healthcare software (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_healthcare_software) for inclusion in the distribution and adding packages to openSUSE (), once enough packagers are on board.

More details about the sub-project can be found on the openSUSE-Medical wiki and their repository (http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/medical/) has already been posted. Those interested in joining the sub-project are encouraged to email Sascha Manns (saigkill@opensuse.org) to join the mailing list (opensuse-medical@kbx7.de).

[healthcare-wg] Open Source For America Healthcare Working Group

Team,

We’ll begin our bi-weekly calls on Thursday, November 5th. The time will be 1 pm eastern, with the bridge information below. I realize not everyone will be able to make each call, sowe’ll do the best we can. I’ll try to send out an agenda for each call at least 24 hours in advance. Look forward to speaking with each of you on a regular basis. Thank you.

-Anthony Gold agold@healthyhumans.net
Conference Dial-in number: 616-597-8000
Participant Access Code: 817841#

Occurs every 2 weeks on Thursday effective 11/5/2009 until 7/29/2010 from 1:00 PM to 1:30 PM (GMT-05:00) America/New_York.

Open Source for America Call for Working Group Participation

Today we are happy to report that we are ready for the next phase in our mission to establish a more effective voice supporting the use of free and open source software in the U.S. Federal government. Since our launch more than 1,250 individuals and organizations have joined OSFA and that is what we would like to discuss with you today.

We've set up working groups for specific policy areas where free and open source software can help. Maybe you're an educator? Maybe you have ideas on how open source can help solve our healthcare crisis? Maybe you're a transparency wonk? Please look over the list of working groups, register and sign up those in which you would like to participate. We have set up the website with a "members only" section, and expect to quickly leverage the site for open collaboration among the members of these working groups:

http://wiki.opensourceforamerica.org/working-groups

For the more technically inclined, you'll notice near the bottom of the page there is a reference to platform tools. We've currently integrated Mailman as our mailing list software directly with OFBiz's party classifications, but we would like to see this go much further. We are looking for volunteers to help us create a mash-up or mash-ups.

Another key goal for Open Source for America is to Raise awareness and create understanding among federal government leaders in the executive and legislative branches about the values and implications of open source software. The Marketing Team needs your help in raising awareness around open source. We need any case stories (the most popular page currently on the site) or white papers that you may have and can share with the Open Source for America team. We are also looking for volunteers to join the Marketing team, to help with tradeshows, collateral creation, and means to raise awareness for Open Source. Please sign up today on the http://opensourceforamerica.org/ site to get involved.

There's never been a U.S. Administration so sympathetic to free and open source software. There have never been so many citizens with the same enthusiasm for the open source process. This is an unprecedented opportunity to profoundly change the way our government uses and understands software. We can fundamentally change how this country works.

Let's get started.

Kind Regards,

Open Source for America

Fibonacci, the International Open Source Magazine

Fibonacci, the International Open Source magazine released on 28th September, 2009. The feedback received from the community for the magazine is highly encouraging for all of us.

In order to promote the message of open source far and wide, we further wish to make the magazine reachable especially to those who are not much aware about this global movement. The role played by the FOSS community in making up of the magazine largely led to its success.

Please further help us attain our objective of spreading knowledge unrestrained by forwarding this mail to anyone you believe needs to know about FOSS.

The magazine may be downloaded from http://sf-foss.iiitm.ac.in/fibonacci/

Fibonacci Vol. 1 attracted a fabulous participation from all over the world. The magazine features a total of 46 articles from 41 authors. Magazine committee consisted of 12 advisory board members, 22 editorial board members, 18 organizing committee members and 25 volunteers. We are further proud to announce a total contribution of 140 people from 13 countries and 46 organizations.

Download Fibonacci Vol. 1 from http://sf-foss.iiitm.ac.in/fibonacci/

Thanks and Regards,
Udit Khandelwal
SF-FOSS,
IIITM Gwalior,
http://sf-foss.iiitm.ac.in/

OsiriX Foundation OsiriX Plugin Awards

General conditions

The OsiriX Plugin Award is intended to encourage the development of image processing and image analysis tools as plugins that can extend the features of the Open Source OsiriX platform. It is intended to promote and extend the use of OsiriX and its plugins in clinical institutions and medical research. Plugins could be developed for image processing, image enhancement, segmentation, visualization and image navigation, as well as specific quantitative analysis and data extraction that are applicable for specific clinical applications or research support.

A list of proposed projects is provided and updated regularly allowing candidates to choose from, but other tools not listed in the proposed list could also be submitted to the committee for approval. Two categories of projects are awarded:

• Category 1 For small general purpose tools or simple enhancement extensions that can be applicable to more than one purpose. These plugins should be simple and not complex to be developed in a 3 months timeframe. The award for category 1 is: 2000 CHF
  
• Category 2 For more specific clinical tools intended for advanced image analysis and extraction of quantitative information. These plugins should be focused on a specific clinical or research objective and should be developed in a 6 months timeframe. The award for category 2 is: 5000 CHF

Eligibility and deadlines

Students and young scientists as well as interns and physicians in training are eligible for the plugin award. They must be enrolled in an academic institution, university, college or technical school and a proof of affiliation must be provided by the applicant to apply for a project. Applications can be submitted at any time with no specific deadline. Applicants should submit a two-page maximum description of their project. Interviews and discussions with the OsiriX team prior to submission is highly recommended allowing applicant to discuss their project and ensure its feasibility and adequacy and avoid unexpected rejection of the project. An ad-hoc scientific review committee will review all applications and may request additional information or details. Rejected project will have a short evaluation summary with description of the rejection criteria. Candidates can choose to resubmit a revised project based on the first evaluation by the committee.

After approval of the project the candidates will have to sign a written commitment for delivery of the final product for evaluation (three months for category 1 and 6 months for category 2). Failure to turn in a working version of the plugin in time will void the eligibility for later evaluation, and candidates will not be allowed to resubmit other proposals on the same topic. A project that is being assigned to a candidate becomes unavailable to other candidates during the period allocated for its development. If the candidate fails to deliver the product in time, the project will be made available again to other participants.

Projects submitted must be original and prospective. Plugins that have already been developed or published prior to submission of the proposal are not eligible for the contest.

Authors should be willing to distribute the result of their work as open source material. Plugins intended for commercial distribution are not eligible.

The scientific committee will review the final product and decide wether it deserves the award based on different criteria (a specific score will be assigned to each criteria with a minimal threshold that will be defined for awarding the prize). The following criteria will be scored:

• Ability of the tool to achieve the goal described in the original proposal
  
• Robustness of the plugin-delivered and its immunity to crashes and bugs when tested on different sets of data
  
• Code optimization
  
• Easy of use and user-interface design
  
• Compliance with OsiriX code architecture and plugin standard interface
  
• Code documentation and user manual

Projects that will not meet the required score will no receive the final price. Candidates will receive a summary of the comments of the review committee, but will not have access to the score or have any recourse for discussing the decision with the jury. Decision of the jury is final and cannot be challenged.

Laureates will receive their award at an award-ceremony held by the OsiriX Foundation once a year. More than one project can be awarded in each category each year. Recipient that cannot come to the award ceremony will receive their award by mail.

Candidates that have been awarded a prize in one category are not eligible for a second project in the same category. They will be allowed to submit a project in another category as long as the topic is accepted by the scientific committee as being sufficiently different from the first project that was awarded.

Intellectual property

• Authors of plugins will retain full authorship rights and freedom to further publish their work or present their tools in scientific conferences and meetings.
• The plugin and its source code will have to be released under Open Source license.
• OsiriX Foundation will retain the right to distribute the plugin and use it as promotional and advertisement for the promotion of the Foundation and fund-raising events.
• Members of the Foundation will not publish papers or scientific communications based on the plugin without the written consent of the authors and after a formal proposal to be a co-author of the publication.
• Any request for commercial distribution of derivative work or financial contracts that are submitted to the Foundation will be forwarded to the original author.

Proposed Projects

Category 1

• Integration of hand bone age atlas
• Automatic numbering of vertebral bodies
• Export of key-images to MIRC image database
• Closing 3D surface rendered image for model sculpting
• Coronary calcium scoring

Category 2

• LV function from cardiac CTA
• 3D Visualization of fMRI and DTI tractography of the brain
• Segmentation of abdominal aortic aneurysms
• Assessment of vertebral morphology
• Automatic fusion and alignment of SPECT and CT bone images
• Measurement of changes in tumor sizes (RECIST)
• Mapping color data on the heart

1st eHealth Day, November 11, 2009, Munich

This year a special eHealth Day will be held on 11 November as part of W-JAX 09, the leading conference for Java, Enterprise Architecture and SOA, that takes place in Munich from 09-13th November.

The eHealth Day will have sessions dealing exclusively with Java technologies, architecture and solutions for the healthcare market. eHealth experts from companies like Abraxas Informatik AG, achelos GmbH, and Ocean Informatics as well as ICW AG will take you inside their innovative eHealth solutions. Discover how these leading eHealth specialists are already implementing groundbreaking solutions for the eHealth sector. Learn about the challenges involved and the tools that are available to master them.

Sessions include:

Modular architecture to support reuse and integration 

IPF, open source platform for networking of healthcare information systems 

Using Authorization and Encryption to protect Medical Data 

openEHR and how it supports semantic interoperability in healthcare 

Electronic cost of care reimbursement platform in Switzerland 

Electronic health card - Example use cases

Full agenda and session descriptions for eHealth Day and Conference.

Register now and save 30% off on official registration prices for ICW partners.

If you have colleagues who are interested in attending, please feel free to forward this invitation to them.

Best regards,

Thomas Liebscher

Journal of Information Technology & Politics 2010 "The Politics of Open Source" CALL FOR PAPERS

May 6-7, 2010 - Amherst, Massachusetts

A two-day University of Massachusetts Amherst conference jointly hosted by the:

Department of Political Science 

Science, Technology, and Society Initiative (STS) 

Journal of Information Technology & Politics (JITP)

Qualitative Data Analysis Program (QDAP)

National Center for Digital Government (NCDG)

KEYNOTE & DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS

Eric von Hippel is Professor and Head of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.  He specializes in research related to the nature and economics of distributed and open innovation. He also develops and teaches about practical methods that firms can use to improve their product and service development processes. He is the author of Democratizing Innovation (MIT Press, 2005) and The Sources of Innovation (Oxford, 1988).

Clay Johnson is Director of Sunlight Labs. Prior joining Sunlight, Clay was one of the four founders of Blue State Digital, the progressive left's premier technology and online strategy firm. This firm, which was born out of the Howard Dean campaign, was also responsible for Barack Obama's Web presence. At Blue State Digital, Clay was responsible for developing the organization's brand and building its initial client roster. He also had a hand at building some of the company's early technical tools. Before joining Blue State, Johnson was the lead programmer for Dean for America in 2004, overseeing the development of grassroots tools like GetLocal, DeanLink and Project Commons. Prior to entering politics, Johnson was a technologist at Ask Jeeves (now Ask.com) where he helped to develop the company's Web syndication product. He also started the first Internet Knowledge Exchange, KnowPost.com, and worked as an entrepreneur-in-residence at a Venture Capital firm, but still claims that he learned the most from his first job -- as a waiter at Waffle House in Atlanta, Georgia.

Christopher M. Kelty is an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has a joint appointment in the Center for Society and Genetics and in the department of Information Studies. His research focuses on the cultural significance of information technology, especially in science and engineering. He is the author most recently of Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software (Duke University Press, 2008), as well as numerous articles on open source and free software, including its impact on education, nanotechnology, the life sciences, and issues of peer review and research process in the sciences and in the humanities.

APPROACH

Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FOSS) has made significant advances, both technically and organizationally, since its emergence in the mid-1980s. Over the last decade, it has moved from a software development approach involving mostly volunteers to a more complex ecology where firms, nonprofit organizations, government agencies and volunteers may be involved. Moreover, the production paradigm continues to expand to other areas of digital content (e.g., Creative Commons, Wikipedia, Connexions, etc.). In this conference we use the phrase “open source” to capture this broader phenomenon. The Program Committee encourages disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of open source, broadly defined.

"Politics" in the conference title, can have many interpretations. Political issues closely tied to the free and open source software movement(s) include: national government policies related to the adoption of open source technologies or questions related to interoperability and open standards, software patents, vendor lock-in, and copyright. These are central themes we expect may be discussed in this forum. In this context, we welcome international submissions since differences in the political perspective appear in international contexts. However, topics related to how the concept of openness has led to various interpretations, adaptations, and applications of “open source” in other domains, and political issues that surround these broader innovations, are also welcome. Specific topics might include, but are not limited to:

General topics related to the politics of open source

* How open source software or its principles are changing politics

* Emerging transparencies in software, systems and society 

* Open source in the developing world and other international contexts

* The political economy of open source

* Digital divides and open source

Open source and the public sector

* Open source software and transparency in government

* Government policies toward open source and open standards

* Regulation and open source

Open source and democracy

* Open source and democratic engagement

* Open source voting systems

* Activism, political mobilization and open source

The expansion of open source into other domains 

* Understanding how open source collaboration works and how it can be extended into other areas of collective action

* Policy areas, such as the effects of free textbooks on education policy or the politics of "One Laptop Per Child"

* The political implications of open source in other cultural domains

PAPER SUBMISSIONS

Authors are invited to prepare and submit to JITP a manuscript following one of the six submission formats by January 10, 2010. These formats include research papers, policy viewpoints, workbench notes, review essays, book reviews, and papers on teaching innovation. Proposals for full panel presentations will also be accepted. The goal is to produce a special issue, or double issue, of JITP with a wide variety of approaches to the broad theme of "The Politics of Open Source." 

HOW TO SUBMIT

Everything you need to know about how to prepare and submit a strong JITP paper is documented at http://www.jitp.net/. Papers will be put through an expedited blind peer review process by the Program Committee, and authors will be notified about a decision by March 10, 2010. A small number of papers will be accepted for presentation at the conference. Other paper authors will be invited to present a poster during the Friday evening reception. All posters must include a "YouTube" version of their research findings. 

BEST PAPER AND POSTER CASH PRIZES

The author (or authors) of the best research paper will receive a single $1,000 prize. The creator (or creators) of the best poster/research presentation will also receive a single prize of $1,000.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE 

M.V. Lee Badgett, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Paul M.A. Baker, Georgia Institute of Technology

Deborah Bryant, Oregon State University Open Source Lab

Andrea Calderaro, European University Institute

Mark Cassell, Kent State University

Edward Cherlin, Earth Treasury

Gabriella Coleman, New York University

Doug Downham, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Robert English, Daystar Computing & University of Massachusetts Amherst

Joseph Feller, University College Cork

Jelena Karanovic, Rutgers University

Dave Karpf, University of Pennsylvania/Miller Center for Public Affairs

Andrea Kavanaugh, Virginia Tech

Jose Marichal, California Lutheran University

Jens Hardings Perl, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Charlie Schweik, University of Massachusetts Amherst, co-chair

Stuart Shulman, University of Massachusetts Amherst, co-chair

Megan Squire, Elon University

Krishna Ravi Srinivas, Research Information System For Developing Nations 

Louis Suarez-Potts, Sun Microsystems, Inc. & OpenOffice.org

Anas Tawileh, Cardiff University & Meedan.net

SPONSORSHIP

For information on sponsorship opportunities, please contact Michelle Sagan Gonçalves at 413 577 2354 or mgoncalves@pubpol.umass.edu  

Enterprise LAMP Network sponsored by Vaco

<ed.note>Of course, the Nashville area could truly benefit by the representation of folks from the open source healthcare community (LinkedIn group here), from such efforts as OpenVista, OpenEHR, or others commonly in the Linux Med News. Computerworld's recent take here and the Federal NHIN CONNECT project here. FYI, the Franklin-based Medical Banking Project Cooperative Open-source Medical Banking Architecture & Technology initiative history can be found here.</ed.note>

On Saturday, Nov. 7, approximately 600 top LAMP developers from around the U.S. will converge on Nashville suburb Franklin, TN, to learn from innovative companies that will share their on-the-ground reports about the latest developments in LAMP offerings and implementation.

Whether you are an executive considering the switch to LAMP or a developer already deep into the code of Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP, Python or Perl, the Enterprise LAMP Network will be your destination for resources involving the LAMP stack and addressing its readiness for enterprise use.

The Enterprise LAMP Proposition

Today's enterprises need reliable, secure, highly functional, high performance, portable and scalable internet service applications, yet CTOs face intense pressure to develop these powerful systems on the leanest of budgets. Even five years ago, options for accomplishing these business goals were limited to well-known proprietary offerings. Few high-profile technology leaders trusted open source software to provide viable resources for the demands of a large-scale enterprise.

Now, however, because of the maturity, velocity, security and scalability achieved in particular by the LAMP stack and the training, certification and support offered by a solid array of providers, we believe that LAMP has proven its ability to provide performance that CTOs at the world's largest enterprises can rely on for global deployment.

Further, LAMP has transcended its origins as a stack strictly comprised of Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP, Python and Perl. Today, LAMP as an acronym is more symbolic than literal.

L - Open Source Internet Enabled Operating Systems (Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Darwin)

A - Open Source Internet Application Servers (Apache HTTPD, JBoss, Tomcat, Zimbra)

M - Open Source Databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, CouchDB, MongoDB, Ingres)

P - Open Source Internet Focused Programming Languages (PHP, Python, Perl, Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Erlang)

In addition, the hardware infrastructure on which LAMP used to run has matured beyond its legacy. While not a fit for every enterprise, innovations such as IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), $aaS (Paid Software as a Service) and oSaaS (Open Software as a Service) now offer CTOs even more flexibility in how they structure systems.

Because of these software and hardware advances, we believe that Enterprise LAMP will become a mainstream choice for enterprise use.

The Enterprise LAMP Network

The Enterprise LAMP Network, planned for launch August 3, 2009, will be a year-round resource of both high-level strategic information for technology decisionmakers and highly technical information for coders about developments across the LAMP spectrum.

Planned resources include:

• Rotating critical commentary from industry leaders
• Aggregation of news content about LAMP topics
• Podcasts
• White papers
• Tutorials
• Product announcements
• Case studies about firms that have made or are making the move to LAMP
• Information about LAMP Users Groups
• Opportunities for technology firms to reach developers
• Registration for the Enterprise LAMP Summit, Camp and related events

Date: November 7th, 2009
Location: http://enterpriselamp.org/

St. Joseph Medical Center (Houston) and MedConcierge to Demonstrate Telemedicine Solutions at FTTH Council Conference

Top Houston Hospital Selects MedConcierge to Offer Telemedicine to Corporations and Master Planned Communities

September 8, 2009 (Sarasota, FL & Houston, TX) - St. Joseph Medical Center, the largest, Level 3 trauma hospital in downtown Houston, has selected MedConcierge to provide its advanced telemedicine solution to leading communities and corporations. Both parties will demonstrate the user experience and benefits of telemedicine during the upcoming 2009 FTTH Conference & Expo taking place at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, September 27th through October 1st.

"We are very excited to demonstrate the MedConcierge at St. Joseph Medical Center service to local community developers and corporate executives at the upcoming Fiber to the Home Conference," states St. Joseph chief executive officer Phillip D. Robinson, "Telemedicine will clearly be at the center of healthcare delivery moving forward and leveraging the technological advantages of the MedConcierge service over fiber-optic communications will help us extend patient services, generate additional revenue and save costs."

"St. Joseph is a leader in the Houston area, and we are thrilled to play a role in helping them deliver health and wellness services to residents of FTTH communities in and around the Houston metropolitan area," says MedConcierge director Rob Scheschareg. "Telemedicine offers competitive and financial benefits in a cost-effective fashion that is critical in today's market environment. We look forward to meeting service providers and developers at the FTTH Conference & Expo who want to take advantage of the billions being spent by consumers and the government in the next 30 months on home-based telemedicine."

Substantial news coverage, increasing consumer interest and adoption, and the allocation of billions of dollars in Federal stimulus funds specifically for broadband and healthcare information technology have placed telemedicine at the forefront of applications that benefit from fiber to the home networks.

"Fiber to the home provides benefits to consumers and employers that truly improve the quality of life. From our own industry research to that of our members and market followers, it is becoming increasingly evident that consumers want the benefits of improved healthcare services and access to doctors that services like MedConcierge and healthcare providers like St. Joseph can provide," states Joe Savage, president of the FTTH Council. "Telemedicine is a prime example of the type of applications that will be on display at our upcoming conference demonstrating the power of fiber".

To showcase the user experience, benefits and implementation of telemedicine services, MedConcierge and St. Joseph Medical Center will be hosting a number of activities at the upcoming 2009 FTTH Conference & Expo.  These include:

Corporate VIP Demonstration & Reception, Tuesday, September 29th.  For more information call the Corporate Health Connection at St. Joseph Medical Center at (713) 756-8600. 

MedConcierge Booth in the Fiber Zone, located on the show floor during exhibit hours. 

Phillip D. Robinson, CEO, St. Joseph Medical Center will be discussing telemedicine over FTTH networks as part of the Closing Keynote presentation Wednesday, September 30th at 2:00 pm.

For information about these events, visit the conference website at http://www.ftthconference.com.

About St. Joseph Medical Center

St. Joseph Medical Center, downtown Houston's only general acute care hospital, partners with Houston physicians to provide comprehensive health care to all.  As Houston's first hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center provides services for outpatients as well as inpatients, with a full continuum of care in surgery, cancer care, emergency care, Women's services, cardiovascular services, wound care, rehab, sports medicine, Corporate Health Connection and more. For more information on St. Joseph Medical Center, please visit http://www.sjmctx.com or call 713.757.1000.

About MedConcierge, LLC

MedConcierge is the leading provider of telemedicine solutions for community developers and operators, broadband service providers, healthcare providers, and municipalities, that deliver personal, concierge healthcare services to consumers at home, at work and while traveling. Utilizing our award-winning, patent-pending technology, MedConcierge provides unparalleled private and secure access to certified doctors, specialists and content. MedConcierge offerings range from real-time, live videoconference consultations, on demand, 24/7 with leading doctors, specialists, psychiatrists and wellness experts, to educational content, health status monitoring and dynamic electronic medical records - all accessible from the comfort, privacy and convenience of homes and facilities. For more information, visit http://www.medconcierge.com.

The HIMSS HIE Open Source Task Force is seeking volunteers!

The purpose of the FY10 Open Source task force is to develop a white paper focused on open source deployments and opportunities of this technology solution within HIE. The monthly call is the first Thursday of every month at 1:00pm (ET). Contact Holly Gaebel <hgaebel@himss.org> to join this task force.

Please check out previously completed deliverables from this task force at the following links!

Evaluating Open Source Software for Health Information Exchange <http://www.himss.org/content/files/HIE_FY08_Open_Source.pdf> was prepared by the HIE Open Source Task Force as a primer on open source deployment in health information exchange environments.

Exploring the Use of Open Source Software for Health Information Exchange <http://www.himss.org/content/files/HIEOpen%20SourceWhitePaper071709.pdf> is a follow up white paper to 2008’s Evaluating Open Source Software for Health Information Exchange that was prepared by the HIE Open Source Task Force as a primer on open source deployment in health information exchange environments. This white paper focuses on assessing how open source software is used or planned to be used by HIE organizations.

Holly Gaebel
hgaebel@himss.org
Coordinator, Healthcare Information Systems
HIMSS
Transforming Healthcare through IT
230 East Ohio Street, Suite 500
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: (312) 915-9227
Fax: (312) 915-9511