(February 24th, 2009)
Posted by Deborah Bryant in Open Source Health IT, Projects, State Government.
I have not been tracking Oregon’s Health Record Bank (HRB) project closely the last several months after it slowed progress, but current documents are now available for this project. Oregon’s Department of Human Services Office of Medical Assistance Program (DHS OMAP) was granted $5.5mm as transformational technology in 2007. Open source technology and Oregon’s local resources and domain expertise where named in the original grant proposal. I think this is an important project because it distinguishes itself from most other HRB projects in that the information is patient centric. Under the proposed approach, the patient, not the provider, is the owner of their own medical information. Score one for individual information rights, with a difference that can truely mean life and death.
The project was scheduled to let a Request for Proposal (RFP) this month, February 2009. Oregon’s DSH has a big challenge on their hands as they must consider the simultanious replacement of their thirty year old (yes – 30) Medical Management Information System (MMIS) at the same time, presenting both an opportunity and a challenge. More information is available at the official project web site.
You and also click on the architecture slide below to download the current project overview.
Download current project overview
(February 24th, 2009)
Posted by Deborah Bryant in Communities, Events, National Government, Technology.
I’m lucky! and get to attend TransparancyCamp in Washington D.C. this weekend, February 28 – March 1. Styled after BarCamp, this event filled up in no time. Take a look at who will be there (independant developers, NGOs and government folks too) and you’ll quickly see why I’m excited about participating.
This un-conference is about convening a trans-partisan tribe of open government advocates from all walks — government representatives, technologists, developers, NGOs, wonks & activists — to share knowledge on how to use new technologies to make our government transparent and meaningfully accessible to the public.
Here’s their focus:
1) Technology development for enhancing government transparency
2) Community building for the transparency in government tribe
3) Talks, workshops and coding sessions to better equip technologists with the skills needed to deliver an Open Government.
I’ll be one of the less technical folks there, but hope to contribute to #2 above, and share what I know from my walk in government shoes.
Although the event filled up some time ago, I encourage you to sign up for their list for the next one (more than likely) or consider a small sponsorship. The event wiki can be found at https://barcamp.pbwiki.com/TransparencyCamp.
No comments »
(February 17th, 2009)
Posted by Deborah Bryant in Communities, Events, Local Government, National Government, Projects, Standards, Technology.
IPA Japan Representatives
I just returned from Matsue, Japan, also known famously as “Ruby City” after the programming language whose inventor lives there.
During my stay there I provided the keynote for a Shimane University-sponsored seminar on Open Source Software, Industry and Academic collaboration. It was an honor to represent some of the institutions and groups in Oregon, the successes and challenges we’ve faced in using, promoting, developing and supporting a full open eco-system in our somewhat unique state. Key to my message and encouragement to participants from all sectors of their region was this; if you want to demonstrate the value of open source to non-technical constituencies, identify and collaborate on a project with clear public benefit.
One of the panelists was Mr. Hatta from Japan’s Information-Technology Promotion Agency’s (IPA). He told me later he changed his presentation as I spoke, struck by the proposition of public benefit projects. I’ll ask for his presentation and share it here soon.
His wrap-up recommendation: create a public benefit project and the suggestion that project might be an Open Source Election system, apparently an idea with universal appeal/compelling need.
I’ll come back soon to sharing more about my travels to Matsue City, their impressive open source software initiative, the investment their government has made, and the outstanding collaboration between the university, industry and public sectors.
I’d also be remiss in my public benefit duties if I did not provide a final plug for the February 18th Open Source Digital Voting Foundation’s (OSDV.org) “TrustTheVote” intro in Portland, Oregon (see prior post for agenda). I’m looking forward to introducing them to my colleagues in Japan soon, and looking forward to hearing from Gregory Miller and John Sebes, the co-founders, even sooner.
TrustTheVote! intro in Portland, Oregon
Feb 18, 2009, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
CubeSpace, 622 SE Grand Ave, Portland
No comments »
(February 2nd, 2009)
Posted by Deborah Bryant in Communities, Events, Projects, Standards, State Government, Technology.
I’ve recently been asked to join as an adviser to the Open Source Digital Voting Foundation. In my view, this is one of the most important open source projects around for the US system of democracy. I was deeply impressed by their open standards specification, public trust approach and the work they’ve done thus far – with little public fan fare – to establish the non-partisan initiative which has become known as “TrustTheVote!”.
Recognizing a large, active OSS community exists in Oregon, the OSDV is coming to Portland on February 18th to introduce their project. Although the meeting content is designed for a technical audience, the project overview and progress-to-date would be of interest to many.
Here’s a description of the event. You can also view details including a map to the event at Portland’s CubeSpace on Yahoo or Calagator. If you’re in the area, hope to see you there!
TrustTheVote! intro in Portland, Oregon, Feb 18, 2009
Discover this imperative “public digital works project” of the Open Source Digital Voting Foundation. The OSDV Foundation is a Silicon Valley based public benefits corporation whose mission is to work to restore trust in how America votes through the design, development, and demonstration of open source digital voting technology.
Join us to learn details about the “TrustTheVote Project,” a well funded non-profit effort which has been under the radar for 2 years. The OSDV Foundation is now raising public awareness, and expanding efforts including a planned development center in Portland, Oregon.
Our guests are two executives of the Foundation including its Chief Technology Officer. Their presentation will:
- Introduce the project, its motivation, founding, and development efforts to date;
- Walk through the TrustTheVote technology road map and review major projects underway;
- Discuss development philosophies and approaches including experience-driven design and test-driven agile development;
- Review opportunities for systems architects, software developers, SDQA/test specialists, and user experience designers;
- Cover plans to expand the volunteer developer teams, future opportunities for senior members of technical staff, and opportunities for you to get involved.
Presenters:
Gregory Miller, Chief Development Officer
E. John Sebes, Chief Technology Officer
event on: Yahoo or Calagator
No comments »