PR: GOSCON 2008 Showcases Open Public Health IT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Deborah Bryant

GOSCON Director deborah@osuosl.org 971-533-8050

GOSCON 2008 Showcases Open Public Health IT
Groundbreaking event highlights real-world business cases and applications
for open source in government

Portland, Ore. � September 18, 2008 � Deborah Bryant, GOSCON Director,
announced today that the Government Open Source Conference (GOSCON) 2008
conference will feature an Open Public Health IT track to explore both a
strategic direction for open source software in the public health sector as
well as real-world applications that are in use today by agencies around the
world.

For the first time, GOSCON is bringing together thought leaders in government, industry, and public health who will share their deep, practical
experience in public health, enterprise architectures, standards, as well as
open source tools and methodologies as they are applied to this domain.
According to Bryant, “Exciting developments are taking place in public health IT world-wide. The growing use of open source in public health IT
projects and application development is one of the most important trends we’ve seen in the last five years. With increased economic pressures and an aging population, governments and vendors are collaborating in new ways.
This is transformational technology and a fresh approach to public-private
partnerships that serve the pubic well.”

The GOSCON Open Public Health IT track features an executive panel that will
discuss the potential implications of current initiatives around the
Medicaid Information Technology Architecture (MITA) as well as frameworks
for interoperability, funding models, data sharing, and privacy. Rick Howard
(CIO, Oregon Department of Human Services), Bernard Golden (CEO, Navica),
and Kathleen Connor (Principal Program Manager, Health Solutions Group,
Microsoft Corp.) will participate.

An award-winning application developed by the Health Service Executive in
Ireland (HSE) to support health service planning, epidemiology, and
environmental incident management will be presented, as will TriSano(R) an
open source citizen-focused disease surveillance application developed as a
collaborative project with Collaborative Software Initiative and the State
of Utah. In addition, lessons learned in transitioning from proprietary
software to OpenELIS, an open enterprise laboratory information system, will
be presented.

We’re excited about the promise that macro trends like open source offer to
Oregon’s health and human services delivery systems,’ says Rick Howard, CIO
for the Oregon Department of Human Services. “We’re currently looking for
the best approach to the challenges of customizing and supporting open
source. GOSCON helps us find solutions by bringing public health agency
executives together to learn about important projects and build
relationships that can lead to productive collaborations.”

Stuart Cohen, CEO of Collaborative Software Initiative (CSI), adds: “Over
the past four years, GOSCON has proven itself to be the platform where
important projects are born. This year’s conference highlights the advances
we�ve made in building new collaborative models that create user-centric
solutions at a fraction of the cost, nurturing innovative solutions to
complex issues.”

Event Details
Government Open Source Conference (GOSCON 2008)
Transforming the delivery of government services

Dates:

October 20, 2008 � International Open ICT Summit

October 21-22 � GOSCON 2008

October 23 � �Tour de Lab� at Oregon State
University Open Source Lab

Location:

Crowne Plaza Hotel, Portland Downtown-Convention Center
Portland, Oregon USA

Price and registration:

International Open ICT Summit: US$125 early registration for employees in
the Government or public sector; US$225 for private sector attendees

GOSCON 2-day conference: $225 early registration for employees in the
Government or public sector; US$325 for private sector attendees. Includes 3
tracks: Management, Implementation, Open Public Health IT

Tour de Lab: US$125 all participants

Participants can register for each event individually, or register for all
three and receive a discount. Early registration ends September 26, 2008.

For more information and to register, please visit www.goscon.org.

About the Government Open Source Conference (GOSCON)

Now in its fourth year, GOSCON stands unrivaled as an open source software
conference targeted specifically to agency CIOs and management-level
personnel, their planning, policy and procurement staff. This year the
conference is extending its reach to meet growing interest among the
international community by conducting the first annual International Open
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Summit on October 20th.
GOSCON provides a unique educational forum for government IT executives to
understand both the business case and practical applications for open source
software solutions in transforming the delivery of government services.
Government agencies and their development partners will discuss lessons
learned in the creation and integration of open source solutions into
real-world environments. A demonstration hall will provide attendees with
an opportunity to view projects and available products and services. The
conference will close with a tour of the Oregon State University Open Source
Lab.
About the Oregon State University Open Source Lab (OSL)
The Oregon State University Open Source Lab (OSL) creates a unique
atmosphere of innovation for students, faculty, and staff by providing an
open, diverse environment for development and collaboration. As part of its
mission, the OSL offers a professional hosting environment to the open
source community, as well as software development services to industry.
With its world-class infrastructure, the OSL hosts and supports some of the
world�s largest open source projects such as the Linux Kernel, Plone,
Drupal, Gentoo, Debian, Apache, The FOSSology Project, and OpenOffice. Its
outreach and educational programs include GOSCON, the Government Open Source
Conference.
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