Category Archives: IMIA

IMIA/OS-NI Has a New Website

Courtesy of Peter Murray: The IMIA-NI (Nursing Informatics) Open Source WG now has a new website. It is at: http://www.osni.info/html/index.php. Read More for the complete announcement.

An update: please update webpages and bookmarks.

The IMIA-NI (Nursing Informatics) Open Source WG now has a new website.
It is at: http://www.osni.info/ (or http://www.osni.info/html/index.php for quicker direct loading).

Many thanks to Karl �yri from Norway for undertaking this activity for us.

At present it is not complete (like all the best open source projects!) and we are moving materials to the site – it is a learning curve for us all.

If you have nursing colleagues who you think might be interested in being in the OSNI WG, let me have their details. If you have content to suggest, let me know. If you have PostNuke skills and can provide us with tips etc., please contact Karl.

You can sign up as a site member and, in due course, have access to member-only information.

Please update bookmarks and websites, and let people know about the group.

Regards, Peter Murray

Chair, IMIA-NI OSNI WG

Linux Medical News Now Official Publication of IMIA OSWG

The Open Source Working Group of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA OSWG) is pleased to announce that Linux Medical News has been endorsed as an Official Online Publication of the working group. The arrangement between IMIA OSWG and Linux Medical news is to have effect immediately. The full press release is within. Not bad for a small-town newspaper 🙂 Cindy is pretty pleased.

Linux Medical News Named as an Official Online Publication of IMIA Open Source Working Group

The Open Source Working Group of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA OSWG) is pleased to announce that Linux Medical News has been endorsed as an Official Online Publication of the working group. The arrangement between IMIA OSWG and Linux Medical news is to have effect immediately.

“Linux Medical News has, in a short time, established itself as a first class website with a reputation for providing an authoritative source of news on open source, free software and GNU/Linux matters in the health and medical domains,” said Peter Murray, one of the co-chairs of the IMIA OSWG; ” We are pleased to be associated with Linux Medical News, and believe that the linkage will be of benefit to the IMIA Working Group and the wider open source community.”

Ignacio Valdes, founder and editor of Linux Medical News stated “We are honored that a group of this international stature has made this endorsement of Linux Medical News. We hope to continue to build the trust of IMIA and the medical profession as an accurate, yet interesting, news publication for Free and Open Source Software in medicine.”

Prof. Graham Wright, also co-chair of the IMIA OSWG said that “Open source is philosophically about inclusion and organic growth; there should be no surprise that we have turned to Linux Medical News to be the working groups news outlet as it is the de facto news source for the OS community. We are proud to have been accepted by Ignacio and his colleagues.”

This arrangement does not compromise the editorial independence of Ignacio and the Linux Medical News team, and all concerned look forward to a long and beneficial relationship.

Jointly released by Peter Murray, Ignacio Valdes and Graham Wright
19 December 2003.

Open Source Working Group � UK think-tank meeting, February 2004

The Open Steps meeting, to be held near Winchester, UK, on 10-11 February 2004 is the first of a series of three meetings planned for 2004 as part of the activities of the IMIA Open Source and Open Source Nursing Informatics Working Groups. The purpose of the meeting is to identify key issues, opportunities, obstacles, areas of work and research that may be needed, and other relevant aspects, around the potential for using open source software, solutions and approaches within health care, and in particular within health informatics, in the UK and Europe. Further meetings will be held, including one at medinfo2004, to explore international validation of the issues identified.

The Open Steps meeting, to be held near Winchester, UK, on 10-11 February 2004 is the first of a series of three meetings planned for 2004 as part of the activities of the IMIA Open Source and Open Source Nursing Informatics Working Groups. This will be an invitation-only meeting, aimed mainly at the UK, but with some participation from open source colleagues and Working Group members from elsewhere in Europe and the USA.

The purpose of the meeting is to identify key issues, opportunities, obstacles, areas of work and research that may be needed, and other relevant aspects, around the potential for using open source software, solutions and approaches within health care, and in particular within health informatics, in the UK and Europe.

The meeting is funded by the British Computer Society Health Informatics Committee (BCS HIC), and is supported by the IMIA Open Source Working Group, the IMIA-NI Open Source Nursing Informatics Working Group and OSHCA (the Open Source Health Care Alliance).

The Marwell meeting will be followed by a larger meeting to be held at HC2004 in Harrogate in March, which will allow for a wider audience of clinicians, managers, informaticians and other interested parties to attend and explore and expand on the issues raised from the Marwell meeting. A further meeting, to seek international exploration of the issues raised in the first two meetings, will be held at medinfo2004 in San Francisco in September, as part of the IMIA Open Source and Open Source Nursing Informatics Working Groups� meeting. In addition, reports from all of these meetings will be made available through the chirad.info website, and we will encourage further contributions from those unable to attend the Open Steps meetings.

For further information as it becomes available see www.chirad.info/opensteps/marwell01.htm
or email opensteps@chirad.info

Dr Peter Murray
Co-chair, IMIA Open Source Working Group
Chair, IMIA-NI Open Source Nursing Informatics Working Group

IMIA Open Source Working Group Formed

IMIA has formed an open source working group, particulars of which can be found here. ‘The IMIA Open Source Health Informatics Working Group (OSWG) will bring together experts and interested individuals from a wide range of health professions and with a range of interests in the potential application of open source solutions within their domains of expertise. The OSWG will explore the implications of the open source approach for all aspects of IMIA’s areas of interest. It will work with other Working and Special Interest Groups to explore the appropriate use of open source solutions and applications…’ We are reporting this a little late since it occurred October 4th, but this announcement is significant enough to put out anyway.