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Open Source GIS Challenges Proprietary Vendors: Interview with Paul Ramsey of Boundless
In the world of geospatial technology, closed source solutions have been the norm for decades. But the tides are slowly turning as open source GIS software is gaining increasing prominence. Paul Ramsey, senior strategist at the open source company Boundless, is one of the people trying to change that.
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Ken Banks and FrontlineSMS: How 'Reluctant Innovators' Offer Hope to the World
Ken Banks might, in some respects, be described as a reluctant innovator. In 2005, he created FrontlineSMS, a simple piece of software that enables a cheap laptop to use a mobile phone to send, receive and collate group text messages, effectively creating a communication network. It’s an idea that has helped many NGOs connect with isolated populations.
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Canceling Elsevier Subscriptions Would Pay for Transition to Open Access
A central question for many people involved in Open Access is whether it can, or will save money. Most analyses suggest that a fully OA environment is cheaper (or at worst similar in cost) for institutions...But for research intensive institutions in particular taking the lead by investing in a transition to Open Access while also covering the costs of existing subscriptions could be expensive. At the same time real concerns are emerging about some traditional publishers successfully driving costs higher. How can countries and institutions invest in creating an Open Access environment that serves their needs and brings costs down without spending too much on the transition?
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Workshop Lays Out Strategy for Common VistA Code Base
Who Says a Common VistA Code Base is Unattainable? Certainly not the Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA), nor 27 principal developers of VistA who participated in the first OSEHRA Code Alignment Workshop held in Oakland, California, last week. An unprecedented effort, the workshop brought together government and private organizations dedicated to open source solutions for the challenges facing healthcare. Its primary objective was to facilitate rapid innovation for the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), the electronic health record (EHR) software used by Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities as well as hundreds of medical centers in the U.S. and abroad, totaling approximately 2,500 facilities worldwide. Read More »
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French, German, Dutch and Italian Hackathons Fuel UK ODF Plugfest
Hackathons in Toulouse (France), Munich (Germany), Woerden (the Netherlands) and Bologna (Italy) involving software developers and public administrations, are providing input for the ODF Plugfest that will take place in London on December 8th and 9th. The first four meetings involve developers working on the Open Document Format ODF and the LibreOffice suite of office productivity tools.
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5 Open Source Projects That Are Improving the World
One of the strengths of the open source community has been its ability to bring concentrated effort to bear on big problems. When tragedy strikes, or a pressing need arises, there are groups of people who gather together to attempt to solve the problems as a community. You may not have heard of these five open source projects, but they are attacking some of the world's biggest problems and making a true impact in people's lives... Read More »
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Halamka's Notes on the November HIT Standards Committee Meeting
The November HIT Standards Committee focused on “asynchronous bilateral cutover” - the compatibility of different CCDA payloads, healthcare IT that supports long term services and support, an update on the Standards & Interoperability projects, a discussion of data provenance efforts, and the HITSC workgroup organization. Read More »
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Thoughts on Microsoft Open Sourcing the .NET Platform
Last Wednesday Microsoft announced they are transitioning the server side of their .NET platform to open source. As stated on their website: "Microsoft is providing the full .NET server stack in open source, including ASP.NET, the .NET compiler, the .NET Core Runtime, Framework and Libraries, enabling developers to build with .NET across Windows, Mac or Linux." Read More »
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Can India Break the Pattern and Do Open Source Right?
The government of India has recently announced a big push into open source as a part of its Digital Initiative. For a country of more than a billion people and thousands of government organizations, I see this as a long overdue move that will hopefully boost the faltering free and open source software communities in India... Read More »
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German eHealth Working Group Reasserts Focus on Interoperability
Interoperability of eHealth solutions is getting renewed attention from Germany’s health care organizations. Trouble exchanging information between medical systems is hindering eHealth reaching its full potential, says the Federal Ministry of Health. The ministry made interoperability a key topic at the eHealth working group meeting, part of an IT Summit in Hamburg in October. Read More »
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