4-23-10 Community E-Newsletter/Call

In today's Community Call, we'll have the opportunity to comment on some relevant articles related to the OurMed cause as well as review progress on our Phase 2 development and request input from the community.

This is an open invitation to get more involved with the world's first ever, unbiased, free license and dynamic medical/health knowledge base.

Time: Friday (Today!) 2 - 2:45pm EST Passcode: 634011# If you would like to opt out of these emails, please let me know. Thank you for your continued interest in the OurMed initiative--we couldn't make this happen without your participation and are grateful for you pitching in! Greg Miller, Executive Director at OurMed.Org

(212) 740-1850 Watch our OurMed YouTube Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqgYfFxEkLk

Officially a Founding Framer - Congratulations Vincent!
Today we'd like to pay tribute to a special contributor to the OurMed project. W're certain if he'll be on the call today, but our records show that Vincent Navarro has been awarded status as the second OurMed "Founding Framer". A certificate is being especially designed to acknowledge is incredible merit and dedication to the OurMed Phase 2 project.

Being a parent to a teenager as well as working at a Cancer Research lab at Cornel Weil would make it difficult for anyone to devote much time to a project like OurMed. Vincent, however has managed to to squeeze out time to attend our community calls for more than a year now. Additionally, since August of 2009, he worked diligently to vet the best proposals for the OurMed Phase 2 RFP which led OurMed to select our current web development company, Blueliner.

Since September of 2009, Vincent started initial work to build the tech committee that now meets every week. We are indebted to Vincent'work as a volunteer and are grateful for his work to make Phase 2 be a blockbuster, one-stop healthcare website used around the world.

Now, all we have to do, is figure out how to add him to our snazzy new page: Founding Framersthat currently is accessible from the left sidebar. Perhaps Dr. Stephen Press, if on the call can show us how to do that.

OurMed thanks Richard Knipel for his five-part plan to enhance Ourmed's content by developing positive symbiotic relationships with existing open content communities.

OurMed's Technology Update
OurMed's web design team lead by Vincent Navarro has been holding several in person meetings to infuse the OurMed community's input into a world class website, complete with a new look and expanded features--Not an easy task!

In today's community call, we'd like you to give your feedback several critical issues related to the site development.

Specifically:

1) We'd like to change the drop-down title for the Wiki Articles FROM "Collaborative Resources" to something more accurate and descriptive. Blueliner's project manager, Arbab, suggests keeping it simple and Greg agrees. On Medpedia.com, they are simply referred to as "Articles".

2) News section - We need to determine whether this will be from RSS feeds or contributed from the OurMed Community similiar to how Wikipedia does their news. We could also do a hybrid of RSS and community news articles. The next question is what sites we should receive the feeds from. Also the news section should be seperated from the events section. Sounds like homework for the OurMed community!

3) The Search Algorhythm is something that is a highly technical part of our -site. Using geo-targeting strategies we will need to determine how we search for sites considering ip addresses, an author of an article's location, or the searcher's location. Blueliner's Arbab will suggest an algorhythm.

4) New Facebook technology to effect OurMed! Arbab wanted to draw your attention to latest features that are being launched by Facebook. Arbab believes Facebook made the announcement yesterday. Have a look at the presentation: http://apps.facebook.com/feightlive/

The new features will really re-shape how users interact with other site and how they share information. It will also encourage sites to incorporate Facebook's new APIs to draw more traffic.

5) Using an image on our homepage to communicate "collaboration". This very important aspect of the OurMed branding will be in the Featured Spotlight section of our homepage design.

http://ayanthianandagoda.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/collaboration.jpg

Building content – What to write about?
Changes or additions can be made easily with our WYSYWIG editor (what you see is what you get), making it much easier than Wikipedia and cutting the volume ramp up rate to the new site significantly faster.

At times posting new material may be difficult to give attributions for so it may be easier to publish previously published work Alternatively, you can choose content from one of the many free content ("copy left") sites such as much of the content on:

1. Medpedia.com

2. NIH's PubMedCentral.gov from the National Library of Medicine

3. Wikipedia.org

4. GanFyd.org (original medical wiki site that claims Medpedia copied them and boasts 2000 site visitors per day)

5. PubMed.org

6. Medline

7. Open.Michigan from the University of Michigan

8. WikiChiro.Org

8. Others?

Posting on OurMed.Org
In addition to the Symbiosis Project, OurMed offers writers of original work to publish a vast range of medical topics. Under the three pillar approach of 1) Being Referenced 2) Being Bold and 3) Being Polite, OurMed strives to be a forum through which multiple health and medical issues are presented and debated.

To write, you must have a free OurMed account. You can write about nearly anything, just keep your comments about new ideas,health and medicine.--It's really important that OurMed gets off the ground using a communities collaborative approach to building it, just as Wikipedia did nine years ago.

We are furthering our editorial policies to include a Style Guide. Feel free to suggest ideas to make this a global "go-to" resource for all healthcare needs fit for any patient or healthcare professional.

Please click on this link to make a small post about whatever's on your mind. You can suggest articles, design or features that you'd like to see on the site. http://ourmed.org/index.php/New_Ideas_for_Site

Most Active Authors in past month have been:

 Most Active Authors 

* Savealife  * D Joiner   * Gmiller   * Vnavarro   * Arbab   * T1   * PooraviGT   * Drsjpdc   * Elisep   * PatrickMullen

OurMed's MedTool Project
As we develop OurMed's Phase 2 site, we want to announce a competition to inspire our content contributors to come up with the most useful healthcare diagnostic tools from around the world.

Submissions will eventually be open-sourced and written in Joomla so that it will "plug-in" to our new site as well as be available to all around the world in a copy-left offering. To contribute, a contestant need not be tech savy but only be familiar with common health and medical needs. Will it be a simple Body-Mass calculator, Symptom Disease matcher, Diabetic Insulin calculator--the list may go on and one but we want the most popular, best and easiest to use!

A Report that gives good Benchmarks:
People With Chronic Diseases Use Internet for Socialization, Info

People with chronic diseases are less likely than others to have Internet access; however, those who are online are more likely to blog or engage in online discussions about health problems, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the California HealthCare Foundation, the New York Times reports (Miller, New York Times, 3/24). CHCF is the publisher of iHealthBeat.

The report found that 62% of adults who have one or more chronic conditions go online, compared with 81% of adults reporting no chronic diseases.

The report also found that adults with chronic diseases prefer to get health information from offline sources such as health professionals, friends and books.

At the same time, qualitative data shows that people with chronic diseases who use online resources feel they benefit from sharing information with others who have the same conditions (CHCF release, 3/24).

According to the report, people with chronic diseases use large patient networking sites such as Alliance Health Networks, HealthCentral, Inspire and PatientsLikeMe, as well as smaller sites such as Ning and Wetpaint.

Paul Albert, digital services librarian at Weill Cornell Medical Library in New York, said that some people worry that patients could exchange incorrect medical information while on such sites. However, the report found that only 2% of adults with chronic diseases said they were harmed by following medical advice found on the Internet (New York Times, 3/24).

Data.Medicare.gov
Over the past few months, OurMed has talked about what kind of data to import from free licenced or government sites. For the US, Data.Medicare.Gov might be a possibility to look into data.medicare.gov

Data.Medicare.Gov has been created to allow users to access data in an interactive format. Within each dataset, a user can sort and filter with multiple criteria and share the information using various web sources. Primarily used by health policy researchers and the media, this site is not intended to be used as a search tool.

This site should not be used as a means of obtaining an official Medicare Number, and is not intended for the exchange of Personal Health Information (PHI) such as your Medicare Number.

Data.Medicare.Gov:

* Hospital Compare * Dialysis Facilities * Home Health Agencies * Helpful Contacts * Nursing Home * Medical Equipment Suppliers

Pioneer Bios
Just like the Wikimedia Foundation that created Wikipedia, OurMed will mostly be driven by volunteers. In addition to the occasional business or technology consultant, the profile for OurMed’s volunteer community will be talented professionals that want to make bring forward the OurMed mission to the end-goal of having a global impact.

To incentivize our founders, we have created the Founding Framer Program. To date, the following folks are eligible and working toward a goal to volunteer more than 100 Communty hours:

Vincente Navarro (OurMed Tech Committee Chair)
212 444 2633 vnavarro@pipeline.com

Research Specialist @ Weill Medical College

Online Database Manager @ Scientists Without Borders

I have done basic science research for over 15 years in the area of prostate cancer. During this time I have had the privilege of working on the development of monoclonal antibodies targeting prostate cancer from concept through clinical trials. This has afforded me a keen insight into development process of therapeutic drugs. In addition, a strong interest in computers has seen me pursue a graduate degree in computer science in addition to my undergraduate in Chemistry. As a result I have designed and developed a clinical trials management system in my laboratory. I am currently the Online Database Manager for Scientists Without Borders. There, I am responsible for the administration of the database and development of the web portal.

Eileen McGinn, MPH (OurMed Content Committee)
MPH/Certificate in Aging, qedeileen@aol.com

Worked in international health and development for 25 years, including several years living in Africa and Asia. Currently PT Research Manager for Nathan Kline Institute, working on the interrelation of poverty and mental health and health equity for persons with disabilities. PT tutor for immigrant high school students at Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day High School. Volunteer work for many different agencies, including health, disability, immigrant, women's, peace, international. Have written for various websites on health issues. Especially interested in translating technical work into comprehensible language, community-based participatory research and the Capabilities Framework for development and justice.

Geoff Hayden, MD (OurMed Content Committee)
Geoffhayden@gmail.com 615.479.6499 (Cell)

I am a practicing Emergency Physician, splitting time between NYC and South Carolina. I have been in academic practice since 2005 (Residency at Vanderbilt University, Fellowship at University of Pennsylvania), with an emphasis on resident education and emergency ultrasound. My interest in OurMed.org stems from a dissatisfaction regarding the abysmal state of preventive care and a general lack of health care coverage in the U.S. I see OurMed.org as an essential resource to connect patients to health information and health providers.

I imagine my role with OurMed.org in terms of producing content, recruiting other physicians for ongoing contribution, and assisting Greg with the development of a user-friendly, comprehensive clearinghouse of useful health care information.

Geoffrey E. Hayden, MD, FAAEM, FACEP

Adjunct Clinical Professor Vanderbilt University Medical Center Department of Emergency Medicine Nashville, TN Piedmont Medical Center Emergency Department Attending

222 South Herlong Ave Rock Hill, SC 29732

Vanessa Moore (OurMed Recruitment Committee Chair)
MVanellen@ourmed.org 914-665-4534 (home) 914-751-9758 (cell)

Vanessa Moore is a native New Yorker who brings 7 years recruiting experience to the Ourmed recruitment effort. She would like to leverage her experience recruiting volunteers to Ourmed, a forward thinking and progressive approach to disseminating unbiased healthcare information to the public. She has worked in both corporate and nonprofit settings including a consulting engagement for the Department of Education and most recently at the Westchester Independent Living Center, an advocacy group for people with disabilities. She studied Social Sciences at the Lincoln Center campus of Fordham University.

Stephen Press, DC, PhD (OurMed Content Committee Chair)
A practicing Chiropractic physician (33 years). Was chief physician for the "Unified Team" (former USSR) at the XVIth Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France in 1992. Founded the World Governing body for sports Chiropractic known as "FICS", for Fédération Internationale de Chiropratique du Sport, now headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland at the Maison Internationale du Sports, and administered in Toronto, at the World Federation of Chropractic offices. I served on the Medical commission of two IOC recognized World Sports Governing bodies; 1st as Chairman for the Fed. Int'l de Roller Sports, and then as Vice-Chairman for FIDE (Chess). Founded the website IAOCO.org, and co-founded WikiChiro.org. Today, I serve as advisor for the International Sports Chiropractic Association, which is the liaison body interacting with the World Olympian's Association. I speak, English, French, Russian and Spanish, play the cello and clarinet, compete in pool, and follow biblical archeology and do artist blacksmithing, making swords and medieval armor as hobbies.

John Volpe (OurMed Tech Committee Content Liaison)
johnvolpe1@yahoo.com 516-221-4692

My background is primarily in accounting, finance and business operations, primarily in the financial services industry. While I'm not a technical professional, I have participated in and managed numerous technical and business projects, primarily involving financial systems. I also worked as a management consultant for a Virginia based company that I did consulting work for the federal and state governments. I am currently retired. In addition to playing tennis and engaging in other physical activities, I volunteer my time and an Account Director with an NYC based organization that provides service grants in the form of a volunteer project team that manages strategy, financial, marketing and development projects for non-profits. My interest in this project is really from the perspective of someone who is a consumer of medical information and is interested in the efficient delivery of medical information to the public.

Richard Knipel, OurMed Content Committee
I have been a volunteer for Wikipedia and other free culture efforts for several years, with a special focus on outreach initiatives to New York area cultural institutions, such as Wikipedia classes at the New York Public Library, museum photography with Wikipedia Loves Art, and urban photography with the TOPP nonprofit with Wikis Take Manhattan. I have served as President of the nonprofit Wikimedia New York City since September 2008. I hope to bring these experiences in helping to build Ourmed into an innovative and rich online healthcare community along the wiki model.

Elise Passikoff, OurMed Tech Committee
Elise Passikoff, OurMed Tech Committee From a background in print and educational publishing, I entered the online world as an editor and technical writer at a start-up software company. There I learned the tools of the trade and gained valuable experience in writing, editing and posting online content. In 2000, I moved to the New York Academy of Sciences [www.nyas.org], where, first as online producer and then as web senior project manager I led the development, implementation, and maintenance of complex online projects, including the ground-breaking website Scientists Without Borders scientistswithoutborders.org].

Diane Joiner, OurMed Content Committee
Diane, need your bio and committee form!

Greg Miller, OurMed Executive Director
at OurMed greg.miller@ourmed.org 212-740-1850

Have 17 years of Corporate Finance and Marketing experience for Fortune 500 companies including nine years abroad (Germany, England and Japan). I've been here in New York since 1996, always passionate about developing new brands, ideas and products. Did Marketing Analysis for ANA, a Japanese Airline, Finance for Cablevision's HD Satellite business and Revlon. Since 2005, I've been inspired by non-profits, created New York's Dance Parade and have worked on OurMed since the Fall of 2008. I'm inspired by the transparent, non-profit approach to the democratization of healthcare. OurMed has a small office at Columbia Medical Center's Audubon Business and Technology Building--Come by and visit us!

3960 Broadway (Entrance on 166th Street) Suite 301 o (212) 740-1850 c (917) 627-7155 greg.miller@ourmed.org

Watch the OurMed Presentation: http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0Ad4ohgeyfGzCZGRoNnFuNW1fMzljMmh2OW5jdw&amp;hl=en

Florence Devouard
OurMed Board Member fdevouard@anthere.org

Florence Devouard served as one of the elected representatives to the Wikimedia Foundation Board starting June 2004, and was the Chair of the WMF Board from October 21, 2006 until July 16th, 2008. Florence was born in Versailles (France). She grew up in Grenoble, and has been living since then in several French cities, as well as Antwerpen in Belgium and Tempe in Arizona. She holds two masters, one in Agricultural Sciences (a 5-year degree in agronomical engineering (Diplome d'Ingénieur Grande Ecole) from ENSAIA and the other a postgraduate degree (DEA) in Genetics and Biotechnologies from INPL.She has been working in public research, first in flower plant genetic improvement, and second in microbiology to study the feasability of polluted soil bioremediation. She was employed until 2005 in a French company, to conceive decision-making tools in sustainable agriculture. She is now a consultant in Internet Communication Strategy. She joined the Wikipedia adventure in February 2002 and is known as a contributor under the pseudonym Anthere. Florence is 39, and lives in Clermont Ferrand with her husband Bertrand and her three children, Anne-Gaëlle aged nine, William eleven and Thomas two. On May 16 2008, Florence was made a knight in the French National Order of Merit, proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as "chair of an international foundation"

Alex Fotopoulos
OurMed Board Secretary alex@broadwaylawoffices.com

Alex Fotopoulos has served on the board since October 2008. He attended Rutgers College in New Brunswick, NJ and then received his Juris Doctor degree from Southwestern University in Los Angeles, California in 1990. He has experience as a litigation attorney and as an entrepreneur. He has held held positions as an attorney and as part of the management team of such high technology companies including AT&amp;T Wireless, T-mobile, Nextel, Metricom, GTE Internetworking as well as small local start-up ventures. He is a licensed Attorney in New York, New Jersey and California.

Stan Kachnowski
OurMed Board Chair swk16@hitlab.org

Stan Kachnowski is one of America’s distinguished scholars in health-care information policy and management having taught e-health and health-care e-business for nearly 20 years. He has authored over 100 scholarly papers and presentations for the world’s leading journals and societies in health-care technology management, informatics and e-governance. In 2003 he was elected as a Fellow in the Royal Society of Medicine in the United Kingdom for his research with the National Health Service in using handhelds to track patient data. In 1996 he was elected to the US-based College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. Stan is currently a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India.

Oleta McHenry
OurMed Board Treasurer Newsgirl_fl@hotmail.com

Oleta McHenry was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in Ohio. After graduating high school, she briefly attended Wright State University in Dayton, studying Political Science. She transferred to St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, FL and received her A.A. degree in Liberal Arts. Oleta earned her B.S. in Accounting from Florida Metropolitan University in Clearwater, FL in 2006.

Oleta worked for the Pulitzer prize winning newspaper, St. Petersburg Times as a circulation manager. After receiving her degree in accounting, she worked briefly in the insurance industry before joining the Wikimedia Foundation as the fulltime accountant of record. While at the Wikimedia Foundation, Oleta helped put in place accounting practices that would help the company in growth and development. She did not follow Wikimedia to San Francisco and now works for a large medical supply company managing the General Ledger for several regions within the United States. Oleta resides in St. Petersburg, FL and works as an accountant.