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Education Management with Moodle: The Beginning, Middle, and Today

Moodle is the de facto standard in open source learning management systems. It is described as "a learning platform designed to provide educators, administrators and learners with a single robust, secure and integrated system to create personalised learning environments." Plus, Moodle is free software, licensed under the GPL. Martin Dougiamas, Moodle's founder and lead developer, generously took time from his busy schedule to have a good, long talk with me about why he created it, where it is today, and what's next in open education. First let me give you a little background. I was introduced to Moodle in 2005 while visiting a public school district in Portland, Oregon, which was using Moodle as part of their instructional delivery...

Electronic Health Records Increase Doctors’ Bureaucratic Burden

Press Release | Physicians for a National Health Program | October 23, 2014

The average U.S. doctor spends 16.6 percent of his or her working hours on non-patient-related paperwork, time that might otherwise be spent caring for patients. And the more time doctors spend on such bureaucratic tasks, the unhappier they are about having chosen medicine as a career.

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Eli Lilly Officially Sues Canada For 'Lost Profits' Because Canada Rejected Eli Lilly's Patents

Mike Masnick | Techdirt | September 13, 2013

A few years ago, we noted that Eli Lilly was facing some hard times, in large part because it had focused its entire business model around getting patents, and many of those patents were expiring, and very few new ones were in the pipeline. Even so, it was still rather surprising earlier this year to see Eli Lilly claim that Canada owed it $100 million for undermining the company's "expected future profits" by rejecting an Eli Lilly patent. Read More »

Fighting Ebola with Open Source Collaboration

The enormity and severity of the West African Ebola epidemic that began in 2014 is hard to fathom. Over 10,000 people died with hundreds of thousands deeply affected by loss. In treating any medical condition, information is needed to provide adequate care, but when it’s an epidemic so severe, so dangerous and so fast-moving, it’s required more than ever. Ebola creates enormous barriers for patient care. It’s communicability means those who directly treat patients within the “Red Zone” must take extreme precautions. The lack of knowledge about who is infected and what constitutes effective treatment — not to mention the swift and severe toll it takes on the human body — makes caring for those affected extremely difficult...

First Nations’ Ancient Medicinal Clay Shows Promise Against Today’s Worst Bacterial Infections

Press Release | University of British Columbia | January 26, 2016

Naturally occurring clay from Kisameet Bay, B.C. — long used by the Heiltsuk First Nation for its healing potential — exhibits potent antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens, according to new research from the University of British Columbia. The researchers recommend the rare mineral clay be studied as a clinical treatment for serious infections caused by ESKAPE strains of bacteria...

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FirstNet for Emergency Communications: 6 Questions Answered

The system nicknamed FirstNet was created by Congress in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. Under the contract with the government, the group led by AT&T will build, operate and maintain a new nationwide communications network, providing high-speed wireless communications for public safety agencies and personnel. The network will be protected against unauthorized intrusion and strong enough to withstand disasters that might damage other communications systems. Emergency workers will be able to preempt other users’ traffic on the network, and will be able to send and receive as much data as they need to during their emergency work...

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Forget Obamacare: Vermont Wants To Bring Single Payer To America

Sarah Kliff | Vox | April 9, 2014

"If Vermont gets single-payer health care right, which I believe we will, other states will follow," Vermont Gov. Shumlin predicted in a recent interview. "If we screw it up, it will set back this effort for a long time.

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France Becomes 64th Country To Join The Open Government Partnership

Press Release | Open Government Partnership | April 24, 2014

At the Paris Conference on Open Data and Open Government, Minister Marylise Lebranchu today announced that France is to join the Open Government Partnership (OGP).  France becomes the 64th country to join OGP, which now represents over 2 billion people around the world. 

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Health IT For Consumers Could Transform Health Care

Doug Firby | Troy Media | October 25, 2012

Some of the great innovators in retailing in the past decade emerged as giants because they recognized that consumers prefer the convenience of electronic delivery. Read More »

How The U.S. Power Grid Is Like A Big Pile Of Sand

Marina Koren | Nextgov.com | April 9, 2014

Last month, The Wall Street Journal gave us quite a scare.  "The U.S. could suffer a coast-to-coast blackout if saboteurs knocked out just nine of the country's 55,000 electric-transmission substations on a scorching summer day," Rebecca Smith wrote.

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IBM & Ponemon Institute Study: Data Breach Costs Rising, Now $4 million per Incident

Press Release | IBM Security, Ponemon Institute | June 15, 2016

IBM Security today announced the results of a global study analyzing the financial impact of data breaches to a company's bottom line. Sponsored by IBM and conducted by the Ponemon Institute, the study found that the average cost of a data breach for companies surveyed has grown to $4 million, representing a 29 percent increase since 2013...

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In Guatemala, Shifts in Health Care Strand Communities

Colleen Kimmett | Aljazeera America | February 25, 2016

...Downloaded on the phone was an open-source app, Kawok, that allowed the community health workers to create patient profiles and access educational videos and best-practice protocols. They had direct lines to a doctor who worked for TulaSalud, whom they could call any time of day or night in an emergency, and the numbers of auxiliary nurses at nearby health centers. The idea was to create a network of professionals, resources and emergency services that community health workers could reach at the touch of a button. “Anytime I could call and ask for help, and they gave it to me,” says Pop Pop. “It was a really useful tool.”...

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IT Consumerization: A Case Study of BYOD in a Healthcare Setting

This article focuses on the implementation of BYOD in a healthcare setting. First, the challenges of implementing BYOD in the healthcare industry are examined. Next, a case study of The Ottawa Hospital is developed to illustrate the practical benefits and hurdles that must be overcome when hospital staff begin using consumer IT devices in the workplace. Finally, recommendations are offered to help healthcare organizations develop and implement a successful BYOD strategy. Read More »

Linux Foundation Launches Public Health Initiative to Respond to COVID-19 and Future Pandemics with Open Source Solutions

Press Release | Linux Foundation Public Health | July 20, 2020

The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today launched a new initiative to use open source technologies to help public health authorities (PHAs) around the world combat COVID-19 and future epidemics. The new Linux Foundation Public Health (LFPH) initiative is launching with seven Premier members - Cisco, doc.ai, Geometer, IBM, NearForm, Tencent, and VMware - and two hosted exposure notifications projects, COVID Shield and COVID Green, which are currently being deployed in Canada, Ireland, and several U.S. states.

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McMaster University Announces Strategic Alliance with WELL Health to Support Canadian Doctors and Patients

Press Release | WELL Health Technologies, McMaster University Department of Family Medicine | May 1, 2020

WELL Health Technologies Corp....is pleased to announce it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (the "MOU") with McMaster University's Department of Family Medicine that authorizes WELL to use the OSCAR brand...OSCAR, an acronym for "Open Source Clinical Application Resource", is an open-source EMR or Electronic Medical Records system created by McMaster and the open-source community to enable better care, connect clinicians and data for continuous learning, and deliver improved outcomes for patients and the health system. By using the OSCAR brand, WELL affirms its commitment to the core brand principles of open collaboration, clinician-driven innovation and ethical data practices. The MOU outlines a Strategic Alliance between WELL and McMaster for Technology Enabled Positive Health and Social Impact. Through this strategic alliance, WELL and McMaster will collaborate on initiatives that leverage OSCAR in ways that strengthen their shared commitment to ethical, innovative leadership in health and society. Read More »