digital divide

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3 Key Open Source Challenges in Developing Countries

When I go back home and talk to people in the tech industry, or any other industry for that matter, about what I do and the topics I'm involved in daily, I'm usually met with bemusement at the idea of an Open Source Programs Office (OSPO). The concept of a company contributing to an open source project without obvious immediate financial benefit can be culturally strange to understand or explain. As someone born and raised in a country that has been trying to develop for quite some time, I understand and relate to that. There was a point in time when my only understanding of open source was that it was software that I could use without paying and without needing to wait for a specific issue or additional feature to be released. I could just do whatever I needed myself, locally. Open source faces many struggles in developing countries that make how it's perceived and its associations inaccurate and out of touch. I will discuss these struggles in this article.

A Bit More About FrontlineCloud: Announcing A New Blog Post Series

Laura Walker Hudson | FrontlineCloud | October 16, 2013

FrontlineCloud has been out in beta for just over a month, and we’re proud to have over 450 users signed up already, sending and receiving thousands of messages. The newest addition to the Frontline product set has had an incredibly warm and supportive reception on social media and in the many lovely emails we’ve received from friends, users and donors. [...] Read More »

Adoption Of Electronic Health Records Grows Rapidly, But Fewer Than Half Of US Hospitals Had At Least A Basic System In 2012

Catherine M. DesRoches, Dustin Charles, Michael F. Furukawa, et.al. | Health Affairs | July 9, 2013

The US health care system is in the midst of an enormous change in the way health care providers and hospitals document, monitor, and share information about health and care delivery. Part of this transition involves a wholesale, but currently uneven, shift from paper-based records to electronic health record (EHR) systems. [...] Read More »

Africa Innovations: 15 Ideas Helping To Transform A Continent

Mina Holland, Ian Tucker, et al. | The Guardian | August 25, 2012

A mobile phone database for dairy farmers and a strain of sweet potato that can help fight child blindness. These are just two of the imaginative new ideas that are tackling Africa's old problems Read More »

Court Prods FCC In Unexpected Direction In This Week’s Verizon Ruling

A court ruling this past Tuesday on FCC “network neutrality” regulation closes and opens a few paths in a three-way chess game that has been going on for years between the US District Court of Appeals, the FCC, and the major Internet server providers. [...] Read More »

Electronic Health Record Adoption Uneven Across U.S.

Sharyn Alden | Center For Advancing Health (CFAH) | June 27, 2013

A new study in Health Services Research finds wide geographic variation in the adoption of  electronic health records (EHRs) by ambulatory health care sites, ranging from a high of 88 percent to a low of just 8 percent. Read More »

Google’s ‘White Space’ Experiment In South Africa A Boon For Local Schools

Rebecca Chao | TechPresident | July 22, 2013

Back in March, Google began testing a new broadband Internet service in Cape Town, South Africa, and now hopes it can power products in the United States. Read More »

Meaningful Use May Unintentionally Increase Care Disparities

Marla Durben Hirsch | FierceEMR | November 6, 2013

I read with great interest this week my colleague Ron Shinkman's thought-provoking commentary about how the 25 states that have refused to expand Medicaid eligibility pursuant to the Affordable Care Act and rejected billions of federal dollars could ultimately degrade the quality of their patients' care. [...] Read More »

Open Health, Privacy And The Digital Divide

Nick Evans and Adam Henschke | The Conversation | October 30, 2012

Open health refers to a set of developing information technologies that make it easier for patients, professionals and administrators to access health-care information or make it anonymous and open to the public. Read More »

The Data Divide

Sean Martin McDonald | FrontlineSMS | February 5, 2013

[T]he digitization of interactions means that every time we carry a smart phone, send a text message, or buy something online, we’re creating value for someone. A lot of it, as it turns out. These days, information isn’t just power, it’s big money.

Read More »

World Bank Promotes Open Data In Myanmar

Clarice Africa | FutureGov | June 27, 2013

More than 120 members from civil society organisations, research institutes and government ministries participated in the recent “Open Development” workshop organised by the World Bank, as part of its on-going efforts to encourage the use of publicly accessible data and research [...] to tackle development challenges. Read More »