Chair: (2011-2014)
Mr. Thomas Karopka,
Projektmanager ScanBalt HealthPort
BioCon Valley® GmbH
Walther-Rathenau-Str. 49 a, 17489 Greifswald
Germany
Tel:+49 3834 515-303
Email: tk[at]bcv.org

Vice chair: (2012-2015)
Holger Schmul,
University of Heidelberg
Germany
Email: Holger.Schmuhl[at]med.uni-heidelberg.de

Goals & Objectives

Objectives: The objectives of the group as developed at its formation in 2002 remain relevant, and the focus of the group remains on educational, promotional and 'evangelistic' activities to raise awareness of open source software.

While the group is named 'open source', our areas of interest include free/libre software and open source software (as described at in the European Commission-funded FLOSS project - see http://www.flossproject.org), and including GNU/Linux.

The objectives of the group are:
- to provide a forum for discussion and for a collaborative, non-judgemental work environment to explore, and where appropriate promote and facilitate, the application of free/libre and open source solutions within health, healthcare and health informatics.
- to bring together experts and interested individuals from a wide range of health professions and with a range of interests in the potential application of free/libre and open source solutions within their domains of expertise.
- to explore the implications of the free/libre and open source approaches for all aspects of IMIA's areas of interest.
- to work with other IMIA Working and Special Interest Groups to explore the appropriate use of free/libre and open source solutions and applications.
- to facilitate both the use of other groups' expertise in the areas under consideration, and the input of IMIA views to those other groups' work and discussions.

Recent Activities:

Workshop at MEDINFO2010, Cape Town, South Africa: Thomas Karopka, Graham Wright, Chris Seebregts, Helen Betts: Free/Libre Open Source Software – Prospects, Challenges and Barriers in Healthcare IT.

FLOSS in health care track at Med-e-Tel 2010, 22 paper presentations, 1 panel discussion, 1 keynote  

FLOSS in health care track at Med-e-Tel 2011, 11 paper presentations, 1 panel discussion, 1 keynote  

Co-organization of 2nd International Workshop on eHealth in Emerging Economies: “eHealth for All” (IWEEE 2010 Brazil, http://www.iweee.org/2010-brasil), Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

Co-organization of 3rd International Workshop on eHealth in Emerging Economies: “Momentum” (IWEEE 2011-Luxembourg, http://www.iweee.org/2011-luxembourg/)

Co-organization of 5th International Workshop on eHealth in Emerging Economies: „Commitment“ (IWEEE 2012-Granada, http://www.iweee.org/2012-granada/), January 11, 2012, Granada, Spain

Launch of joint website and mailing list at Medfloss.org: http://www.medfloss.org/node/479

Joint Workshop with EFMI LIFOSS WG and Ambient Assisted Living Open Association (AALOA): Common Infrastructure Software for eHealth, Telemedicine and Ambient Assisted Living based on Open Source Software, MIE2011, Oslo, Norway

Future Activities:

3rd FLOSS-HC track at Med-e-Tel 2012

Further community building at Medfloss.org

A number of publications from the group:-

-Murray, PJ & Wright G (2005) The Open Steps Project: the UK and international priorities for free/libre and open source software (FLOSS) in the health informatics domain. In Current Perspectives in Healthcare Computing 2005
- A book chapter on free/libre and open source software, and highlighting the IMIA OSWG and IMIA-NI OSNI WG, has been authored by two group members (Peter Murray and Alric M OConnor) and will be in the new edition of Saba and McCormick's Essentials of Nursing Informatics (http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/html/0071441972.html).
- Murray PJ. (2006) Free and open source software in healthcare: an overview of current applications and organisations. Journal of Korean Society of Medical Informatics.
- Murray PJ & O'Connor AM (2006) Open Source and Free Software. In Saba V & McCormick, K, Essentials of Nursing Informatics, 4th Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill Medical
- Karopka T, Schmuhl H, Marcelo A, Dal Molin J, Wright G.: Towards open collaborative health informatics - the role of free/libre open source principles, IMIA Yearbook 2011, 

Last updated: 07 December, 2012