Open Source Systems

See the following -

How A Free Mobile App Fights Ebola And Other Global Epidemics

The enormity and severity of the West African Ebola epidemic that began in 2014 is hard to fathom. The outbreak resulted in more than 11,000 deaths, and hundreds of thousands of people affected by loss. Providing adequate care for any medical condition depends on information, but even more so when dealing with an epidemic that is as severe, dangerous, and fast-moving as Ebola. This is the story of how a dispersed global health IT community banded together to solve the enormous, unique information challenges presented by Ebola...

Lessons from the Use of Open Source and Open Data in Nepal's Earthquake Relief

The power of an open source project like OpenStreetMap during a crisis like Nepal's earthquake is undeniable, and I had the opportunity to see it up close and personal. I worked with the Kathmandu Living Labs team, where I observed thousands of local and international volunteers collaborating to create data and tools. Responding agencies used the team's work to plan and execute their operations. The philosophy of Kathmandu Living Labs is that by collaboratively building upon existing work, we will reach much further and have a far greater impact than working on problems individually and from scratch...

Open-Source Systems You May Have Taken for Granted: 10 Examples

Chris Preimesberger | eweek.com | October 4, 2013

A key moment in IT history took place in Mountain View, Calif., on Feb. 3, 1998. That was the day a small group of Silicon Valley software developers (which included Dr. Larry Augustin, now CEO of SugarDB, Eric Raymond and Christine Peterson) sat down to decide that there needed to be an actual name for a new software development genre. The now-familiar term "open source" was first coined at this meeting.

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Some Barriers and Challenges to the CDC's Data Modernization Initiative

As we have discussed in earlier posts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched a Data Modernization Initiative (DMI) focused on improving the data management capacity of public health in the United States. The major focus of this initiative is on investments in both people as well as systems and data to improve public health response. Though Congress has appropriated a significant amount of funding for Federal and state, territorial, local, and tribal (STLT) public health agencies, there are some sizable barriers and challenges to seeing the vision for DMI come to fruition:

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The Software Patent Solution Has Been Right Here All Along

Simon Phipps | InfoWorld | September 14, 2012

New paper from a legal researcher [presented at the 8th International Conference on Open Source Systems] suggests a fix for the software patent mess has been lurking in the statute all this time.
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ThoughtWorks Latest Technology Radar Highlights Emerging Trends in Open Source and Cloud Platform Technologies

Press Release | Thoughtworks | April 5, 2016

ThoughtWorks, a global technology company, today issued the latest Technology Radar, an assessment of trends significantly impacting software development and business strategy. The Technology Radar sets out the current changes in software development - things in motion to pay attention to based upon ThoughtWorks' day-to-day work and experience solving their clients' toughest challenges. "Our latest Technology Radar focuses on some exciting trends that are changing the way companies and tech practitioners deploy open source systems and Cloud and Platform as a Service (PaaS)," said Dr. Rebecca Parsons, CTO of ThoughtWorks.

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US Department Of Defense Publishes New Guidelines For The Internal Use Of Open Source For Cyber Defense Purposes

On January 24, 2022, John Sherman, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the US Department of Defense (DoD) released internally (and published two days later) a Memorandum for the Senior Pentagon Leadership, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, the Commanders of the Combatant Commands, the Defense Agency and the DoD Field Activity Directors. Particularly, it provides the Department of Defense with new guidelines on software development and open source software, addressing the opportunities and challenges that open source can represent for the public sector, and how the latter should interact in this regard.