Open Source and Global Development in Epidemiology Training

Open Source and Global Development in Epidemiology Training EunRyoung Sa, Akira Sekikawa, Ronald LaPorte Global Health Network – Supercourse Graduate School of Public Health University of Pittsburgh Open Source Model • Software development process – Traditional model • Copyright • Source code: Closed • Bugs/problems – Open Source model • Free software, Internet • Source code: Open • Fast & cheap Open Source Model • “Openness of knowledge” – Transparent knowledge •  quality improvement – Knowledge sharing •  time, cost, efficiency – Knowledge translation •  local need, local customization – Global sharing, collaboration •  decentralized development “Open” Movement in Biomedical Science • Information sharing & knowledge dissemination for quality improvement – Open access journals – Open archives, Pre-print servers – Open Epidemiologic data – Open lecture archives Open access journals • What: – Peer reviewed journal articles available on the Internet for free of charge • Why: – To improve knowledge dissemination, eventually biomedical science worldwide • Examples: – BMJ • www.bmj.com – BiomedCentral • www.biomedcentral.com – PubMedCentral • www.pubmedcentral.gov – Smaller independent journals • www.jmir.org Open Archives • What: – Shared scientific archives around the world • Archives: scientific articles before publishing – E.g. Findings from on-going project • Standard format (OAI, Metadata) • Better search for research – “Pre-print servers”, “E-prints”, “Net-prints” • Why: – To share scientific findings among peer researchers worldwide • Broader feedback to improve their research • Examples: – arXiv.org in Physics – www.netprints.org in Biomedical science – Individual authors’ homepages Epidemiologic Data Publishing • What: – Attached electronic appendices to e-papers • Original dataset and/or SAS code • Why: – Research transparency, open review, extended analysis/ research – Good source for epidemiologic training • Examples: – Individual researcher • Hutchon DJR. Publishing raw data and real time statistical analysis on e-journals. {Infopoints} BMJ 2001;322:529-530 – Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group • Original data (SAS files, protocols etc) • NTIS (Nat Technical Info Service) – NIH grant proposal • plans to require by this October Open Lecture Archives in Higher Education • What: – “MIT Open Course Ware” • Opening all MIT lectures free of charge on the Internet – lecture notes, course outlines, reading lists, assignment • Why: – To improve quality in teaching in physics • both at MIT and worldwide • Progress: – Initiated in 2001, will be open soon Open Lecture Archives in Higher Education • What: – “Supercourse” – Faculty open their lectures and share them worldwide free of charge on the Internet • Why: – To improve Epidemiology training worldwide • Progress: – Initiated in 1997 fall • 4 lectures • 80 faculty members – Year 2002 • 1000 lectures • 9236 faculty members from 118 countries Open Lecture Archives in Epidemiology • Lecture transparency – Credit for faculty • Online lecture publication • Lecture citation • Open dissemination – Mirror sites – CD-ROMs • Global Health Network – Lecture sharing, open review – Local customization • Translation • Local Supercourse – Re-sharing process Supercourse Local Customization Translation Local lectures Re-sharing Local Supercourse Site Name Location, URL, # of Lectures Hokaido University, Sapporo, Japan http://www.med.hokudai.ac.jp/~senior-w/supercourse.html 20 lectures Dokkyo University, Tochigi, Japan http://www.dkkyomed.ac.jp/dep-k/dli-path/WASP-Glo.html 8 lectures Hong Kong University http://www.commed.hku.hk/super.course/index.htm 16 lectures Health, Environment, Sustainable Development Global Pathology Supercourse Behavioral Science Supercourse Rehabilitation Supercourse Health Library Supercourse U of Pittsburgh, US http://www.shrs.upmc.edu/supercourse/index.htm 28 lectures Virtual Library of Health, Cuba http://bvs.sld.cu/sc/lecciones.html 23 lectures in Spanish FSU Supercourse Novosbirsk, Russia http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/national/index.htm 15 FSU National Health Profile lectures 15 Russian lectures and 22 English lectures