[OLPC library] 'OLPC-Health' takes off !!

[Arjun Sarwal]

Hi all,

There has been a lot of interest from various groups to develop/explore
medical applications around the XO laptop. While a number of people/groups
have already undertaken efforts in a number of areas, there are also many
more people interested in volunteering and helping out.

While people have put in great efforts into many projects, our efforts would
be much more effective once we get a little organized amongst ourselves so
that we can co-ordinate on our projects, avoid duplication of efforts, and
discuss with people with field experience to comment and feedback on our
efforts.


The reach of our efforts and projects is promising and the potential to
impact kids and communities around the world is huge --  all this is
possible due to the scale and reach of XO deployments.



One can broadly break down efforts into the following three areas -


(1) "Content"
Creating a Library/repository of information that would be shipped on the XO
laptop as part of the default software on it. This would be a ready
reference for preliminary diagnosis of diseases and a reference for
symptoms. This would also include general information on an array of topics
such as hygiene, nutrition, balanced diets, etc.

(2) "Hardware"
Developing and using hardware peripherals that connect to the XO laptop.
These include, but are not limited to the build-in camera (with the
possibility of add-on optical elements; an EKG; and a pulse oxymeter.

(3) "Software"
Developing software that asks the user a series of questions and helps in a
preliminary diagnosis. Links to useful websites and online portals.


David Greisen, Seth Woodworth, Pascal Scheffers, Benjamin Schwartz are some
of the people that have been working on "Content"

Ian Daniher, Rafael Ortiz, IMSA OLPC chapter participants (Scott Swanson,
Kevin, April Hope) are some of the people working on "Hardware"

Please add onto this list and let everyone know what you've been working
upon.



David Greisen and Mika Matsuzaki are co-ordinating efforts on the "content"
related projects.
Ian Daniher and Kevin(IMSA) are co-ordinating efforts on "hardware" projects
We still need volunteers to co-ordinate efforts on the "software" projects


Apart from that, we need to setup an advisory board comprising of Doctors,
field workers, medical professionals etc. to guide the efforts in all three
areas.



How you can start participating in the "OLPC Health" efforts --

(1) Send an email to library mailing list[1] with a short introduction of
yourself.

If you'd like to head/undertake projects, please put up project proposals
and let all know that you're looking for participants/volunteers/developers

If you'd like to volunteer in projects, please mention your area of
experience and/or what areas you'd be interested to volunteer in.

(2) Categorize the list of volunteers on the wiki page
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Health and add your name into the appropriate
category. Please create other categories if content, hardware, software
don't seem to represent the efforts very well.

(3) Help the "OLPC Health" team connect with field workers, MDs , Doctors,
Physicians towards the formation of an advisory group

(4)  There is a conference call that we have on the 10th of February. Please
propose *agenda items*!
For people in Boston/Cambridge area -- please help  me organize the
call/meeting !



That was a long email! Thank you for your patience in reading through it.

best,
Arjun Sarwal

ps - please avoid ccing the devel mailing list further. Let's continue this
discussion only on the library mailing list[1].
pps - join library mailing list[1]

[1] Library mailing list - http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/library


---
Arjun Sarwal
<arjun at laptop.org>
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