Hi all,<br><br>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. <br>
<br>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.<br>
<br><br>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.<br>
<br><br><br>One can broadly break down efforts into the following three areas -<br><br><br>(1) "Content" <br>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.
<br><br>(2) "Hardware"<br>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.<br>
<br>(3) "Software"<br>Developing software that asks the user a series of
questions and helps in a preliminary diagnosis. Links to useful
websites and online portals.
<br>
<br>
<br>David Greisen, Seth Woodworth, Pascal Scheffers, Benjamin Schwartz are some of the people that have been working on "Content"<br><br>Ian
Daniher, Rafael Ortiz, IMSA OLPC chapter participants (Scott Swanson,
Kevin, April Hope) are some of the people working on "Hardware"<br>
<br>Please add onto this list and let everyone know what you've been working upon.<br><br><br><br>David Greisen and Mika Matsuzaki are co-ordinating efforts on the "content" related projects. <br>Ian Daniher and Kevin(IMSA) are co-ordinating efforts on "hardware" projects<br>
We still need volunteers to co-ordinate efforts on the "software" projects<br><br><br>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.<br>
<br><br><br>How you can start participating in the "OLPC Health" efforts --<br><br>(1) Send an email to library mailing list[1] with a short introduction of yourself.<br><br>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<br><br>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.<br>
<br>(2) Categorize the list of volunteers on the wiki page <a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Health" target="_blank">http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Health</a>
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.<br>
<br>(3) Help the "OLPC Health" team connect with field workers, MDs , Doctors, Physicians towards the formation of an advisory group<br><br>(4) There is a conference call that we have on the 10th of February. Please propose <i><b>agenda items</b></i>! <br>
For people in Boston/Cambridge area -- please help me organize the call/meeting !<br><br><br><br>That was a long email! Thank you for your patience in reading through it.<br><br>best,<br>Arjun Sarwal<br><br>ps - please avoid ccing the devel mailing list further. Let's continue this discussion only on the library mailing list[1]. <br>
pps - join library mailing list[1]<br><br>[1] Library mailing list - <a href="http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/library" target="_blank">http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/library</a><br>
<br><br>
---<br>
Arjun Sarwal<br>
<<a href="mailto:arjun@laptop.org" target="_blank">arjun@laptop.org</a>><br>
<br clear="all"><br>