Boletin Mensual: June 2008
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Research Association of Medical and Biological Organizations (RAMBO) Presentation, April 25, 2006
Presentation to the Annual RAMBO Conference on the USAID RM Portal, focusing on content managent goals and solutions as a response to solving geographically and linguistically complex problems.
Problem
- Complex problems cross sectors.
- Geographically and linguistically diverse audiences need to collaborate to solve complex problems.
- Too much effort is spent solving problems and not being able to maximize the solution.
- Not sufficient to simply generate materials for outreach. An effective information/communication delivery system – one that allows Washington-based offices to reach out the Missions (field), while also allowing USAID/Mission, Embassy Science and Technology Staff, and Partners to reach back to Washington. The problem is how to network the partners and then link the USAID Mission and Embassy staff back to Washington.
Goal
Distribution of technical knowledge and expertise to a wide audience, and a path to help individuals to apply it.
Solution
Content management, allowing:
- Wide and immediate distribution of searchable content to a global audience.
- Easy mechanism to upload shareable content to the Internet (all content types, large and small)
- Logical storage and exchange system
- Easy to use computer mediated communication system
- Collaboration of cross-sectoral, multidisciplinary individuals and teams, around content, allowing team development and anecdotal dialog, to solve global complex problems.
- Using open source, community built and supported tools.
Audience
- USAID Mission Support
- Environmental, Energy, and Health Sectors
- NGO's
- CBO's
- Universities
- Government Agencies
- Individuals (the public)
Examples of Content
- Collaborative and anecdotal dialog
- Files (MS Word, Acrobat, Excel, Flash, etc.)
- News Items
- Calendar Events
- Images
- Video
- Data
- Services (RSS Feeds, SOAP, etc)
Use Case: Dr. Antonio Badero
The internet portal and associated communications capability would provide a host of clinical and research opportunities.
- Using the portal to support caregivers of varying levels of expertise in the field
- On-line clinical records- directing care according to protocol, and facilitating central monitoring and supervision
- Centralized “consult” service
- Building a knowledge base for ongoing education of remote caregivers, with the result that they will be more and more “empowered” and less and less dependent on the central resource
- Centralized laboratory services
- Education
- Dynamic, interactive, cased based learning
- Content and reference materials
- On-line conferences
- Patient materials
- Clinical Research
- Sites linked within the portal would be an extraordinary resource for clinical trials and outcomes studies-
- Basic Research
- The portal would provide the ability to assemble samples and data centrally
Portal Demonstration
What is a Portal?
Home (Demonstration of changing content display)
Portlets (Demonstration of dynamic content/ items for review/ recent changes)
News (Discussion of public and private news feature: example of News item posted in Portuguese, demonstration of translate into feature/ex. French.
Calendar (Forest Team May Meeting)
Members (Demonstration of search by group ex. Climate) (Locating Field/Content Experts. Click on kcarney to learn more info on this member)
Groups (Forest Team) HTML Showcase page, newsletters, private team workspace)
Library (Structured containment/Sharing of All Content Types/Copyright) Demonstration of Agriculture and Sustainable Rural Development, flashmovie from David Soroko (Copyright points)
Training (Storage and Facilitation) Reference to NRM Training Information Folder, Training Presentations (Comment function/reference)
My Folder (Sharing Function)
Search (Integrated deep search across all areas) Demonstration of Disaster and Early Warning Systems section
Help (Myriad formats) Public Draft Folder allowing Portal members to upload their 'help' documentation.
Portal Presentation Brief
RAMBO has been hosting a conference for the last decade.
The presentation http://www.rmportal.net/training/presentations/rambo-presentation-april-25-2006/ was very well received and sparked a vigorous dialogue concerning the need for this cross sectoral tool assisting in the solution of complex problems on a global scale. Our RM Portal presentation followed a presentation by a NYC pathologist working for 15 years with TB on a genomic level who agreed that only in recent years with the advent of new software was he and his colleagues able to put certain puzzle pieces together. He remarked that while behavior change is difficult, and the learning curve involving technology acceptance is difficult, it is important to press forward until folks begin to see/experience and appreciate the benefits that IT can bring toward solving complex issues and helping folks to share pieces of the puzzle(s) in more remarkable time than ever before.
Another presentation involved the Phairs project (UNM/NASA ) involving atmospheric data collection and the importance of the Plone-based Portal in helping folks ( from diverse sectors) access and interact with GIS data. I have talked about our RM Portal's ability to futuristically work with GIS last year in response to a USAID officer's inquiry.U of A , Tim Finan, has asked about a GIS system that might work with the RM Portal.
http://mcload.vassar.edu:81/webdevelopment/web-gis
http://igic.gis.iastate.edu/ http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/
I have since received several inquires about the RM Portal from Dr. Steve Joseph. He is on the Board of an African Health NGO very interested in our Portal. He applauded your USAID vision, the choice of Open Source tools, the attempt to cross sectors and facilitate computer mediated knowledge management. His information can be found at: http://www.amref.org/index.asp?PageID=166
What is a Portal
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-37,GGLD:en&defl=en&q=define:portal&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title
RAMBO 2006 Agenda
Annual Conference, RAMBO ( Research Association of Medical and Biological Organizations) 2006
Monday 24th: Averting Pandemic Pandemonium"
Welcome and Introductions (12:30 – 1:00) A question to guide our contemplation, conversation, and action this conference : What are the ethics, elements, and dynamics of a system that would motivate, activate, and reinforce the most effective responses and behaviors during a major infectious disease outbreak?
Avian Influenza Update (1:00 – 1:30)
What we know, what we don’t know, what we are learning
A "Tale of Two Cities" (1:30 – 2:00)
Decisions (and their consequences) made by the mayors of Philadelphia and St. Louis during the 1918 pandemic – Presented by Bill Stanhope, St. Louis University Biosecurity Surfacing the “Undiscussables” (2:00 – 3:00)
Group activity to identify questions, concerns, and major challenges that are the “elephants under the table” related to knowledge, tools, capabilities, behaviors, and our overall preparedness for an outbreak.
Understanding and Managing the Elephants (3:00 – 5:00)
Group activity to explore of root causes, leverage points, and possible solutions to the major challenges of preparing for and managing a pandemic.
Where Do We Go From Here? (5:00 – 5:30)
Identification/creation of opportunities to further learn, engage, and take meaningful action.
Tuesday, April 25th.
Archiving Human Pathogens ---- Barry Kreisworth (Public Health Foundation, NYC)
http://www.nyas.org/events/eventDetail.asp?eventID=4741&date=12/7/2005%205:00:00%20PM
http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/epi/Research/Fogarty/fogarty.html#Anchor-Facult-32085
The USAID Resource Management Portal ---- Rose Hessmiller (UNM) and Jean Brennan (USAID) www.rmportal.net
Public Health Applications of Remote Sensing (PHAiRS) ---- Shirley Baros (EDAC, UNM) http://phairs.unm.edu/
The creative brain ---- Rex Jung (The Mind Institute, UNMHSC)