social software

Welcome Dr. Healy...

A new web log focusing on Medical Informatics and the implications it brings to the healthcare industry proves to be a fascinating read if you're interested in how social and technical change in this information-rich world will affect your healthcare.

I've spoken at length with Dr. Ronald Healy (who also happens to be my older brother), and he has a lot of interesting insights regarding the fledgling field of Medical Informatics. 

Having just concluded a two-year roll-out of a clinical EMR (electronic medical record) initiative, he has some interesting technical and even social commentary on its effects already... not the least of which is the natural repulsion many physicians have to change, much less technological change.  To that point, he sees where a lot of this frustration comes from:  The "automated" workflow many of these clinical applications feature do not accurately mirror the actual workflow many physicians use in their day-to-day practice.

Anyway, I'll leave further detail on that for him to expand on, but my advice is for the primary health system manufacturers to pay attention to this type of open (and now public) feedback.  (That means you GE Healthcare, McKesson and Cerner)

Subscribe now to Dr. Healy's feed.

... and as an added bonus, he is also very intrigued with how social networking applications (i.e. Web 2.0) can play a very important role in the new world of healthcare.

DemoCampVancouver01...

Thanks guys for inviting me out to Vancouver's inaugural DemoCamp.  Some very interesting people, and many interesting ideas. 

(Before I forget... Workspace is looking very nice... great view!  Thanks Bill for hosting.)

Four interesting demonstrations:

1. Gaboogie

Conference calls are frustrating.  The folks at Gaboogie want to change that with an "easy as pie" approach to scheduling and managing calls.  Some key features:

• (Almost) No Touch Participation.  There are no conference bridges to call or PIN to remember.  The system actually calls participants (at multiple numbers if necessary) at the allocated time and puts them into conference.
• Uses OpenID.  It would be nice if more services followed suit and leveraged this emerging (dare I say) "standard".  Regardless this has been mapped by Sxipper if you want to go that route, or even <gasp> entering in your own information and (remembering) your own password.
• Dropped Calls.  If a participant drops the call (presumably on a mobile phone), the participant can simply dial back the Gaboogie number that called her, and it will automatically discern which conference call she was participating in.  (Still no PIN required).
• Per Line Volume Adjustment.  I didn't know I needed this until now!  Through the simple web-based administration console you can actually adjust the volume level of individual participants.  Everyone has experience with "Loud Mouth Larry", or "Soft-and-Sweet Sally" (is that gender bias?) ... so I guess Goboogie is also the great equalizer for meetings and collaboration...
• Private Discussion.  Participants can "raise their hand" during a call to ask a question that the organizer can take "offline" into a private chat. 

These guys are hard at work, but some of the "use cases" that could complicate this rather uncomplicated service might include:

• Dialing into a PBX or Attendant.  The problem of dialing a participant that is on the other side of a PBX, receptionist or even speech recognition system (see Microsoft's as an example ... this type of thing WILL BE the standard).  What if the receptionist can't raise the participant, or the participant is on another call... how intuitive is the "snooze" feature?
• Integration to other Services.  Can we integrate this with other extensible software-as-a-service organizations (e.g. Salesforce.com)?  How about integration with Google Calendar?  I understand they are looking at integrating with Campfire (from 37 Signals)
• Integration to other Applications.  Can I integrate this with Microsoft Outlook/Exchange (still the predominant productivity tool for the enterprise)?  How about common CRM systems?

2. Kelvin Tools for Urban Living.

Not what I'd expect for your conventional DemoCamp, but a very entertaining demonstration.  Essentially a hand tool for the urban warrior.  Founder Kevin Royes has developed a Swiss Army Knife for every day living.  (See graphical representation here).

This all-in-one tool contains an Audi/VW Key-style screwdriver (this is what I mean), with an LED flashlight, extra long tape measure, a hammering surface, a level and a few other interesting features.

Kevin claims the strength of the tool comes from the Titanium/Kryptonite alloy he is also working on patenting... :)

3. Incen.TV

The "world's first" peer-to-peer investing marketplace similar I suspect in concept to Prosper.com, Zopa and even the more philanthropic Kiva.org, though not focused on debt instruments, but rather equity instruments.

The flash demo was flashy with an energetic soundtrack, but apart from the inspirational quotes I still wasn't clear on the how, the where, the who, ... it could be just me though.

4. Sxipper

I've known of Sxipper for a while and have been using it for a few months.  Frankly it was one of the compelling reasons that drove me back to Firefox (again) from Microsoft Internet Explorer.

The concept is simple: "Forget your passwords!"

Basically Sxipper attempts to replace the need to remember, secure and administrate the numerous web sites, their respective login/password information and other sundry tasks (registration, etc.).  It also "dumbs down" OpenID so that any one can take advantages of its benefits.

A great service, that I can see expanding in a few areas (that would help me):

• Proxy Service for Public Terminals.  Though Sxipper doesn't store your personas (or related data) on a server, it would be nice that I could "opt-in" to this type of service.  That way, when I'm using a library terminal to check an account all of my persona information (especially passwords) get inserted at the proxy so that it never rises on the public terminal or in the session. 
• Multi-device Support.  It would be great if personas could by synchronized between devices, or even on the Sxipper.com servers (see above).

... another innovation in the Identity 2.0 space by Dick and his team at Sxip.com.

Anyway, thanks Bryght (Kris, Boris and Roland), Workspace and all the others that helped organize this ... I'm looking forward to DemoCamp Vancouver02!

(Photo courtesy Tod Maffin via Flickr)

No Pandora in Canada, but Last.FM thrives?...

Just curious what the differences in licensing and delivery models is between Pandora and Last.FM that allows the former to not be able to distribute content in Canada while the latter seems unaffected.  Anyone know?

They are not identical, but obviously have a very similar vision.

I've had to stop using Pandora (and Pandora's Box which is/was great!) in favour of Last.FM (my profile here), but in a lot of ways I miss Pandora's simplicity to speak nothing of the accuracy of the underlying Music Genome Project's database of "genetically similar" music to find new artists.

(Note: Though there are workarounds to continue using the service through U.S. based network proxies, I've decided not to...)

My personal experience with Last.FM is that it is not bad, though I personally am suffering from some lag and too regular buffering (and I'm on a dedicated high-speed business cable connection).

It seems that founder Tim Westergren is genuinely upset about this, and not because of the loss of a market, loss of future revenues, etc. but seemingly because he just plain old believes in what he's doing (remember when that wasn't the exception?).

In a heartfelt letter sent to his Canadian and other international users a week ago he explains the decision:

Dear Pandora listener, 

Today we have some extremely disappointing news to share with you. Due to international licensing constraints, we are deeply, deeply sorry to say that we must begin proactively preventing access to Pandora's streaming service from Canada. We began blocking access from almost all countries outside the U.S. last week and had originally hoped to maintain access to Canada. However, it has become clear in the last week that we just haven't been able to make enough progress to continue streaming. 

It is difficult to convey just how disappointing this is for us. Our vision remains to eventually make Pandora a truly global service, but for the time being, we can no longer continue as we have been. As a small company, the best chance we have of realizing our dream of Pandora all around the world is to grow as the licensing landscape allows.

...

Delivery of Pandora is based on proper licensing from the people who created the music - we have always believed in honoring the guidelines as determined by legislators and regulators, artists and songwriters, and the labels and publishers they work with. In the U.S. there is a federal statute that provides this license for all the music streamed on Pandora. Unfortunately, there is no equivalent license outside the U.S. and there is no global licensing organization to enable any webcaster to legitimately offer its service around the world. The volume of listening on Pandora makes it a very expensive service to run. Streaming costs are very high, and since our inception, we have been making publishing and performance royalty payments for every song we play.

Until last week, we have not been able to tell where a listener is based, relying only on zip code information provided upon registration. We are now able to recognize a listener's country of origin based on the IP address from which they are accessing the service. Consequently, on May 16th, we will begin blocking access to Pandora to listeners from Canada. We are very sad to have to do this, but there is no other alternative.

We will be posting updates on our blog regarding our ongoing effort to launch in other countries, so please stay in touch. We will keep a record of your existing stations and bookmarked artists and songs, so that when we are able to launch in your country, they will be waiting for you. We deeply share your sense of disappointment and greatly appreciate your understanding. 

-Tim Westergren
(Pandora founder)

I've since subscribed to the blog in the hopes that a legitimate alternative or solution is found.

Blog depression...

It affects us all...

Depressed over your blog? Read this

The Onionist posted something funny today that quite a few people emailed me: What everyone should know about blog depression.

It's a PDF and if you don't write a blog obsessively you probably won't see the humor in it.