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 –BiomedCentral –PubMedCentral –Smaller independent journals

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 – in Biomedical sciencewww.netprints.org –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: –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 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 NameLocation, URL, # of Lectures Health, Environment, Sustainable Development Hokaido University, Sapporo, Japan 20 lectures Global Pathology Supercourse Dokkyo University, Tochigi, Japan 8 lectures Behavioral Science Supercourse Hong Kong University 16 lectures Rehabilitation Supercourse U of Pittsburgh, US 28 lectures Health Library Supercourse Virtual Library of Health, Cuba 23 lectures in Spanish FSU Supercourse Novosbirsk, Russia 15 FSU National Health Profile lectures 15 Russian lectures and 22 English lectures