I have had the following questions about my project,
rather than address them solely to the questioners,
I have chosen to send them to this mailing list,
to ensure that most of those who are still
considering joining my endeavor get the information
as well. (01)
Q: What are your reasons for creating this ontology? (02)
I expect that as time passes, more systems are going
to need to be defined by the strict level of details that
are needed when defining a formal ontology of its inner
workings. Especially with computer systems for health
related fields, these definitions are helpful because they
address issues which can enhance the safety and
interoperability of a system. In my opinion, VistA is a
national treasure, in that has been proven to be effective
in outcomes-based studies, in supporting the delivery
of healthcare that has a positive effect on people's lives. (03)
Q: What are the plans you have for licensing the content
of this ontology? (04)
The VistA system is already a work of the government,
which means that it is public domain. While strictly speaking,
an ontology based on the information and knowledge
implicit in the VistA system can be licensed in many
ways, I would like to use a license that supports the upkeep
of the ontology on a long term basis, and which furthers
my goals to make sure that information stored in a VistA
implementation can be shared easily with other systems.
I don't know enough regarding ontology licensing to know
if a software program license is appropriate, or if a license
used for a shared written work is correct. I am willing to
adopt a license that best supports my goals. (05)
Q: What ontology technology are you considering using
for this effort? (06)
I am planning on using a minimum of three separate
technologies, as I am hoping to "triangulate" on the
meaning of the VistA system's implicit meaning for
Files and fields currently stored therein. My current
expectation is that I will be using SUMO, OWL, and
CycL. Each of these technologies has different strengths,
and I hope to learn more about the details about them
with this project. Each set of predicates make different
distinctions, and I hope to find a combination that will
reflect the actual differentiations which the software makes. (07)
As many of you know, I have been interested, and involved
with Cyc for many years, having written the Unofficial FAQ
for Cyc more years in the past than I want to admit in public. (08)
Likewise, I have been a fan of Adam Pease's work on SUMO
since its inception, and have been favorably impressed by
his dedication, and the professionalism of his team, as well
as their generous spirit with the rest of the community. (09)
I have included OWL, primarily on the strength of Protege,
and the work done by Stanford on medical ontologies.
My hope is that this will increase the likelihood that
the result will increase interoperability. (010)
A careful argument that shows strong benefits for the project
might sway me from this plan, but my current thoughts
show that this strategy has the highest degree of utility
for the project and for the community. (011)
Q: Can I be involved, even if I haven't had a lot of experience
with creating an ontology? (012)
Yes, with the understanding that I do want to be productive.
I have been working with Medical Informatics for over 25
years, and have extensive experience in the practice and
delivery of computer systems that support healthcare.
I am willing to share my knowledge in the general field, and
specifically in the VistA software that I am using as a
basis for the ontology modeling. (013)
I am promoting this effort to build a community which would
be knowledgeable about health ontology, as well as building
an artifact that incorporates a lot of the knowledge within
VistA, and about VistA. I think this will seriously advance
the state of the art, as there is nothing like a working system
to specify and disambiguate issues of meaning. (014)
I welcome involvement by novices and professionals alike.
This should prove to be educational to all of us, for different
reasons, with the understanding that the initial flurry of effort
may be a bit chaotic, however, it should be great fun as well. (015)
Q: Why did you choose VistA as the basis for this work? (016)
VistA has several specific advantages: (017)
1) It is easily available, in the public domain, and can run
on common, inexpensive hardware. This means that a personal
instance of VistA can run by participants, if desired. (018)
2) It is extensive. VistA supports the full gamut of healthcare
for adults (veterans) in the United States, using modern and
standardized terminology sets, and covering all aspects of
a hospital. There are a huge number of Fields (over 70K) in a
recent count, with over 20K programs using that data. This
should provide a fertile field to develop knowledge, and recogize
patterns of usage. Since the system is actively in use in over
170 hospitals, there are many documents on the meaning of
the data, and the practice of using it, so less guesswork will
be needed in determining how ambiguities should be interpreted. (019)
3) The resulting artifact/ontology will have value beyond
its use to learn and experiment with ontology modeling.
As there is already a community based around VistA, in both
the private and the public sectors, the artifact, once created, will
be able to be maintained past the modeling phase, and will serve
as a source of information about the usefulness of an ontology
on a long term basis. (020)
I hope this helped resolve any questions, and will encourage
others to participate in this effort. (021)
Dave (022)
PS: I made a typo before, (which I have fixed)
the VistApedia site is http://www.vistapedia.net (023)
On Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 11:29 PM, David Whitten <whitten@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I am looking for collaborators willing to be
> involved in some work making the ontology
> implicit in the Department of Veteran's Affairs
> VistA Hospital Information System an explicit
> ontology coded in an explicit ontology.
>
> This will be a learning experience, and I expect
> that the work will be documented on a website,
> probably http://www.vistapedia.net
>
> I am doing this work as a volunteer, but would
> not object to collaborators who are able to find
> funding through research grants or other means.
>
> If you are interested, please call or write me,
> David Whitten, whitten@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> (713) 870-3834
>
> Thank you,
> Dave
>
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