Developers and Designers Dive In
By Doug Joubert
What would it take to get folks to show up at 9:00 AM on a Saturday morning? Coffee, donuts, and the opportunity to plunge into a sea of open health datasets. On February 12, developers, designers, and researchers gathered to develop apps using public and private health care data-sets, over the course of one day, for the 2011 Health 2.0 Developer Challenge Code-a-thon.
The primary focus of the day was active coding. Participants were divided into teams and had access to a number Application Program Interfaces (APIs) and twenty public and private health care data-sets. My team, consisted of a program manager from NACCHO , two researchers, two analysts, and two coders. We planned and developed a community health information query system that linked community-based health data with data from the Health Indicators Warehouse (HIW). The HIW is a data hub with standardized health outcome and health determinant indicators along with associated evidence-based interventions. What makes the HIW so awesome is that it provides a user-friendly interface to national, state, and community health indicators data.
As demonstrated by the image to the right, the transition from concept to code can be a complex process. Even though my team did not win the code-a-thon, it was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about developing an app from the ground up, and the importance of cross discipline collaboration. The code-a-thon initiative is also an amazing way to engage non-coders like myself, in the development of apps.
This event was part of the Health 2.0 Developer Challenge , which is supported by HHS and organized by Health 2.0 . The goal of the event was to support the development of the HHS Community Health Data Initiative and the online Health 2.0 Developer Challenge while bringing the Health 2.0 Community together for rapid application development.
Events like the Code-a-thon can harness the power of open data to transform health care. Developers (and non-developers) can capitalize on the availability of data-sets to develop apps, much in the same manner that the Weather Channel uses open data from NOAA to develop widgets, by providing access to free, high quality data, without any intellectual property constraints. Watch the video below to watch HHS Chief Technology Officer, Todd Park, as he describes the public and private collaboration to build a "huge ecosystem of mojo," in an effort to "liberate data," "build super cool apps," and catalyze change through public engagement.
Todd Park talks about the power of opening health data.
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