c/o [hifa2015] Stop the .health!

Hi everyone,

Some of you may know about the research I and colleagues around the world have been pursuing on the new health-related domains published in the Lancet, JMIR, Globalization and Health, and featured by news outlets such as NPR, Kaiser Health News, the CBC, and others.  Right now we have the unique opportunity to make an impact by demanding that that public health interests are a priority in the future of the Internet.

Background
Currently, about a dozen health-related generic top level domains (gTLDs) are being added to the Internet.  They include domains such as .healthcare, .med, .doctor, .clinic and MOST IMPORTANTLY a new .health.  Unfortunately, ICANN is now in the process of awarding this hugely important domain space that could shape the very future of health information online to a company that has no interest nor expertise in public health.  Basically, ICANN has ignored key stakeholders including the World Health Organization, World Medical Association, Save the Children, IMIA, France, Mali, and others who have expressed great concern about ICANN’s treatment of the .health.  This recently ended in a secret and private settlement to award the .health that was scheduled to go to a public bidding process.

This decision is important as it will impact global public health and the health of individual consumers.  As people increasingly use the Internet for health information and use that information to make crucial treatment decisions, the quality and trustworthiness of health information online has never been more important.  A .health that was properly governed, had sufficient participation from the medical and public health community, and that was structured as a global public good for the broader community, could have been a game changer for ensuing the reliability of health information online and improving health outcomes.  This has not happened, as ICANN has focused on economic and commercial interests over public health.

What you can do
We are now engaged in a last ditch push to make a real difference here and we have an opportunity to do so.  Right now ICANN is having their annual meeting in Los Angeles. After discussions with friends at WHO, other academics, and even those sympathetic to our cause within ICANN, we’ve learned that only the broader public health and medical community can make a difference.  For this reason, I am hoping you will join our coalition in letting ICANN know that the concerns of the public health community for the .health need to be addressed immediately.

You can make a difference by directly engaging in ICANN’s policy processes via an online public forum this THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16 - 14:00-17:00PM PDT.  Participation is easy and will not take much of your time:

All you have to do is visit the following URL (http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/thu-public-forum), and then click the “Virtual Meeting Room Stream Live” link, click the option to participate as a guest, and you will be entered into an adobe connect chat room where you can participate and voice your concerns.  Some of the concerns that could be addressed are:

- why has ICANN ignored calls by the WHO, World Medical Association, France, Mali, and others about the .health
- why did ICANN award the .health with no transparency through a secret settlement?
- why has ICANN not responded to multiple letters sent to their board about the .health asking for a moratorium/suspension of the process?
- why does ICANN treat other domains such as .wtf, .sucks, with better safeguards than the .health?
- why has ICANN not listened to the public health community about the .health and other health-related domains?
- health is such an important issue, shouldn’t we have a place on the Internet where we can trust our health information?

I will be personally attending the ICANN meeting in LA and meeting with certain key ICANN officials to try to make an impact.  Please join us so that we can ensure the .health is a place to improve your health, not harm it.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me at anytime attmackey AT ucsd.edu.  Only with your help can we hope to make a difference.

Thanks!

References and Sources

Published articles:

• Mackey TK, Liang BA, Kohler J, Attaran A. The Fight over dot-health: Ensuring the Future of Health Information Online.<http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)62215-1/fulltext?rss=yes> The Lancet. 2013; 382:1404.
• Mackey TK, Liang BA, Kohler JC, Attaran A. Health Domains for Sale: The Need for Global Health Internet Governance<http://www.jmir.org/2014/3/e62/. J Med Internet Res. 2014;16(3):e62.
• Mackey TK, Eysenbach G, Liang BA, Kohler JC, Geissbuhler A, Attaran A. A Call for a Moratorium on the .health Generic Top-Level Domain: Preventing the Commercialization and Exclusive Control of Online Health Information<http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/10/1/62. Global Health: 2014; 10:62.

News articles:

• National Public Radio: (http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/09/26/351416992/will-dot-health-make-it-more-likely-that-youll-get-scammed)
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/health-websites-could-be-overrun-by-commercial-interests-experts-fear-1.2779128)
• TechDirt (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140926/08041428649/health-experts-issue-call-to-prevent-icanns-commercialization-new-health-domain-leading-to-exclusive-control-online-health.shtml)
• Medical News Today (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/283165.php)
• Kaiser Health News (http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2014/September/29/health-IT.aspx)
• Medpage (http://www.medpagetoday.com/PracticeManagement/InformationTechnology/44766)

My source: HIFA: Healthcare Information For All: www.hifa2015.org

MEMO: .health as a top-level domain

m e m o r a n d u m

Date:	20 May 2014
To:	ICANN
From:	PETER JONES
Subject:

Please do not try to put a full stop to ongoing efforts to utilise the internet to benefit the true health and well-being of the world's citizens.

The work is a challenge, much has been achieved and there is great promise for the future and not merely through the quantified self, personalised medicine, biotechnology and the virtual healthcare market. ...

The self, indeed this whole effort must be assured, integrated and qualified.

This means of course that the provenance, standards and values vested in health related data, information and knowledge must be of the highest quality.

Then - we can start to think about -




Yours sincerely,

Peter Jones

Additional link:
http://www.jmir.org/2014/3/e73/

[hifa2015] World Medical Association calls for a moratorium on the sale of the .health top-level domain

Dear colleagues,

The World Medical Association has called for a moratorium on the sale of the .health top-level domain (TLD). This is significant as the WMA 'is an international organization representing approximately 9 million physicians of all specialties and sectors.'

Below are extracts from a letter from the WMA Secretary-General dated 8th March to ICANN (the body that administers internet domains). The full letter is available here:

http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/kloiber-to-chehade-et-al-11mar14-en.pdf

'By now the ICANN Board is aware that .health is one of the ten most opposed new gTLDs...'

'... We, the World Medical Association (WMA), add our voice to recommend that the auction of the .health gTLD not go forward.'

Best wishes,
Neil
-----
[ c/o Neil Pakenham-Walsh ]

Let's build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare knowledge: Join HIFA www.hifa2015.org

Drupalcon Munich 2012 [i]

Drupalcon Munich 2012 Group Photo

Well another European Drupalcon has been and gone. It was an awesome event in Munich; the venue, sessions, organisation and the community. It all proved a brilliant experience even without the night time thunder and lightening.

I'm not sure if this particular sponge is saturated to its limited capacity, but compared with previous years I took fewer notes and haven't posted as yet. The (glaring) take home lesson for me remains the same. Write less: do!

The notes I do have started after the first keynote by Dries Buytaert on the State and future of Drupal. Personally, I prefer a presentation rather than the interview format. A change in format must be a relief for Dries and for circuit regulars, but despite a visual interlude the social negotiation seemed for me to get in the way of the show and tell. Given that though Drupal is a year aware from the next release, so this reduces the 'news'. Portland 2013 will no doubt be literally more telling.

I did scribble some ..., on Entities and Properties and attending How to Dominate the Theme Layer. Useful to consider that the visual hierarchy may not match the outline of your site in terms of information architecture. The idea of styling now and injecting classes later has much appeal. I am enthralled by the prospect of font selection, colour and other site design aspects.

There were several sessions on Multilingual sites in D7 & D8. The pros and cons of node level translation vs. field level translation were explained, the latter being considered the best model for most use cases and set to be the likely default in D8. Given the cons of translation and the need to keep it simple I would set about limiting translation to Brian Hodges' original course notes and a new introduction to h2cm. Another key question referred to the type of experience you are building - is it totally symmetrical or asymmetric?

More to follow.  
Photo source:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/drupalassoc/7893709730/

Context, locus, photos and festival-non-goer (Ack. FT)

In the Financial Times, Life & Arts section, June 23/June 24 2012 Francis Hodgson wrote Hocus-focus about the 15th PHotoEspaña festival.

The curator Gerardo Mosquera introduced the broad theme of the festival -

From Here: Context and Internationalisation

- which Hodgson feels provides 'no secure binder between disaprate elements':

' "Context," he writes opaquely, "has ceased to be a 'closed' locus linked to a reductive concept of what is local; instead it is projected as a space from which international culture is naturally constructed."

Apart from giving a broad hint that pictures will come from around the world, I'm not sure that is much help for a festival-goer.' p.10.

Although I'm a festival-non-goer in this case and my access to the images is limited to the three published in the FT and online, I wonder if a link here is the interposition of local and global? The conurbation that can be described as glocal? This is what that single sentence says to me.

In accord with our economic times the festival website notes that:

PHotoEspaña has cut its budget by 25%. The public-private partnership model has been adapted to ensure a broad-based programme of exhibitions and activities.

In this sense here at least art reflects health care. The reliance on partnership, overcoming constraints whilst providing an experience that coheres.

25%

This context.

One care domain.

Which domain do we cut - the interpersonal, the social, political, the scientific? Do we vary the top-slicing across the domains? In health too we must grasp what is local, global and glocal to us.

Abstract translation (100 words): Exploring several dimensions of local, global and glocal using the generic conceptual framework Hodges's model

I need to produce translations of an abstract into French, Spanish and Russian with a 100 word limit. At present I'm relying on Google translate; any suggestions to improve what follows (the English too!) greatly appreciated. 'Glocal' should prove a bit of a test. (h2cmng at yahoo.co.uk):

Exploring several dimensions of local, global and glocal using the generic conceptual framework Hodges's model

Abstract
This paper introduces Hodges’s model a conceptual framework as a means to explore the  concept glocal and the more familiar terms local and global. Actual and speculative definitions of glocal are offered. Discussion will also deliberate on the compound meanings of these terms. The model's four knowledge (care) domains facilitate discussion of the physical, social, political and individual dimensions of local, global and glocal. The paper draws upon health, anthropology, history, science, informatics and geopolitics – especially the themes of globalization, literacy,  information technology and communication (voice). The purpose is exploratory with additional resort to philosophical reflection.

Explorar varias dimensiones de locales, globales y glocales utilizando el modelo conceptual genérico Hodges marco de

abstracto
Este trabajo presenta un nuevo modelo Hodges es un marco conceptual como un medio para explorar el concepto glocal y los términos más familiares locales y globales. Definiciones reales y especulativos de glocal se ofrecen. El debate también se tratará sobre el significado de estos términos compuestos. El modelo de cuatro conocimiento (atención) dominios de facilitar la discusión de las dimensiones físicas, sociales, políticos e individuales de los locales, globales y glocales. El documento se basa en la salud, la antropología, la historia, la ciencia, la informática y la geopolítica - especialmente los temas de la globalización, la alfabetización de tecnología de la información y la comunicación (voz). El objetivo es exploratorio con recurso adicional para la reflexión filosófica.

Exploration des dimensions de plusieurs locaux, mondiaux et glocal utilisant le modèle générique de cadre conceptuel Hodges

Résumé
Cet article présente le modèle Hodges un cadre conceptuel comme un moyen d'explorer le concept et le glocal termes plus familiers local et mondial. Définitions réelles et spéculative de glocal sont offerts. La discussion portera également délibérer sur les significations composé de ces termes. Les quatre modèle de connaissances (soins) domaines de faciliter la discussion de la physique, les dimensions sociales, politiques et individuels des locaux, mondiaux et glocal. Le document s'appuie sur la santé, anthropologie, histoire, sciences, informatique et de la géopolitique - notamment les thèmes de la mondialisation, de l'alphabétisation technologies de l'information et de communication (voix). Le but est exploratoires avec station supplémentaire à la réflexion philosophique.

Изучение нескольких размеров локальных, глобальных и глокальные использованием модели общих концептуальных рамках Ходжеса

абстрактный
В данной статье рассматривается модель Ходжеса концептуальную основу в качестве средства для изучения концепции и глокальные Наиболее известные термины локальные и глобальные. Фактические и спекулятивных определений глокальные предлагаются. Обсуждения будут также обсуждать соединения смысл этих терминов. Четыре модели знаний (ухода) области содействия обсуждению физических, социальных, политических и индивидуальных размеров локальных, глобальных и глокальные.Статья основана на здоровье, антропологии, истории, науки, информатики и геополитика - особенно темы глобализации, распространения грамотности, информационных и коммуникационных технологий (голос).Цель поисковой дополнительные прибегать к философской рефлексии.
 

CVS aware Drupal 6 - gotcha!

Using TortoiseCVS (I believe) I have just (literally) installed a CVS aware version of Drupal 6 which fittingly has been released today.

Along the way I used a few different resources including a video.

It helps having read in Pro Drupal Development about CVS and how extra CVS folders are created, then to see them on my PC. All the Drupal 6 folders and file icons also have green ticks, except for the CVS folders (I hope that's a good sign!). There are several 'tests' to follow:

• Need to configure Drupal 6 - get it working!
• I will need to update using CVS at some point, which should now be more straightforward;
• The Denver theme will have to go as it is not yet D6 compatible;
• then - carry over the new files and CSS from Drupal 5 -> 6.

I still have in mind to use Drupal with CVS through Eclipse.

As expected there are some videos on the new features of Drupal 6 - internationalization and localization. I'd better start checking things out closer to home...