The idea Larry Brilliant presents in this TED talk of creating a surviellance system for pandemics so that we can have "early detection and early response" was trully inspiring. For the first time I could envision using all the skill and knowledge I've acquired in public health to create something of value.
As I watched him present his idea of a global surviellance system I couldn't help but think that the naturual partner for his venture would be Google. Imagine every health professional having access to software such as Google Earth where they could input cases of rare diseases or unusual symptoms, and these would be automatically plotted on to a map, where and organization like the one Larry envisioned could track any unusual outbreaks. It seems that Google would be the type of company open to such an idea, and because they use open source code it could be a collobrative effort with people in multiple areas of interest looking to make a meaningful change.
I feel like this idea is obvious and must have been explored by Larry or Google, but what if it hasn't. I'd love to hear ideas on how we could put together a framework for such a project and possible approach google on developing it throught their google Labs site.
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3 comments:
Orwell's 1984.
yes, lets watch over the world and make sure they are not assembling in an armed revolution.
you're a fascist payam.
;) relax commi, i'm kidding.
I think the google idea is great... it could act as a live tracking tool and if used correctly would be extremely beneficial in the event of a pandemic.
PS the google reader is wonderful! it makes things so much easier... thanks for showing it to us.
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