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"I had no direct access to my own information, since I use Linux and OSX rather than the files' Windows-based viewer. As a software engineer, I found software a
by unimpressive 14y ago
"I had no direct access to my own information, since I use Linux and OSX rather than the files' Windows-based viewer. As a software engineer, I found software and programming tools to hack the files and make them open -- but a nontechnical person would have difficulty making use of their own medical data."
A lot of people make a big deal out of the damage done by proprietary code you can't see. I think more damage is done by proprietary formats you can't read. Compounding this problem is the dismal understanding of most users about what their information even is. (See: People attributing impossible properties to malware.) So any hope of users liberating their data is greatly diminished.
- sami36 14y agoRegardless of your stand on OSS & proprietary software, most of the world runs on Windows. The idea that reading a doc file required "..programming tools to hack the files and make them open...." is hyperbole. If you have enough tech skills to install linux, you sure know how to find a way to read docx files. To most people, reading an open doc format would actually represent more of a challenge.
- DanBC 14y agoHe's not talking about word processor files, but about data from other stuff. How do people open XRays or MRI scans or etc etc? (And even word processors have problems when trying to open some obsolete format.)
- sami36 14y agoI understand, but there are no open standards for MRI scans. These applications were not meant for wide consumption although I would agree with you that the device manufacturers should at least provide a way to export that data in a more consumer friendly fashion (JPEG, H.264 video files.) Even better, hospitals should act as a proxy advocating for patients rights & demand export options during the procurement process.
- bugsbunnyak 14y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DICOM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DICOM Essentially all modern medical scanners export data in this format. This fantastic site will let you view (after upload) DICOM images in a web browser: http://slicedrop.com/ http://slicedrop.com/ There are a number of accessible (ie not clinical radiology priced) viewers available, the best of the lot for general use being Osirix [1] (OS X only), and ClearCanvas [2] (Windows only). Ginkgo CADx [3] and Mint viewer [4] are also good, and both cross-platform. There are several well-regard open-source libraries for DICOM: gdcm [5] and DCMTK [6]. Widely used open-source medical image visualization SDKs with DICOM support include MITK [7] and 3D Slicer [8] (the afore-mentioned ClearCanvas is also an SDK in some sense). [edit: formatting and add link] 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OsiriX http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OsiriX 2. http://www.clearcanvas.ca/dnn/ http://www.clearcanvas.ca/dnn/ 3. http://ginkgo-cadx.com/en/ http://ginkgo-cadx.com/en/ 4. http://www.mint-medical.de/ http://www.mint-medical.de/ 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDCM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDCM 6. http://dicom.offis.de/dcmtk.php.en http://dicom.offis.de/dcmtk.php.en 7. http://www.mitk.org/ http://www.mitk.org/ 8. http://www.slicer.org http://www.slicer.org
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- daeken 14y agoI had an MRI done a while back and got a DVD of the data. It came with a proprietary viewer, but some tinkering got me raw image files I was able to deal with. I released it all at http://demoseen.com/mri http://demoseen.com/mri mainly for my own enjoyment. While it wasn't hard for me, most would've been stuck without access to their own data.