For the past few months, Ive contributed to ChRIS (Childrens Research Integration Service) as a user experience (UX) designer.ChRIS is a cloud-based, open source framework for processing medical imaging data; it was originally conceived by a team at Boston Childrens Hospital and successfully executed with help from the Mass Open Cloud (MOC) and Red Hat.
Working on the ChRIS project is fulfilling in a direct way; it applies open source technology and principles to improve patient care. Doctors shouldnt have to be computer scientists to be able to use the best innovations in medical image processing technology to improve their patients outcomes.
Enabling doctors to make use of leading-edge, yet frustratingly esoteric, software to improve patient care is an example of the larger challenge of UX in open source. Open source software is ubiquitous: its running and improving systems and services around the world, and sadly has a well-earned reputation for terrible UX. Technologys core functionality is not enough: a great UX is necessary to unlock its full potential!
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