John Norris: Informatics

Moving the site

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:43:31 GMT

I'm moving this blog, and other materials, under my domain john-norris.net.

All the content will be available under that domain (not under radio.weblogs.com) in the next couple of weeks. I'll keep this blog and gallery intact under the "old-site" tab.

Sorry for any broken links this will cause.

Stay tuned for more Containers of Information!

Virtual Meds

Wed, 16 May 2007 20:29:58 GMT

Virtual Medical Informatics?

I've been spending a bit of time checking out the virtual world, Second Life and its possibilities for Medical Informatics. I think there is a lot that virtual worlds can bring to the practice of healthcare, things that go beyond the typical 2d environment. I'm starting to form some opinions of my own, but at this point I am mostly still exploring. (You can get another side of the story from Colin Fahrion someone in the know and whose opinion I very much respect and is my cousin!)

If you are interested, and would like to keep up with my travels in Second Life, I am using Snapzilla and putting up my SL Healthcare Tourist postcards there. Snapzilla is still very much beta. I can't seem to fix the text formatting at the moment.

I'm "Knoh Oh" in world. Feel free to IM me in-world.

Resume

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 19:18:32 GMT

Resume

Just added a resume in pdf to my About page.

This resume is tailored to Informatics and similar areas.

I thought it might be fun to include it as an enclosure for the RSS feed... that way folks could subscribe and always have the latest. Of course folks can just subscribe to this site's Informatic's feed and they'll get a note when things have changed.

Biomedical Informatics

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 18:01:26 GMT

Biomedical Informatics

As folks who visit this site soon learn, I am very excited about information. I enjoy understanding its flow and more importantly how it can be used by people.

I have been studying Biomedical Informatics for a couple of years now, and have made it a more formal pursuit by completing classes in bodily systems and medical terminology, and am now taking classes as Oregon Health and Sciences University.

My previous professional experience was a Manger of Support Technology for a consumer electronic business. That was a postion that was created for me by the company. The way it came about was that our department was given an application to use, but it really didn't fit our needs. Mainly, it was cumbersome. So I wrote up a paper about the application, detailing its pros and cons, and sent it to my manager. He forwarded it up, and was amazed to find it didn't make anyone mad. (I was very polite, and specific.) So once a month, I would write up the current issues and he'd send it along. Fast forward a few years, more papers, projects, meetings, managing, responsibilities, etc... and that once a month gig turned into a full time postion that added real value to the company.

How does this tie into my ceramics background? It is helpful to know that the "pottery" I do is not so much for storing things, than concepts, information, data. A pot that is a pinhole camera, a scroll, an orrery, something that holds messages, etc...is a container of information. These pieces are well thought out, designed to be useful, allow for interaction, and bring out-of-the-'pot' solutions to a well established area.

I hope to do the same with Informatics. You'll find my various musings, but nothingout-of-school, here.

I'll still be doing art.