OntoVistA

This is the main page for the OntoVistA project. The project is described at http://ontovista.blogspot.com if you want more information about it.

To get this started, here are some major branches to build the next few days:

General Goals and Desires

 Basic Goal - represent VistA in a rigorous standard ontology structure

   Method goals - user interaction tools
   Solicit domain expert interactions

 Next steps - VistA variants

   IHS RPMS ontology layer - a separate layer, common nodes connect to VA layer
   CHCS ? layer
   Washington State Hospitals layer - adds state psych related elements
   ?Wa Corrections

 Big next steps - non-VistA healthcare domains

   ?FreeEMR? - open source EMR system
   ?UCDavis VMTH??  - veterinary system?
   Epic or some other proprietary system?  - maybe collaborate with NIH?
   Layers which represent non-provider data systems - SSA, CDC, etc.

Resources from elsewhere

 Existing Ontology projects
   WordNet
   Cyc
   SUMO
   etc...

 Existing User Interfaces and Tools
   M2Web
   ... ESI-objects, other relevant M tools...

 Existing ontology tools and languages
  SUO-Kif
  OWL
  CycL

Project Participants

 System and interface developers
   Dave Whitten
   Walt Biggs

 Project Administration and Collaboration Propulsion
   ?Marty Mendelson - Washington state
   Arden Forrey - ASTM, AACC, etc.

 Domain Experts
   VistA experts
   Health Informatics Standards Developers
   Lexicon Experts
   Messaging Standard Experts
   Health Science and Technology Specialty Experts

Specific Task areas

 form of the knowledge base we are filling

 relationships with existing structures (SUMO, etc.)

 user interation systems and tools
   tools to identify VistA data elements and their relationships in situ
     (this tool is the main ontology generator)
   tools to visualize the onotology from useful perspectives
   tools to enter ontological and other data into the knowledge base
   tools to review the knowledge base, click Agree for each item, or Correct it
   tools to illustrate divergences between real and ideal structurings
       for example to extrapolate Agent Orange to general environmental
         stressors with associated institutional programs

 domain expert involvement
   start with basic VistA architecture 
   solicit review by experts in the various packages
   broader expert participation...