Re: A Fresh Look Proposal (HL7)

first off, thanks Dave, I hadn't seen this. Yes this is the same direction,
and another statement about model-scheme "use together"

>> Even though a combination of the HL7 RIM and the use of standardized
clinical terminologies goes a long way toward semantic interoperability,
exactly their use together can lead to interoperability problems.

it doesn't go into "normalizing" the different ways SNOMED meets
RIM<http://www.caregraf.com/blog/dr-seuss-passes-meaningful-use>but
one thing it shows is the benefit of a common medium. Here's RIM in
OWL
and SNOMED in OWL (albeit with OID/concept scheme identification overlays
... I need to read this more), two parts on common ground, forced to
consistency. That's what is needed: put all verbs and objects in one medium
and have at it ...

thanks again,
Conor

p.s. aside on "merging schemes" and consistent expression: what's with the
need to use NCI terms for say "route of administration" but LOINC for vital
types? Is this some "jobs for the boys" where every standards organization
gets a little piece? Again - broken record - I think we should all cut to
the chase, take RIM, take SNOMED, hone and improve them on common ground and
shove the rest. Otherwise, we have a big acronym soup going in circles,
where translating from one scheme to the next has us forget the target:
consistent, computable expression.

On Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 11:26 AM, Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E] <haudt@mail.nih.gov
> wrote:

> Conor, is this in the same direction as what you're proposing?****
>
> ** **
>
> http://www.jbiomedsem.com/content/2/1/2****
>
> ** **
>
> - Dave****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* conor dowling [mailto:conor-dowling@caregraf.com]
> *Sent:* Friday, September 02, 2011 12:56 AM
> *To:* Michael Miller
> *Cc:* Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E]; Jim McCusker; John Madden;
> public-semweb-lifesci@w3.org
> *Subject:* Re: A Fresh Look Proposal (HL7)****
>
> ** **
>
> Michael, to stretch a point you made earlier, we're all squeezing our own
> hobby horses into the thread. Mine is that for practical data exchange,
> expression needs to be constrained and that means model and concept scheme
> need to tie the knot with a consensus on what is and isn't verboten.****
>
> ** **
>
> Dave said ...****
>
> ** **
>
> >> SNOMED in particular, has a flexible grammar that allows a wide variety
> of post-coordinated expressions, so it would be quite impossible to
> exhaustively list out all allowed values as in an extensional definition of
> a value set.****
>
> ** **
>
> I don't agree here. You have RIM with slots for "disorder is X", "cause is
> Y" and SNOMED has primitive concepts for both but it also has a composite
> for "disorder is Z" that is equivalent to "X caused by Y". A profile can say
> "thou shalt stick to SNOMED primitives and not use composites (outside of
> the following exceptions) and thou shalt fill "disorder" and "cause" when
> instantiating the model. ****
>
> ** **
>
> I suppose I'm saying that the next stage in "modeling", taken broadly, is
> to tie down model-to-concept-scheme, exclude whole axis' of the latter and
> force instantiation of parts of the former. With that, we discipline the
> concept scheme (and SNOMED needs it) and the range of use of the model,
> which needs that too.****
>
> ** **
>
> When you can literally express a simple allergy in three different ways
> using RIM/SNOMED combo's (see here<http://www.caregraf.com/blog/so-much-choice-through-meaningful-use>),
> then something's amiss, at least it is for me. Coders - as in executable
> code writers, not the concept making sort - need a break, need a set of
> precise recipes.****
>
> ** **
>
> Of course, Michael, you're right ...****
>
> ** **
>
> >> one can do this without the information model having knowledge of the
> value set.  the information model sets the meta-expectation of what is
> expected and then the value set can be examined for the best possible fit
> without there needing to be knowledge of the value set by the information
> model.****
>
> ** **
>
> one can, but one is more likely to drift if one is a coder. For the
> implementor, Health-care representation for interchange should be precise
> and that means culling the concept scheme (choice SNOMED) and being picky
> about the model slots (choice RIM) that scheme goes into. This is the stage
> we're at now: *we don't need new standards, we need precise specifications
> for use.*****
>
> ** **
>
> Long and the short though, this may be just my pet peeve and we've probably
> all thrashed it to death by now, well at least, myself, Michael and Dave
> have :-) Best move on to the NCI questions Dave just mailed,****
>
> ** **
>
> Conor****
>
> On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 12:24 PM, Michael Miller <
> Michael.Miller@systemsbiology.org> wrote:****
>
> hi all,****
>
>  ****
>
> conor, excellent points in your last email.****
>
>  ****
>
> "...is an increase in the interdependencies and overlaps between the
> information model and the terminology "****
>
>  ****
>
> my experience has been that this doesn't necessarily have to happen.  just
> as linked data experience has shown, one can reason across ontology
> boundaries without prior knowledge of the links.****
>
>  ****
>
> "...to reason on the information model and the value set together to
> determine the right values for a particular field..."****
>
>  ****
>
> one can do this without the information model having knowledge of the value
> set.  the information model sets the meta-expectation of what is expected
> and then the value set can be examined for the best possible fit without
> there needing to be knowledge of the value set by the information model.
> one can, of course, couple an information model to a terminology but i
> believe that is bad modeling and with a little more effort can be avoided.
> ****
>
>  ****
>
> "If the information model could be expressed in a language that supports
> reasoning..."****
>
>  ****
>
> yes, this would allow the statement above to be computable.  ****
>
>  ****
>
> cheers,****
>
> michael****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E] [mailto:haudt@mail.nih.gov]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, August 31, 2011 11:58 AM
> *To:* Michael Miller; conor dowling****
>
>
> *Cc:* Jim McCusker; John Madden; public-semweb-lifesci@w3.org
> *Subject:* RE: A Fresh Look Proposal (HL7)****
>
>  ****
>
> Michael I agree with you and I see where Conor is coming from too.  I agree
> the information model should be decoupled from the value set to a certain
> extent, so each can evolve on its own and sustain over time.****
>
>  ****
>
> OTOH, I see what Conor meant by being able to reason on the information
> model and the value set together to determine the right values for a
> particular field.  SNOMED in particular, has a flexible grammar that allows
> a wide variety of post-coordinated expressions, so it would be quite
> impossible to exhaustively list out all allowed values as in an extensional
> definition of a value set.****
>
>  ****
>
> I think this is exactly where CTS2 comes in, in terms of improving CTS so
> that value sets can be more computable with reasoning.  The distinction
> between the intensional and extensional definition of a value set would be
> very useful in this regard, because the intensional definition if defined in
> a computable way, can certainly be used to accomplish the above.****
>
>  ****
>
> If the information model could be expressed in a language that supports
> reasoning, that would be even better because now you can reason across the
> field, the intensional value set, and the particular value a user has
> chosen.****
>
>  ****
>
> - Dave****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* Michael Miller [mailto:Michael.Miller@systemsbiology.org]
> *Sent:* Tuesday, August 30, 2011 4:56 PM
> *To:* conor dowling
> *Cc:* Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E]; Jim McCusker; John Madden;
> public-semweb-lifesci@w3.org
> *Subject:* RE: A Fresh Look Proposal (HL7)****
>
>  ****
>
> hi conor,****
>
>  ****
>
> i think this discussion has been missing the point about how a standard is
> developed and its relationship to ontologies/vocabularies that will be used
> for it.****
>
>  ****
>
> for an EHR, for instance, when a DAM is developed, what is important are
> the high level details such as 'patient', 'illness', 'disease state', not
> how one will record those details.  more important is the relationship
> between the high level details.  currently, in HL7, a flavor of UML is used,
> that's not to say an ontology could equally well be used but it would still
> be at this higher level.  and even tho an ontology could be used for the
> modeling, the amount of impedance and change to the bylaws of HL7 probably
> precludes that, altho a companion ontology to the UML could be, but it would
> not be normative.****
>
>  ****
>
> even when one goes to the implementation, RMIM, level, it is still
> important that the specific ontologies/vocabularies like SNOMED, gene
> symbols, etc, are loosely coupled to the standard.  it's been shown that
> this makes the standard more robust because as time moves on, new
> vocabularies are created or the standard is used in another area where there
> are more appropriate vocabularies the original creators of the standard
> weren't aware of.  so the paradigm of having a place for the term is always
> accomplied by a place to say from what vocabulary the term came from.
> (there are some places in the CG standards that specify LOINC codes but if
> you look, there is always an out to use some other vocabulary if desired)*
> ***
>
>  ****
>
> that said, this discussion to me isn't about HL7, it's about the proper way
> to use SNOMED regardless of where it is used.  it's just that Dave is
> interested in HL7 and so HL7 was the example at hand.  right now there are
> some v2 standards from CG that are being used (by harvard medical amongst
> others) so i agree it is important to make these issues with the use of
> ontologies/vocabularies part of the discussion now but it is important to
> understand its place in the discussion.  i would hazard a guess that the
> applications that produce HL7 formatted documents, for the most part, do not
> deal directly with the vocabularies but are reading the values from a
> database where when the test was entered into the database, the term came
> from a drop down list or some such.  so it's not clear to me where the
> target audience for getting SNOMED right is other than its probably not in
> HL7 standards.****
>
>  ****
>
> cheers,****
>
> michael****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* conor dowling [mailto:conor-dowling@caregraf.com]
> *Sent:* Friday, August 26, 2011 2:43 PM
> *To:* Michael Miller
> *Cc:* Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E]; Jim McCusker; John Madden;
> public-semweb-lifesci@w3.org
> *Subject:* Re: A Fresh Look Proposal (HL7)****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  "I think a SNOMED capable DAM should limit the coordination allowed."****
>
>  ****
>
> ... using SNOMED as your terminology is an implementation detail. ****
>
>  ****
>
> Michael,****
>
>  ****
>
> one problem with leaving it to implementation is the variety allowed in a
> concept scheme like SNOMED. Take a disorder like Hypercholesterolemia<http://datasets.caregraf.org/snomed#!13644009>:
> and a patient record with ...****
>
>  ****
>
>               :finding snomed:13644009 # Hypercholesterolemia****
>
>  ****
>
> another description of the same thing has ...****
>
>  ****
>
>               :finding snomed:166830008 # Serum cholesterol raised****
>
>  ****
>
> which is effectively equivalent. The "bridge" is ...****
>
>  ****
>
>               snomed:13644009 snomed:363705008 snomed:166830008 (More here<http://www.caregraf.com/blog/the-problem-with-picking-problems>
> )****
>
>               # *Hypercholesterolemia* *has definitional manifestation* *Serum
> cholesterol raised*.****
>
>  ****
>
> the question is where the bridge goes. Is "has definitional manifestation"
> defined consistently with the predicate "finding" or is it part of a
> completely separate concept model and never bought into play by one
> application?****
>
>  ****
>
> To me, all of this information goes into one "soup" - in linked data, you
> have *one big graph of* medical expression. I don't see the point in
> separate *media* for "statements about conditions" and "statements about
> condition types". ****
>
>  ****
>
> If in practice - well it's recommended - patient records use SNOMED then
> tying down that expression should be front and center of any clinical-care
> modeling effort. To be useful and implementable, we can't say "use any
> scheme you want" because that's equivalent to saying "you can only do
> trivial reasoning on this information".****
>
>  ****
>
> Conor****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* conor dowling [mailto:conor-dowling@caregraf.com]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, August 24, 2011 3:26 PM****
>
>
> *To:* Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E]****
>
> *Cc:* Michael Miller; Jim McCusker; John Madden;
> public-semweb-lifesci@w3.org****
>
>
> *Subject:* Re: A Fresh Look Proposal (HL7)****
>
>  ****
>
> DAM: it's good to have a name. Were OWL to be used for them and then other
> forms derived from that, you'd get the best of both worlds - get into
> Semantics and move on.****
>
>  ****
>
> One other nuance to throw in for the "model-terminology" match up. SNOMED
> raises a concern about the degree of "concept coordination" you should or
> should not do, about what load the terminology should take and what should
> be left to the model. A simple example is do you allow "disorder: allergy to
> strawberry" or do you make the model carry "disorder: allergy + allergin:
> strawberry" or do you allow both expressions? (see:
> http://www.caregraf.com/blog/there-once-was-a-strawberry-allergy)****
>
>  ****
>
> I think a SNOMED capable DAM should limit the coordination allowed. It
> should make the model carry qualifiers for severity, for progression, for
> allergin ... To use it, you would need to normalize these "adjectives" out
> of any concept. ****
>
>  ****
>
> I suppose what I'm saying is that any useful DAM should severely limit
> alternatives, in a way that goes beyond simple enumerations of permitted
> values and the nice thing about concept schemes like SNOMED is that this
> shouldn't be hard to do - crudely in SNOMED it would mean only allowing
> primitive concepts, the atoms from which compound concepts are made.****
>
>  ****
>
> BTW, this doesn't effect what a doctor sees on a screen - it's a matter of
> what expressions to use for interoperability. The two issues need to be
> strictly separated and right now, if you look at how CCDs are viewed,
> they're thick as thieves, ****
>
>  ****
>
> Conor****
>
> On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 2:49 PM, Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E] <
> haudt@mail.nih.gov> wrote:****
>
> > the kind of reasoning, i think, that you want to do, conor, would run on
> top of the information in the HL7 v3 formatted documents to take advantage
> of, among other things, the linked data cloud.****
>
>  ****
>
> Agree.  Earlier there was a discussion in HL7 on their Domain Analysis
> Model (DAM) effort - what exactly is a DAM and what it's supposed to do.  I
> think one possible approach would be to consider these DAMs as ontologies
> (i.e. conceptual models, knowledge), use OWL in the normative version of
> these DAMs, then to develop UML models and XSDs from the DAMs to use in
> applications.  The DAMs can be harmonized with other domain ontologies out
> there, and promoted for global adoption.  The UML models can be encouraged
> but not as strictly enforced, while alternatively allowing people to use RDF
> to tie data directly to concepts in the ontologies / DAMs.****
>
>  ****
>
> - Dave****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* Michael Miller [mailto:Michael.Miller@systemsbiology.org]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, August 24, 2011 11:12 AM
> *To:* conor dowling; Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E]****
>
>
> *Cc:* Jim McCusker; John Madden; public-semweb-lifesci@w3.org****
>
> *Subject:* RE: A Fresh Look Proposal (HL7)****
>
>  ****
>
> hi all,****
>
>  ****
>
> john, very well laid out argument in your email and what i've found in
> practice (and didn't think that consciously about until i read your email).
> ****
>
>  ****
>
> conor, i agree with your points.   but i find it interesting that OWL is
> expressed as XML for communication reasons.  XML has become pretty much the
> de facto standard for 'trading' information.  it's how MAGE-ML was used by
> the gene expression application i worked on at Rosetta to do import and
> export.  but the storage and presentation of the information was certainly
> not XML, the analysis of the data would take forever.  the trick is to make
> very clear what the extra semantics are and that is well understood for OWL
> as XML.  when someone wants to use an ontology they've received as an XML
> document, the first thing to do is transform the information in the XML so
> that the logic can be run easily (this gets back to john's points)****
>
>  ****
>
> one thing the  clinical genomics group has talked about  is that with the
> HL7 specs expressed in XML, the important part is that canonical validation
> applications are written that verify whether a document is conformant with
> the additional semantics plus provide boiler plate examples.  this allows
> the developers not to read the docs too closely but understand when they've
> done something wrong!  (not ideal but works, that's why OWL in XML works,
> there's a great body of tools)****
>
>  ****
>
> (from dave)****
>
>  ****
>
> "One way would be as Michael suggested, to use ODM for mapping UML to OWL.
> But is this mapping to OWL full or to a more computable dialect of OWL?  And
> would there be notions in UML that are not expressible in OWL and vice
> versa?  Should we maintain both the UML model and the OWL ontology as
> normative, or one of the two, and if so, which one?"****
>
>  ****
>
> i think where things get dicey is in the business/logic (there's a good
> discussion in the spec), so it is probably to a more computable dialect of
> OWL.  but in practice, the type of information that needs to be 'traded' by
> HL7 specs tends to be straight-forward information with the controlled
> vocabularies contributing the extra semantics of how a particular code
> relates to the patient and the report in the document and also connects out
> to the larger world.  one thing the clinical genomics group has tried to do
> is leave open what controlled vocabulary to use (this is something that i
> think MAGE-OM was one of the first to get right).  normally LOINC is
> recommended but, in the genomics world it is true things become out of date
> so to get the right term may require a new CV.  the kind of reasoning, i
> think, that you want to do, conor, would run on top of the information in
> the HL7 v3 formatted documents to take advantage of, among other things, the
> linked data cloud.****
>
>  ****
>
> so i guess what i'm saying here is that using XML as the language of
> interchange is not a bad thing but that it is expected, and this needs to be
> made clear, that the XML is almost certainly not the best storage mechanism
> for the data.****
>
>  ****
>
> cheers,****
>
> michael****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* public-semweb-lifesci-request@w3.org [mailto:
> public-semweb-lifesci-request@w3.org] *On Behalf Of *conor dowling
> *Sent:* Tuesday, August 23, 2011 5:22 PM
> *To:* Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E]
> *Cc:* Jim McCusker; John Madden; public-semweb-lifesci@w3.org
> *Subject:* Re: A Fresh Look Proposal (HL7)****
>
>  ****
>
> So Conor if I understand you correctly, you're saying that the current gap
> that should be addressed in Fresh Look is that the current HL7 v3 models are
> not specified in a language that can be used for reasoning, i.e. they are
> not OWL ontologies, otherwise publishing value sets would not be necessary
> because the reasoning could determine whether a particular value (i.e.
> "object" in your email) would be valid for a particular observation (i.e.
> "verb).  Is that what you're saying?****
>
>  ****
>
> Dave, ****
>
>  ****
>
> exactly - that the patient information model and any recommended
> terminologies be defined in the same medium and that the medium be capable
> of capturing permitted ranges, appropriate domains etc. for all predicates:
> I think a flavor of OWL with a closed-world assumption is the only real game
> in town but ...****
>
>  ****
>
> One goal (always easier to agree on goals than technologies!) is that an
> "allergic to allergy" misstep wouldn't happen - there would be no need to
> read guidance and coders don't read! A meaningful use test would assert
> permitted ranges (ex/ allergin class:
> http://datasets.caregraf.org/snomed#!406455002 for a property "allergin").
> ****
>
>  ****
>
> Of course, 'correctness' isn't the only goal or result: transforming
> between equivalent expressions supported by model+terminology should be
> possible and promoted (take:
> http://www.caregraf.com/blog/good-son-jones-diabetic-ma ). And then
> there's the direct path to decision-support which you mention above.****
>
>  ****
>
> The focus on enforcing syntactic correctness would fade away and the model
> specifier's demand for greater precision from terminologies should drive
> improvements there. This is far from new: some HL7 and SNOMED documents
> identify the need to marry model and terminology but go no further.****
>
>  ****
>
> I think the current meaningful-use CCD has six areas - allergies, problems,
> procedures ... It would be interesting to try one or two, say look at
> Kaiser's problem subset from SNOMED and see how a HL7-based OWL patient
> model and that could work together. There are a lot of pieces in the wild
> now: they just need a forum to play in.****
>
>  ****
>
> One last thing, slightly off the thread but still on topic I think. I don't
> see any reason to mix up "human readable" and "machine processable". One
> possibility for a patient model update, one that bypasses the need for
> buy-in by everyone, irrespective of use case, is to call out the need for a
> model of description purely for machine processing, one without the "we'll
> XSLT the patient record in the doctor's browser". While the current
> standards lead to human-readable data-dumps, a stricter parallel track could
> take the best of current standards and re-state them in OWL to deliver
> machine-processable health data exchange,****
>
>  ****
>
> Conor****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> I agree OWL ontologies are useful in health informatics because reasoning
> can be used for better validation, decision support etc.  I'm wondering, is
> there a need for both a UML type modeling language and OWL (or other
> logic-based language) to be used simultaneously?  If so, how?  Should OWL be
> used for representing knowledge, and UML be used for representing
> application models?****
>
>  ****
>
> One way would be as Michael suggested, to use ODM for mapping UML to OWL.
> But is this mapping to OWL full or to a more computable dialect of OWL?  And
> would there be notions in UML that are not expressible in OWL and vice
> versa?  Should we maintain both the UML model and the OWL ontology as
> normative, or one of the two, and if so, which one?****
>
>  ****
>
> - Dave****
>
>  ****
>
> ps.  Michael, nice meeting you at the caBIG F2F too!****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* conor dowling [mailto:conor-dowling@caregraf.com]
> *Sent:* Monday, August 22, 2011 12:28 PM
> *To:* John Madden
> *Cc:* Jim McCusker; Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E]; public-semweb-lifesci@w3.org
> *Subject:* Re: A Fresh Look Proposal (HL7)****
>
>  ****
>
> >> for each tool-chain, there are some kinds of content that are natural
> and easy to express, and other kinds of content that are difficult and
> imperspicuous to express****
>
>  ****
>
> it's the old "medium is the message" and as you say John, it's somewhat
> unavoidable, But this connection doesn't imply all media are equally
> expressive. ****
>
>  ****
>
> Making XSD/XML the focus for definition rather than seeing it as just one
> end-of-a-road serialization is limiting because as a medium, it puts the
> focus on syntax, not semantics. That can't be said of OWL/SKOS/RDFS ...***
> *
>
>  ****
>
> By way of example: you could have a patient data ontology, one that works
> with a KOS like SNOMED and if an implementor likes XML, there's nothing to
> stop ...****
>
>  ****
>
>               RDF (turtle) conformant to ontologies/KOS --> RDF/XML ----
> XSLT ----> CCD (ex)****
>
>  ****
>
> as a chain. It's trivial. But if you start with lot's of XSL, well you get
> only what that medium permits and promotes, which is a focus on syntax, on
> the presence or absence of fields, as opposed to guidance on the correct
> concept to use with this or that verb. ****
>
>  ****
>
> Of course, a verb-object split is comfortable because those building
> information models can work independently of those creating terminologies
> but is such separation a good thing? Now, were both to work in a common
> medium then inevitably ...****
>
>  ****
>
> Conor****
>
>  ****
>
> p.s. the public release by Kaiser of their subsets of SNOMED (CMT) is the
> kind of thing that will make that KOS more practical. Now what's needed is
> tighter definition of the model to use with that and similar sub schemes.*
> ***
>
> On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 9:03 AM, John Madden <john.madden@duke.edu> wrote:
> ****
>
> I agree 95% with Jim and Conor.****
>
>  ****
>
> My 5% reservation is that for each tool-chain, there are some kinds of
> content that are natural and easy to express, and other kinds of content
> that are difficult and imperspicuous to express (is that a word?).****
>
>  ****
>
> Even this is not in itself a problem, except that it tends to make
> architects favor some kinds of conceptualization and shun other kinds of
> conceptualization, not on the merits, but because that's what's easy to
> express in the given tool.****
>
>  ****
>
> For example, the fact that the decision was made to serialize all RIM-based
> artifacts as XSD-valid XML meant that hierarchical modeling rather than
> directed-graph modeling tended to be used in practice. (Even though the RIM
> expressed as a Visio model has more in common with a directed-graph.) It
> meant that derivation by restriction was made the favored extensibility
> mechanism. ****
>
>  ****
>
> These choices may not have been the most auspicious for the kind of
> conceptualizations that needed to be expressed. None of these things are
> "necessary" consequences of using XSD-valid XML as your language Rather,
> they are the results that you tend to get in practice because the tool has
> so much influence on the style that ends up, in practice, being
> used. (id/idref//key/keyrefs are certainly part of XSD/XML, and make it
> possible to express non-hierarchical relations, but where in any HL7
> artifact do you ever see key/keyref being used?? SImilarly, it is possible
> to derive by extension in XSD, but the spec makes it less easy than deriving
> by restriction). ****
>
>  ****
>
> Or again, the fact that OIDs rather than http URLs were chosen as the
> identifier of choice isn't in any way dispositive of whether you will be
> tend to architect with RPC or REST principles in mind. (OIDs and http URLs
> are actually quite interconvertible.) But I'd argue that if you are a person
> who tends to think using http URLs, you'll more likely gravitate to REST
> solutions out of the gate.****
>
>  ****
>
> So, I agree, what's important is the deep content, not the choice of
> serialization of that content. But a bad serialization choice, coupled with
> bad tools, can leave architects wandering in the wilderness for a long time.
> So long, sometimes, that they lose track of what the deep conceptualization
> was supposed to have been in the first place.****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> On Aug 22, 2011, at 9:39 AM, Jim McCusker wrote:****
>
>  ****
>
> I was just crafting a mail about how our investment in XML technologies
> hasn't paid off when this came in. What he said. :-)****
>
> On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 9:33 AM, conor dowling <conor-dowling@caregraf.com>
> wrote:****
>
> >> The content matters, the format does not.****
>
>  ****
>
> should be front and center. Talk of XML that or JSON this, of RDF as XML in
> a chain is a distraction - it's just plumbing. There are many tool-chains
> and implementors are big boys - they can graze the buffet themselves. ****
>
>  ****
>
> Central to any patient model rework (I hope) would be the interplay of
> formal specifications for terminologies like SNOMED along with any patient
> data information model. What should go in the terminology concept (the
> "object" in RDF terms) - what is left in the model (the "predicate"). Right
> now, this interplay is woefully under specified and implementors throw just
> about any old concept into "appropriate" slots in RIM (I know this from
> doing meaningful use tests:
> http://www.caregraf.com/blog/being-allergic-to-allergies,
> http://www.caregraf.com/blog/there-once-was-a-strawberry-allergy ) BTW, if
> SNOMED is the terminology of choice (for most) then the dance of it and any
> RIM-2 should drive much of RIM-2's form.****
>
>  ****
>
> This is a chance to get away from a fixation on formats/plumbing/"the
> trucks for data" and focus on content and in that focus to consider every
> aspect of expression, not just the verbs (RIM) or the objects (SNOMED) but
> both.****
>
>  ****
>
> Back to "forget the plumbing": if you want to publish a patient's data as
> an RDF graph or relational tables or you want a "document" to send on a
> wire, if you want to query with a custom protocol or use SPARQL or SQL, you
> should be able to and not be seen as an outlier. Each can be reduced to
> equivalents in other formats for particular interoperability. The problem
> right now is that so much time is spent talking about these containers and
> working between them and too little time is given over to what they contain,
> ****
>
>  ****
>
> Conor****
>
>  ****
>
> On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 6:01 AM, Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E] <
> haudt@mail.nih.gov> wrote:****
>
> I see what you're saying and I agree.****
>
>  ****
>
> The appeal of XML (i.e. XML used with an XSD representing model syntactics,
> not XML used as a serialization as in RDF/XML) is due in part to:****
>
>  ****
>
> - XML schema validation API is available on virtually all platforms e.g.
> Java, Javascript, Google Web Toolkit, Android etc.****
>
> - XML schema validation is relatively lightweight computationally.  Pellet
> ICV and similar mechanisms are more complete in their validation with the
> model, but much more computationally expensive unless you restrict yourself
> to a small subset of OWL which then limits the expressiveness of the
> modeling language.****
>
> - XML provides a convenient bridge from models such as OWL to relational
> databases e.g. via JAXB or Castor to Java objects to Hibernate to any RDB.
> ****
>
> - Relational querying and XML manipulation skills are much more plentiful
> in the market than SPARQL skills currently.****
>
> - Some of the current HL7 artifacts are expressed in XSD format, such as
> their datatypes (ISO 21090 ; although there are alternative representations
> such as UML, and there is an abstract spec too from HL7).  If we operate
> with OWL and RDF exclusively, would need to convert these datatypes into
> OWL.****
>
>  ****
>
> Maybe it'd be worthwhile to get a few of us who are interested in this
> topic together, with some of the HL7 folks interested, and have a few calls
> to flush this out and maybe write something up?****
>
>  ****
>
> - Dave****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* Jim McCusker [mailto:james.mccusker@yale.edu]
> *Sent:* Sunday, August 21, 2011 6:12 PM
> *To:* Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E]
> *Cc:* public-semweb-lifesci@w3.org
> *Subject:* Re: FW: A Fresh Look Proposal (HL7)****
>
>  ****
>
> I feel I need to cut to the chase with this one: XML schema cannot validate
> semantic correctness.****
>
>  ****
>
> It can validate that XML conforms to a particular schema, but that is
> syntactic. The OWL validator is nothing like a schema validator, first it
> produces a closure of all statements that can be inferred from the asserted
> information. This means that if a secondary ontology is used to describe
> some data, and that ontology integrates with the ontology that you're
> attempting to validate against, you will get a valid result. An XML schema
> can only work with what's in front of it.****
>
>  ****
>
> Two, there are many different representations of information that go beyond
> XML, and it should be possible to validate that information without anything
> other than a mechanical, universal translation. For instance, there are a
> few mappings of RDF into JSON, including JSON-LD, which looks the most
> promising at the moment. Since RDF/XML and JSON-LD both parse to the same
> abstract graph, there is a mechanical transformation between them. When
> dealing with semantic validity, you want to check the graph that is parsed
> from the document, not the document itself.****
>
>  ****
>
> The content matters, the format does not. For instance, let me define a new
> RDF format called RDF/CSV:****
>
>  ****
>
> First column is the subject. First row is the predicate. All other cell
> values are objects. URIs that are relative are relative to the document, as
> in RDF/XML.****
>
>  ****
>
> I can write a parser for that in 1 hour and publish it. It's genuinely
> useful, and all you would have to do to read and write it is to use my
> parser or write one yourself. I can then use the parser, paired with Pellet
> ICV, and validate the information in the file without any additional work
> from anyone.****
>
>  ****
>
> Maybe we need a simplified XML representation for RDF that looks more like
> regular XML. But to make a schema for an OWL ontology is too much work for
> too little payoff.****
>
>  ****
>
> Jim****
>
> On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 5:45 PM, Hau, Dave (NIH/NCI) [E] <
> haudt@mail.nih.gov> wrote:****
>
> Hi all,****
>
>  ****
>
> As some of you may have read, HL7 is rethinking their v3 and doing some
> brainstorming on what would be a good replacement for a data exchange
> paradigm grounded in robust semantic modeling.****
>
>  ****
>
> On the following email exchange, I was wondering, if OWL is used for
> semantic modeling, are there good ways to accomplish the following:****
>
>  ****
>
> 1.  Generate a wire format schema (for a subset of the model, the subset
> they call a "resource"), e.g. XSD****
>
>  ****
>
> 2.  Validate XML instances for conformance to the semantic model.  (Here
> I'm reminded of Clark and Parsia's work on their Integrity Constraint
> Validator:  http://clarkparsia.com/pellet/icv )****
>
>  ****
>
> 3.  Map an XML instance conformant to an earlier version of the "resource"
> to the current version of the "resource" via the OWL semantic model****
>
>  ****
>
> I think it'd be great to get a semantic web perspective on this fresh look
> effort.****
>
>  ****
>
> Cheers,****
>
> Dave****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> Dave Hau****
>
> National Cancer Institute****
>
> Tel: 301-443-2545****
>
> Dave.Hau@nih.gov****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* owner-its@lists.hl7.org [mailto:owner-its@lists.hl7.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Lloyd McKenzie
> *Sent:* Sunday, August 21, 2011 12:07 PM
> *To:* Andrew McIntyre
> *Cc:* Grahame Grieve; Eliot Muir; Zel, M van der; HL7-MnM; RIMBAA; HL7 ITS
> *Subject:* Re: A Fresh Look Proposal****
>
>  ****
>
> Hi Andrew,****
>
>  ****
>
> Tacking stuff on the end simply doesn't work if you're planning to use XML
> Schema for validation.  (Putting new stuff in the middle or the beginning
> has the same effect - it's an unrecognized element.)  The only alternative
> is to say that all changes after "version 1" of the specification will be
> done using the extension mechanism.  That will create tremendous analysis
> paralysis as we try to get things "right" for that first version, and will
> result in increasing clunkiness in future versions.  Furthermore, the
> extension mechanism only works for the wire format.  For the RIM-based
> description, we still need proper modeling, and that can't work with "stick
> it on the end" no matter what.****
>
>  ****
>
> That said, I'm not advocating for the nightmare we currently have with v3
> right now.****
>
>  ****
>
> I think the problem has three parts - how to manage changes to the wire
> format, how to version resource definitions and how to manage changes to the
> semantic model.****
>
>  ****
>
> Wire format:****
>
> If we're using schema for validation, we really can't change anything
> without breaking validation.  Even making an existing non-repeating element
> repeat is going to cause schema validation issues.  That leaves us with two
> options (if we discount the previously discussed option of "get it right the
> first time and be locked there forever":****
>
> 1. Don't use schema****
>
> - Using Schematron or something else could easily allow validation of the
> elements that are present, but ignore all "unexpected" elements****
>
> - This would cause significant pain for implementers who like to use schema
> to help generate code though****
>
>  ****
>
> 2. Add some sort of a version indicator on new content that allows a
> pre-processor to remove all "new" content if processing using an "old"
> handler****
>
> - Unpleasant in that it involves a pre-processing step and adds extra
> "bulk" to the instances, but other than that, quite workable****
>
>  ****
>
> I think we're going to have to go with option #2.  It's not ideal, but is
> still relatively painless for implementers.  The biggest thing is that we
> can insist on "no breaking x-path changes".  We don't move stuff between
> levels in a resource wire format definition or rename elements in a resource
> wire format definition.  In the unlikely event we have to deprecate the
> entire resource and create a new version.****
>
>  ****
>
> Resource versioning:****
>
> At some point, HL7 is going to find at least one resource where we blew it
> with the original design and the only way to create a coherent wire format
> is to break compatibility with the old one.  This will then require
> definition of a new resource, with a new name that occupies the same
> semantic space as the original.  I.e. We'll end up introducing "overlap".
>  Because overlap will happen, we need to figure out how we're going to deal
> with it.  I actually think we may want to introduce overlap in some places
> from the beginning.  Otherwise we're going to force a wire format on
> implementers of simple community EMRs that can handle prescriptions for
> fully-encoded chemo-therapy protocols.  (They can ignore some of the data
> elements, but they'd still have to support the full complexity of the nested
> data structures.)****
>
>  ****
>
> I don't have a clear answer here, but I think we need to have a serious
> discussion about how we'll handle overlap in those cases where it's
> necessary, because at some point it'll be necessary.  If we don't figure out
> the approach before we start, we can't allow for it in the design.****
>
>  ****
>
> All that said, I agree with the approach of avoiding overlap as much as
> humanly possible.  For that reason, I don't advocate calling the Person
> resource "Person_v1" or something that telegraphs we're going to have new
> versions of each resource eventually (let alone frequent changes).
>  Introduction of a new version of a resource should only be done when the
> pain of doing so is outweighed by the pain of trying to fit new content in
> an old version, or requiring implementers of the simple to support the
> structural complexity of our most complex use-cases.****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> Semantic model versioning:****
>
> This is the space where "getting it right" the first time is the most
> challenging.  (I think we've done that with fewer than half of the normative
> specifications we've published so far.)  V3 modeling is hard.  The positive
> thing about the RFH approach is that very few people need to care.  We could
> totally refactor every single resource's RIM-based model (or even remove
> them entirely), and the bulk of implementers would go on merrily exchanging
> wire syntax instances.  However, that doesn't mean the RIM-based
> representations aren't important.  They're the foundation for the meaning of
> what's being shared.  And if you want to start sharing at a deeper level
> such as RIMBAA-based designs, they're critical.  This is the level where OWL
> would come in.  If you have one RIM-based model structure, and then need to
> refactor and move to a different RIM-based model structure, you're going to
> want to map the semantics between the two structures so that anyone who was
> using the old structure can manage instances that come in with the new
> structure (or vice versa).  OWL can do that.  And anyone who's got a complex
> enough implementation to parse the wire format and trace the elements
> through the their underlying RIM semantic model will likely be capable of
> managing the OWL mapping component as well.****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> In short, I think we're in agreement that separation of wire syntax and
> semantic model are needed.  That will make model refactoring much easier.
>  However we do have to address how we're going to handle wire-side and
> resource refactoring too.****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> Lloyd****
>
> --------------------------------------
> Lloyd McKenzie
>
> +1-780-993-9501
>
>
>
> Note: Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the opinions and positions
> expressed in this e-mail do not necessarily reflect those of my clients nor
> those of the organizations with whom I hold governance positions.****
>
> On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 7:53 AM, Andrew McIntyre <
> andrew@medical-objects.com.au> wrote:****
>
> Hello Lloyd,
>
> While "tacking stuff on the end" in V2 may not at first glance seem like an
> elegant solution I wonder if it isn't actually the best solution, and one
> that has stood the test of time. The parsing rules in V2 do make version
> updates quite robust wrt backward and forward inter-operability.
>
> I am sure it could be done with OWL but I doubt we can switch the world to
> using OWL in any reasonable time frame and we probably need a less abstract
> representation for commonly used things. In V2 OBX segments, used in a
> hierarchy can create an OWL like object-attribute structure for information
> that is not modeled by the standard itself.
>
> I do think the wire format and any overlying model should be distinct
> entities so that the model can be evolved and the wire format be changed in
> a backward compatible way, at least for close versions.
>
> I also think that the concept of templates/archetypes to extend the model
> should not invalidate the wire format, but be a metadata layer over the wire
> format. This is what we have done in Australia with an ISO 13606 Archetypes
> in V2 projects. I think we do need a mechanism for people to develop
> templates to describe hierarchical data and encode that in the wire format
> in a way that does not invalidate its vanilla semantics (ie non templated V2
> semantics) when the template mechanism is unknown or not implemented.
>
> In a way the V2 specification does hit at underlying objects/Interfaces,
> and there is a V2 model, but it is not prescriptive and there is no
> requirement for systems to use the same internal model as long as they use
> the bare bones V2 model in the same way. Obviously this does not always work
> as well as we would like, even in V2, but it does work well enough to use it
> for quite complex data when there are good implementation guides.
>
> If we could separate the wire format from the clinical models then the 2
> can evolve in their own way. We have done several trial implementations of
> Virtual Medical Record Models (vMR) which used V3 datatypes and RIM like
> classes and could build those models from V2 messages, or in some cases non
> standard Web Services, although for specific clinical classes did use ISO
> 13606 archetypes to structure the data in V2 messages.
>
> I think the dream of having direct model serializations as messages is
> flawed for all the reasons that have made V3 impossible to implement in the
> wider world. While the tack it on the end, lots of optionality rationale
> might seem clunky, maybe its the best solution to a difficult problem. If we
> define tight SOAP web services for everything we will end up with thousands
> of slightly different SOAP calls for every minor variation and I am not sure
> this is the path to enlightenment either.
>
> I am looking a Grahams proposal now, but I do wonder if the start again
> from scratch mentality is not part of the problem. Perhaps that is a lesson
> to be learned from the V3 process. Maybe the problem is 2 complex to solve
> from scratch and like nature we have to evolve and accept there is lots of
> junk DNA, but maintaining a working standard at all times is the only way to
> avoid extinction.
>
> I do like the idea of a cohesive model for use in decision support, and
> that's what the vMR/GELLO is about, but I doubt there will ever be a one
> size fits all model and any model will need to evolve. Disconnecting the
> model from the messaging, with all the pain that involves, might create a
> layered approach that might allow the HL7 organism to evolve gracefully. I
> do think part of the fresh look should be education on what V2 actually
> offers, and can offer, and I suspect many people in HL7 have never seriously
> looked at it in any depth.
>
> Andrew McIntyre****
>
>
>
> Saturday, August 20, 2011, 4:37:37 AM, you wrote:****
>
> Hi Grahame,
>
> Going to throw some things into the mix from our previous discussions
> because I don't see them addressed yet.  (Though I admit I haven't reread
> the whole thing, so if you've addressed and I haven't seen, just point me at
> the proper location.)
>
> One of the challenges that has bogged down much of the v3 work at the
> international level (and which causes a great deal of pain at the
> project/implementation level) is the issue of refactoring.  The pain at the
> UV level comes from the fact that we have a real/perceived obligation to
> meet all known and conceivable use-cases for a particular domain.  For
> example, the pharmacy domain model needs to meet the needs of clinics,
> hospitals, veterinarians, and chemotherapy protocols and must support the
> needs of the U.S., Soviet union and Botswana.  To make matters more
> interesting, participation from the USSR and Botswana is a tad light.
>  However the fear is that if all of these needs aren't taken into account,
> then when someone with those needs shows up at the door, the model will need
> to undergo substantive change, and that will break all of the existing
> systems.
>
> The result is a great deal of time spent gathering requirements and
> refactoring and re-refactoring the model as part of the design process,
> together with a tendency to make most, if not all data elements optional at
> the UV level.  A corollary is that the UV specs are totally unimplementable
> in an interoperable fashion.  The evil of optionality that manifested in v2
> that v3 was going to banish turned out to not be an issue of the standard,
> but rather of the issues with creating a generic specification that
> satisfies global needs and a variety of use-cases.
>
> The problem at the implementer/project level is that when you take the UV
> model and tightly constrain it to fit your exact requirements, you discover
> 6 months down the road that one or more of your constraints was wrong and
> you need to loosen it, or you have a new requirement that wasn't thought of,
> and this too requires refactoring and often results in wire-level
> incompatibilities.
>
> One of the things that needs to be addressed if we're really going to
> eliminate one of the major issues with v3 is a way to reduce the fear of
> refactoring.  Specifically, it should be possible to totally refactor the
> model and have implementations and designs work seemlessly across versions.
>
> I think putting OWL under the covers should allows for this.  If we can
> assert equivalencies between data elements in old and new models, or even
> just map the wire syntaxes of old versions to new versions of the definition
> models, then this issue would be significantly addressed:
> - Committees wouldn't have to worry about satisfying absolutely every
> use-case to get something useful out because they know they can make changes
> later without breaking everything.  (They wouldn't even necessarily have to
> meet all the use-cases of the people in the room! :>)
> - Realms and other implementers would be able to have an interoperability
> path that allowed old wire formats to interoperate with new wireformats
> through the aid of appropriate tooling that could leverage the OWL under the
> covers.  (I think creating such tooling is *really* important because
> version management is a significant issue with v3.  And with XML and
> schemas, the whole "ignore everything on the end you don't recognize" from
> v2 isn't a terribly reasonable way forward.
>
> I think it's important to figure out exactly how refactoring and version
> management will work in this new approach.  The currently proposed approach
> of "you can add stuff, but you can't change what's there" only scales so
> far.
>
>
> I think we *will* need to significantly increase the number of Resources
> (from 30 odd to a couple of hundred).  V3 supports things like invoices,
> clinical study design, outbreak tracking and a whole bunch of other
> healthcare-related topics that may not be primary-care centric but are still
> healthcare centric.  That doesn't mean all (or even most) systems will need
> to deal with them, but the systems that care will definitely need them.  The
> good news is that most of these more esoteric areas have responsible
> committees that can manage the definition of these resources, and as you
> mention, we can leverage the RMIMs and DMIMs we already have in defining
> these structures.
>
>
> The specification talks about robust capturing of requirements and
> traceability to them, but gives no insight into how this will occur.  It's
> something we've done a lousy job of with v3, but part of the reason for that
> is it's not exactly an easy thing to do.  The solution needs to flesh out
> exactly how this will happen.
>
>
> We need a mapping that explains exactly what's changed in the datatypes
> (and for stuff that's been removed, how to handle that use-case).
>
> There could still be a challenge around granularity of text.  As I
> understand it, you can have a text representation for an attribute, or for
> any XML element.  However, what happens if you have a text blob in your
> interface that covers 3 of 7 attributes inside a given XML element.  You
> can't use the text property of the element, because the text only covers 3
> of 7.  You can't use the text property of one of the attributes because it
> covers 3 separate attributes.  You could put the same text in each of the 3
> attributes, but that's somewhat redundant and is going to result in
> rendering issues.  One solution might be to allow the text specified at the
> element level to identify which of the attributes the text covers.  A
> rendering system could then use that text for those attributes, and then
> render the discrete values of the remaining specified attributes.  What this
> would mean is that an attribute might be marked as "text" but not have text
> content directly if the parent element had a text blob that covered that
> attribute.
>
>
>
> New (to Grahame) comments:
>
> I didn't see anything in the HTML section or the transaction section on how
> collisions are managed for updates.  A simple requirement (possibly
> optional) to include the version id of the resource being updated or deleted
> should work.
>
> To my knowledge, v3 (and possibly v2) has never supported true "deletes".
>  At best, we do an update and change the status to nullified.  Is that the
> intention of the "Delete" transaction, or do we really mean a true "Delete"?
>  Do we have any use-cases for true deletes?
>
> I wasn't totally clear on the context for uniqueness of ids.  Is it within
> a given resource or within a given base URL?  What is the mechanism for
> referencing resources from other base URLs?  (We're likely to have networks
> of systems that play together.)
>
> Nitpick: I think "id" might better be named "resourceId" to avoid any
> possible confusion with "identifier".  I recognize that from a coding
> perspective, shorter is better.  However, I think that's outweightd by the
> importance of avoiding confusion.
>
> In the resource definitions, you repeated definitions for resources
> inherited from parent resources.  E.g. Person.created inherited from
> Resource.Base.created.  Why?  That's a lot of extra maintenance and
> potential for inconsistency.  It also adds unnecessary volume.
>
> Suggest adding a caveat to the draft that the definitions are placeholders
> and will need significant work.  (Many are tautological and none meet the
> Vocab WG's guidelines for quality definitions.)
>
> Why is Person.identifier mandatory?
>
> You've copied "an element from Resource.Base.???" to all of the Person
> attributes, including those that don't come from Resource.Base.
>
> Obviously the workflow piece and the conformance rules that go along with
> it need some fleshing out.  (Looks like this may be as much fun in v4 as it
> has been in v3 :>)
>
> The list of identifier types makes me queasy.  It looks like we're
> reintroducing the mess that was in v2.  Why?  Trying to maintain an ontology
> of identifier types is a lost cause.  There will be a wide range of
> granularity requirements and at fine granularity, there will be 10s of
> thousands.  The starter list is pretty incoherent.  If you're going to have
> types at all, the vocabulary should be constrained to a set of codes based
> on the context in which the real-world identifier is present.  If there's no
> vocabulary defined for the property in that context, then you can use text
> for a label and that's it.
>
> I didn't see anything on conformance around datatypes.  Are we going to
> have datatype flavors?  How is conformance stated for datatype properties?
>
> I didn't see templateId or flavorId or any equivalent.  How do instances
> (or portions there-of) declare conformance to "additional" constraint
> specifications/conformance profiles than the base one for that particular
> server?
>
> We need to beef up the RIM mapping portion considerably.  Mapping to a
> single RIM class or attribute isn't sufficient.  Most of the time, we're
> going to need to map to a full context model that talks about the
> classCodes, moodCodes and relationships.  Also, you need to relate
> attributes to the context of the RIM location of your parent.
>
> There's no talk about context conduction, which from an implementation
> perspective is a good thing.  However, I think it's still needed behind the
> scenes.  Presumably this would be covered as part of the RIM semantics
> layer?
>
> In terms of the "validate" transaction, we do a pseudo-validate in
> pharmacy, but a 200 response isn't sufficient.  We can submit a draft
> prescription and say "is this ok?".  The response might be as simple as
> "yes" (i.e. a 200).  However, it could also be a "no" or "maybe" with a list
> of possible contraindications, dosage issues, allergy alerts and other
> detected issues.  How would such a use-case be met in this paradigm?
>
> At the risk of over-complicating things, it might be useful to think about
> data properties as being identifying or not to aid in exposing resources in
> a de-identified way.  (Not critical, just wanted to plant the seed in your
> head about if or how this might be done.)
>
>
> All questions and comments aside, I definitely in favour of fleshing out
> this approach and looking seriously at moving to it.  To that end, I think
> we need a few things:
> - A list of the open issues that need to be resolved in the new approach.
>  (You have "todo"s scattered throughout.  A consolidated list of the "big"
> things would be useful.)
> - An analysis of how we move from existing v3 to the new approach, both in
> terms of leveraging existing artifacts and providing a migration path for
> existing solutions as well as what tools, etc. we need.
> - A plan for how to engage the broader community for review.  (Should
> ideally do this earlier rather than later.)
>
> Thanks to you, Rene and others for all the work you've done.
>
>
> Lloyd
>
> --------------------------------------
> Lloyd McKenzie
>
> +1-780-993-9501
>
>
>
> Note: Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the opinions and positions
> expressed in this e-mail do not necessarily reflect those of my clients nor
> those of the organizations with whom I hold governance positions.
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 9:08 AM, Grahame Grieve <grahame@kestral.com.au***
> *
>
> > wrote:****
>
>
> hi All
>
> Responses to comments
>
> #Michael
>
> > 1. I would expect more functional interface to use these resources.
>
> as you noted in later, this is there, but I definitely needed to make
> more of it. That's where I ran out of steam
>
> > 2. One of the things that was mentioned (e.g. at the Orlando
> > WGM RIMBAA Fresh Look discussion) is that we want to use
> > industry standard tooling, right? Are there enough libraries that
> > implement REST?
>
> this doesn't need tooling. There's schemas if you want to bind to them
>
> > 2b. A lot of vendors now implement WebServices. I think we should
> > go for something vendors already have or will easilly adopt. Is that the
> case with REST?
>
> Speaking as a vendor/programmer/writer of an open source web services
> toolkit, I prefer REST. Way prefer REST
>
> > Keep up the good work!
>
> ta
>
> #Mark
>
> > I very much like the direction of this discussion towards web services
> > and in particular RESTful web services.
>
> yes, though note that REST is a place to start, not a place to finish.
>
> > At MITRE we have been advocating this approach for some time with our
> hData initiative.
>
> yes. you'll note my to do: how does this relate to hData, which is a
> higher level
> specification than the CRUD stuff here.
>
> #Eliot
>
> > Hats off - I think it's an excellent piece of work and definitely a step
> in right direction.
>
> thanks.
>
> > I didn't know other people in the HL7 world other than me were talking
> about
> > (highrise).  Who are they?
>
> not in Hl7. you were one. it came up in some other purely IT places that I
> play
>
> >  5) Build it up by hand with a wiki - it is more scalable really since
> you
>
> wiki's have their problems, though I'm not against them.
>
> > 1) I think it would be better not to use inheritance to define a patient
> as
> > a sub type of a person.  The trouble with that approach is that people
> can
>
> On the wire, a patient is not a sub type of person. The relationship
> between the two is defined in the definitions.
>
> > A simpler approach is associate additional data with a person if and when
> > they become a patient.
>
> in one way, this is exactly what RFH does. On the other hand, it creates a
> new identity for the notion of patient (for integrity). We can discuss
> whether that's good or bad.
>
> > 2) I'd avoid language that speaks down to 'implementers'.  It's
> enterprise
>
> really? Because I'm one. down the bottom of your enterprise pole. And
> I'm happy to be one of those stinking implementers down in the mud.
> I wrote it first for me. But obviously we wouldn't want to cause offense.
> I'm sure I haven't caused any of that this week ;-)
>
> > 3) If you want to reach a broader audience, then simplify the language.
>
> argh, and I thought I had. how can we not use the right terms? But I
> agree that the introduction is not yet direct enough - and that's after
> 4 rewrites to try and make it so....
>
> Grahame
>
>
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> *--
> Best regards,
>  Andrew                             *mailto:andrew@Medical-Objects.com.au<andrew@Medical-Objects.com.au>
>
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> --
> Jim McCusker
> Programmer Analyst
> Krauthammer Lab, Pathology Informatics
> Yale School of Medicine
> james.mccusker@yale.edu | (203) 785-6330
> http://krauthammerlab.med.yale.edu
>
> PhD Student
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> http://tw.rpi.edu****
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> ****
>
>  ****
>
> --
> Jim McCusker
> Programmer Analyst
> Krauthammer Lab, Pathology Informatics
> Yale School of Medicine
> james.mccusker@yale.edu | (203) 785-6330
> http://krauthammerlab.med.yale.edu
>
> PhD Student
> Tetherless World Constellation
> Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
> mccusj@cs.rpi.edu
> http://tw.rpi.edu****
>
>  ****
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