Project Title:  An Information Portal to Cure Club Foot

Department/organizational unit(s):  eGranary Digital Library / WiderNet Project

 

Mentor Name(s):  Cliff Missen

 

Brief project description:  In conjunction with the Ponseti International Association, create a set of portals that include large amounts of digital resources to inform and train health care workers, child advocates, parents, and policy makers on this proven new way to inexpensively cure club foot without surgery.  This project will involve identifying, securing, and organizing digital resources from and for numerous stakeholders.  The project is international in scope, but the first implementations of these portals will be in Africa within the next year.  There is a potential for participants to travel to African venues to train patrons and test the portals.

Examples of key activities:

  • Identify existing resources and garner permissions
  • Work with parents, patients, physicians, others to create custom portals
  • Catalog and track resources and their usage
  • Assist Web database developers in the design of the system
  • Recruit area experts to assist in building portals
  • Consult with patrons to assess and improve the system

 Number of students that can be accommodated: 2 persons

 

Duration: Fall 07 and beyond

 

Training:

Prerequisite skills: Basic computer and database skills.  Some Web design preferred.  Good communication and attention to detail.

Acquired skills: Working knowledge of the complexity of portal design; course development skills; Web design and Web database skills, patron communication, research and writing skills.

 

Software/Hardware Involved:  Microsoft SQL, Microsoft Access, MySQL/PHP, ASP, Confluence (wiki), SharePoint, threaded discussion, listservs

 

Tangible end product, if any:   A set of custom portals that may help change the way club foot is treated for the rest of human history.