Hi Javi, I'm a long term ctakes user and contributor who has worked in various professional, incubator, and standards-creating environments for healthcare. I like your idea in theory, but I see an on-the-ground issue with a specific health oriented section of Apache - and that is a lack of content. Unless I have missed something, cTakes is the only mature Apache project in this space - it is not as if there are a set of domain-related projects in this space waiting to be promoted.
There would also be something materially different about a Healthcare specific component of Apache - which is not to say it isn't a valid idea, but it is worth discussion. The difference is that most all of the projects in Apache are embedded in the information technology domain and its challenges - storage, search, management, presentation etc - but tend to be agnostic with regard to the information content over which the Apache technology is implemented. Health, on the other hand is its own specific domain, so the tasks, problems, and solutions here are not just about creation, transport and presentation of health related information, but what the information actually is, how it is used, and by whom. Here we're talking about clinical informatics and a host of other information spaces that require very high levels of experience and understanding that are tangential to the problems of system infrastructure. If I could invent an analogy... A lot of Apache's software is probably being used in the logistics domain, warehousing, supply chain optimization, package deliveries and such, but would that be a reason to create an Apache shipping and delivery software presence? So this is my hesitation about endorsing a Health initiative at the moment. As I've said, it would be a wonderful idea, but the cart is somewhat before the horse in my opinion. More localized and feasible might be a cTakes user group that goes beyond just this email address. Regards Peter
