openehr.org vs openehrfoundation.org

openEHR.org Website (archive)
1

Hi!

Has the openEHR board approved the creation and usage of the domain
openehrfoundation.org? I don't think it was mentioned to the (old?)
list "For discussions about the openEHR web presence."
<openehr-web@openehr.org> that was supposed to consider things like
these.

I really don't understand how official strategic openEHR decisions
like logo creation, domain registration etc. are made presently. Are
there some kind of minutes from board meetings that can be read to
understand the process?

Registering and starting to use a new domain name for openEHR usage is
probably quite a bad idea unless there is some yet to be explained
future strategic reason to do so.

The domain openehr.org is already available, well-known, shorter and
very much linked to from the rest of the web, it is also linked from
published papers and printed media that can not be changed, so
removing or changing openehr.org is not really an option for already
published material. Thus I guess openehrfoundation.org should be
considered an addition, not a future replacement.

New/multiple domains might also confuse users and dilute openEHR
branding. "How many openEHR organsiations are there? Are they the
same?"

A new domain should not be needed for technical reasons. If one wants
to run google sites/apps/whatever under separate hostnames (which is
fine if there is a reason) then that can be easily setup using further
subdomains of openehr.org. If we for some reason want a separate new
site for foundation business matters, then that could be
foundation.openehr.org instead of a new .org domain name

Registering openehrfoundation.org in order to protect it from being
taken by somebody else might be OK though, if that for some reason is
considered a real threat, but to start using it is probably not a good
idea.

Also, the ownership of openehrfoundation.org when looking it up in
whois-databases is very opaque (Domains By Proxy, LLC) and impossible
to track to the foundation as opposed to openehr.org that is clearly
marked as registered on Dipak at UCL.

Could somebody explain what is going on?

Best regards,
Erik Sundvall
erik.sundvall@liu.se http://www.imt.liu.se/~erisu/ Tel: +46-13-286733

P.s. Domains and URIs should be cared for (think of them int the same
way as lifelong EHRs). Look what happened to the links to the links at
http://www.openehr.org/shared-resources/gehr_all/gehr_cen.html - the
links to GEHR, Synapses, EHCR-SupA, SynEx and Medicate all seem to
have gotten killed by some UCL web-reorganisation and the link to
6WINIT goes to a domain that is for sale...

2

I wondered some of these things as well. If a domain was intended for
'foundation admin' purposes, normally it would be a subdomain...

3

Hi Erik/ Thomas,

It is (at least for now) for Foundation admin purposes, in particular
as part of a Google Apps account. I am not sure if this will allow
subdomains, which might, as you say, make more sense. OTOH it is
possibly worthwhile that the Foundation has parked on
openehrfoundation.org in any case, though we should make the ownership
explicit.

Ian

Dr Ian McNicoll
office +44 (0)1536 414 994
fax +44 (0)1536 516317
mobile +44 (0)775 209 7859
skype ianmcnicoll
ian.mcnicoll@oceaninformatics.com

Clinical Modelling Consultant, Ocean Informatics, UK
Director/Clinical Knowledge Editor openEHR Foundation www.openehr.org/knowledge
Honorary Senior Research Associate, CHIME, UCL
SCIMP Working Group, NHS Scotland
BCS Primary Health Care www.phcsg.org

4

Hi Erik

Thanks for the mail. I will respond to the thrust of your enquiry. I do want
to make sure that we do not confuse the ground work of openEHR, which the
program groups manage, and the oversight of these. We are in an interim
situation and I have been attempting (not so successfully perhaps from your
perspective) to separate the governance and administrative arrangements from
the Program business.

I have no concern at all if nobody knows of the openehrfoundation.org
website and do not propose to make it known to anyone. We are in a difficult
position indeed, if there is no administrative heart to our work as a board
and our oversight of the openEHR community and Program groups. So
openehrfoundation.org was established for administrative purposes and allows
future governance of openEHR to come from another organisation should that
be the wish of the community. This is a site for Google Apps and provides a
means of registering Associates and giving them clear oversight of all the
workings of the organisation. This provides transparency to our funders as
the lists provide transparency to our Members.

One serious problem we have at the moment is that there is no operational
group to oversee the day to day business of the openEHR Foundation. So I
have been working to get us to a point where this can be managed
appropriately while limiting the need for resources. Better solutions may be
possible in future.

More in line...

From: Erik Sundvall [mailto:erik.sundvall@liu.se]
Sent: Friday, 3 February 2012 7:43 PM

Has the openEHR board approved the creation and usage of the domain
openehrfoundation.org? I don't think it was mentioned to the (old?)
list "For discussions about the openEHR web presence."
<openehr-web@openehr.org> that was supposed to consider things like
these.

[Sam Heard] I have done this with discussion with some members of the Board
for the reasons outlined above. We will take your comments into
consideration at the Board meeting.

I really don't understand how official strategic openEHR decisions like
logo creation, domain registration etc. are made presently. Are there
some kind of minutes from board meetings that can be read to understand
the process?

[Sam Heard] We had a competition on a web design environment - and asked
people to comment. We have taken the most popular logo. It is very much in
tune with the old one.

Registering and starting to use a new domain name for openEHR usage is
probably quite a bad idea unless there is some yet to be explained
future strategic reason to do so.

[Sam Heard] I hope I have provided sufficient information for you to
understand the motivation.

The domain openehr.org is already available, well-known, shorter and
very much linked to from the rest of the web, it is also linked from
published papers and printed media that can not be changed, so removing
or changing openehr.org is not really an option for already published
material. Thus I guess openehrfoundation.org should be considered an
addition, not a future replacement.

[Sam Heard] Absolutely - this is NOT a replacement and has no planned
overlap with openEHR.org

New/multiple domains might also confuse users and dilute openEHR
branding. "How many openEHR organsiations are there? Are they the
same?"

[Sam Heard] I agree

A new domain should not be needed for technical reasons. If one wants
to run google sites/apps/whatever under separate hostnames (which is
fine if there is a reason) then that can be easily setup using further
subdomains of openehr.org. If we for some reason want a separate new
site for foundation business matters, then that could be
foundation.openehr.org instead of a new .org domain name

[Sam Heard] It may be best to do this in the long run - I do not think it
is a major issue at the moment.

Registering openehrfoundation.org in order to protect it from being
taken by somebody else might be OK though, if that for some reason is
considered a real threat, but to start using it is probably not a good
idea.

Also, the ownership of openehrfoundation.org when looking it up in
whois-databases is very opaque (Domains By Proxy, LLC) and impossible
to track to the foundation as opposed to openehr.org that is clearly
marked as registered on Dipak at UCL.

[Sam Heard] I believe it is me personally - as soon as the Foundation is
trading we can change it to that organisation.

Could somebody explain what is going on?

[Sam Heard] I hope this is helpful.

Cheers, Sam