Home Phone Genome

I visited the genome project site that has information on each chromosome and their contribution to the make-up of humans and disease. I also read excerpts from a book evaluating the health care effects of genome therapy [1]. The negativity (i.e. fear of uncertainty) seems to be the constant focus as opposed to how to solve potential problems. Currently the government controls the gene therapy testing (process, process, process) which on a side note has slowed the progress. I would imagine the government will control what information about each gene screening is shared with HMOs or a spin-off of HMOs in the future (of course preceded by massive law suits making the government have strict confidentiality agreements with physicians). I say the entire health care structure or lack of freedom physicians have because of the handcuffs the HMOs provide must be re-structured. Do we really have to wait until government steps in to re-structure health care.....because that will take FOREVER. Will gene therapy ever be a reality with the current health care structure in America? Not to mention the additional information HMOs have with all medical care online.....


[1]'The Human Genome Project and the Future of Health Care' by Robert F. Murray, Mark A. Rothstein, & Thomas H. Murray (http://books.google.com/books?id=GRGxRIFGc9cC&dq=human+genome+effect&pg=PA202&ots=mggoSlDOjX&sig=rA-3lFL42qvtT_ZOQCmfRdvu-qc&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fhl%3Den%26rls%3DSUNA%252CSUNA%253A2006-36%252CSUNA%253Aen%26q%3Dhuman%2Bgenome%2Beffect&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=1#PPA203,M1 Chapter 3 and pages 202 & 203),

Web 2.0 Flickr

The Web 2.0 tool flickr allows for easy uploading of pictures. You can access Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/. You first create an account using your existing or new Yahoo account. My favorite tools of Flickr include organizing of photos and creating groups. The groups can be public or private and it has a discussion board for talking. I plan on using this for my family to share and chat about our photos.
~Michelle

Semantic Thoughts...

Since I research in the world of the semantic web including using ontologies to structure and understand data, I think about the utility and use (way too much for a normal person). The question I have is....why have ontologies not been adopted in the same way as XML? XML is a simplistic markup language while ontologies have the power of description and relationship definition. The increased capability of ontology benefits future applications for an increased understanding and sharing knowledge (as opposed to data) across domains, however XML is still dominate. Is this because XML is easy and ontologies take more time to setup or because there is no 'champion' for ontologies? The future to me is in ontologies, but it seems to take a large wave of techies or a major company to promote before a technology is implemented. I also believe most techies as well as our generation as a whole focus more on ease of here and now and do not invest in more difficult tasks that will be beneficial in the future. What is up with ontology acceptance?