IBM Open-Sources Blue Spruce to Aid Medical Research

Made in IBM Labs: IBM Donates Cooperative Web Technology That Enables Life Changing Healthcare Solutions

IBM announced that the company is donating new software code to help health care and other industries work on shared content in real-time, on the Web. The code is from IBM Project Blue Spruce and will be donated to the Dojo Foundation's Open Cooperative Web Framework (OpenCoweb).

Developed in the IBM labs, Project Blue Spruce allows people to simultaneously interact and update content in real-time via a web browser on computers and the Apple iPad and includes video chat. For example, using Project Blue Spruce, a sales rep could in a browser conduct a video chat with a client while they complete an online sales form together.

The system provides access to selected cases in real-time. Through graphic representations, the investigators are able to study outlying cases and select cases for further study in order to identify the features and genetic factors that influence the development of specific abnormalities seen in patients with COPD. The cooperative web methodology of the OpenCoweb Framework increases the data available to researchers and provides tools for data analysis. This has decreased repetitive requests for the same raw data from multiple individuals and opens new possibilities for data mining by the researchers.

"IBM believes an ongoing commitment to open source and cooperative applications is a critical component for building a smarter, healthier planet," said David Boloker, chief technology officer, Emerging Technologies, IBM. "We are pleased to open code and drive innovation in partnership with the Dojo Foundation Project in an effort to streamline and enhance research and real-time interactive analysis of participant data."

With the code donation to the OpenCoweb Framework, developers can build new solutions that allow concurrent real-time interactions between remote users using external data sources such as a co-authoring editor. The OpenCoweb Framework is built on web standards and consists of JavaScript libraries. The libraries serve as building blocks for Web application developers to design custom solutions for a variety of industries such as custom imaging applications for healthcare or collaborative investment portfolios for the finance industry.