This past November I gave a presentation about OpenClinica at the Association Francaise de Data Management Biomedical (“DMB”) annual conference in Paris. DMB is essentially the French equivalent of the Society for Clinical Data Management here in the U.S. The event was well run, full of useful content, and had about 200 attendees.
I was particularly impressed to see a strong level of OpenClinica interest and usage among both attendees and exhibitors. Some people I met there voiced interest in forming a French OpenClinica users group and asked me what I thought. Naturally, I think the idea is an excellent one! Such a group could be useful in a number of ways, such as for sharing tips and best practices, stimulating collaboration, and identifying service providers.
If you are interested in forming a user group, go for it! You certainly don’t need anyone’s permission, but we’d be happy to publicize it and help in other ways where possible. I believe our community is most productive when we empower our colleagues to do things like this. In addition to being geographically based, a “user group” could be defined along other lines, such as type of research, etc. Groups could meet virtually, face-to-face, or both.
Have an idea for a users group? Looking for potential user group members? Post your comments and feedback here. Also, a great place to carry on this discussion is in the OpenClinica users email forum (users@openclinica.org).
All the Best,
– Ben Baumann
OpenClinica, LLC