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Keynote speaker Ben
Shneiderman, PhD, engaged the crowd with a lively presentation
encompassing user interfaces in medical informatics. (See the accompanying
article by Dr. Shneiderman.). He shared his perspective that people –
not machines – are where the power is. “Machines are not intelligent
– they cannot make things happen. We must create powerful tools to allow
people to do things that we’ve never done before.”
He noted the old model
for computing, which focused on what computers could do, has morphed to
the new model for computing, focusing on what people can do. The user
interface is key, and this ties into one of SIIM’s important
initiatives, TRIP™, which focuses on image overload. Shneiderman
demonstrated his models for managing and displaying vast amounts of data,
which have been used in such diverse industries as popular music and the
stock market.
These tools can be used
in many medical applications, including allowing physicians and others to
look at large sets of patient data and break it down in various ways to
examine patterns, provide overviews, and spot gaps and trends.
“A physician’s time
is too precious,” said Shneiderman. “We need to identify ways to make
them more efficient.” |
