The Evils of Complexity

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The Evils of Complexity

• Jules J. Berman, Ph.D., M.D.
• Han-Mo Koo Memorial Seminar Series
• Van Andel Research Institute
• Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Wednesday, April 25, 2007

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• In an informatics world, you can easily create
  levels of complexity that exceed anything
  encountered in the physical world.
• Complex systems are actually easier to create
  than simple systems.
• Complex systems, despite what anyone tells you,
  are unpredictable by computers.

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• Specifications versus Standards
• RDF versus XML
• Classifications versus Ontologies
• Ruby versus Perl

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• Standards aren't very standard
• Many competing standards
• Standards come in multiple versions
• Complexity bad for interoperability
• Standards are often someone's intellectual
  property
• Standards may contain embedded patents
• The uses of Standards can be patented

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• DICOM is the image standard for radiology, and
  there's an effort to migrate it to pathology.
• DICOM is highly complex, few people outside of
  radiology understand it. It uses old
  byte-designated format, nothing like currently
  used Web (metadata) technologies.
• If a medical image standard were developed today,
  from scratch, it would probably not resemble
  DICOM.
• Some of the most important scientific uses of
  DICOM cannot be pursued without infringing on
  existing patents.

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• Specifications are just descriptions of your
  data.
• A specification requires a common language for
  describing data (so that you and your computer
  can understand what it's trying to convey).
• Beyond providing a language for describing data,
  specifications give you enormous freedom to
  create and describe new and unconventional data
  objects.

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All data can be specified using RDF, developed by
the W3C. RDF files are collections of
statements expressed as data triples ltidentified
subjectgtltmetadatagtltdatagt Jules Berman blood
glucose level 85 Mary Smith eye color
brown Samuel Rice eye color blue Jules
Berman eye color brown When you bind a
key/value pair to a specified object, you're
moving from the realm of data structure (i.e.,
XML) into the realm of data meaning.
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RDF permits data to be merged between different
files
Medical file Jules Berman blood glucose
level 85 Mary Smith eye color
brown Samuel Rice eye color blue Jules
Berman eye color brown
Merged Jules Berman database Jules Berman
blood glucose level 85 Jules Berman eye
color brown Jules Berman hat size 9
Hat file Sally Frann hat size 8 Jules
Berman hat size 9 Fred Garfield hat size
9 Fred Garfield hat_type bowler
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RDF provides answers to the following 4 questions
(required for implementation). 1. How does the
triple convey the unique identity of its subject?
In the triple, Jules Berman blood glucose
level 85, The name "Jules Berman" is not
unique and may apply to several different
people. 2. How do we convey the meaning of
metadata terms? Perhaps one person's definition
of a metadata term is different from another
person's. For example, is "hat size" the
diameter of the hat, or the distance from ear to
ear on the person who is intended to wear the
hat, or a digit selected from a pre-defined
scale? 3. How can we constrain the values
described by metadata to a specific datatype?
Can a person have an eye color of 8? Can a
person have an eye color of "chartreuse"? 4.
How can we indicate that a unique object is a
member of a class and can be described by
metadata shared by all the members of a class?
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• JPEG is an image format that is used by millions
  of people in all types of professions, including
  the medical profession
• JPEG can now be used without worrying about IP
  issues
• You can put any information you want into the
  header of a JPEG image (including an RDF
  document) so that specified clinical/pathological
  information can be conveyed with the image
• Because images non-physical, it is usually easy
  to interconvert image formats

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• Why not just use JPEG with an RDF specification
  of your image?
• You can always port to DICOM when you need to.
• See http//www.julesberman.info/jjb_gwm.pdf
• More on specifications at Specified Life blog
• http//julesberman.blogspot.com/

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Classifications versus Ontologies

• Our similarities are different Yogi Berra

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