Hi Pam,
Here is something that might be of interest to Dadamac and FF. I am pasting a press release that I got from my friend, who is a doctor in the US. Here goes:
Researchers from Makerere University and their collaborators from Norway, India, Ethiopia, South Africa, the United States and Pakistan unveiled openXdata at Kampala on November 12.
OpenXdata is a community-developed, open-source, enterprise end-to-end software solution that revolutionizes surveys and studies by changing the way in which data collection, data management, and data analysis is carried out. Computer scientists and experts in public health, education and development from these countries gathered for the launch event in Kampala, which will be followed by similar events in Karachi, Bangalore, Bergen and Cape Town in 2010.
OpenXdata eliminates bulky paper forms and subsequent data entry as well as costly errors related to manual data entry and lack of data validation at the time of data collection.
OpenXdata is the first free and completely open source end-to-end solution of its kind that can run on both high- and low-end mobile devices and mobile phones. Investigators based at the University of Bergen Centre for International Health have coordinated the effort under the OMEVAC grant funded by the Research Council of Norway. Key partners include Makerere University (Kampala), Handheld Solutions and Research Labs (Bangalore), University of Southern Maine (Portland), Cell-Life (Cape Town), Interactive Research & Development (Karachi), and Addis Ababa University.
Video links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThOTDorm980