Participatory, open methods are revolutionizing some of the most rigid and controlled practices of modern life, and thanks to an organization called Genomera, one of these practices includes clinical medical trials. Greg Biggers (who is presenting a talk on this topic at the O’Reilly Open Source convention with co-presenter Raymond McCauley) heralds the opening of clinical trials as a way to accelerate findings, reveal more data of value to future trials, and–perhaps most important–make participants feel really good about doing it.
In this podcast interview, I talk to Greg about:
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The benefits of participants sharing information about their experiences during clinical trials
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Why secrecy is not necessarily a good thing in trials
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Why researchers are warming to these kinds of trials
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The sense of engagement and ownership created by the system