SMART on VIVO. It's not a dumb idea!

Eric Meeks

Keywords: SMART, OAuth, JSON-LD, VIVO, Profiles RNS

TL;DR: Can we use a SMART approach to add pluggable apps to VIVO and Profiles RNS?

Abstract:

You may have heard of “SMART on FHIR.” SMART is a technology that allows 3rd party web-based apps to run inside electronic health record systems, and FHIR is a specification for exchanging health data in a standard format accessible from a “FHIR endpoint.” In the world of VIVO there is a similar technology called ORNG (Open Network Research Gadgets) that was once in the VIVO product and is also in the Profiles RNS product where it is more heavily used. UCSF created the ORNG standard as an extension of a now dead technology called OpenSocial. OpenSocial is powerful and still works, but as browsers evolve some aspects of Open Social are starting to break down. Additionally, OpenSocial is a very heavy weight solution. We only use a handful of its features in our systems, some of which are an awkward fit.
UCSF wants to remove OpenSocial from Profiles RNS. But we also want to continue having a researcher profiling system that supports 3rd party apps. Being able to add features by configuring apps into a system such as VIVO, or Profiles RNS (or Epic) without having to alter the source code of the system itself is valuable in many ways. It is inexpensive (web technologies), scalable (each feature is its own separate code base), low risk (configuration versus code changes), and shareable (if standards based). The “SMART on FHIR” community understands these benefits.
Our proposal is to replace OpenSocial with our own “SMART on VIVO” solution. “SMART on VIVO” would be similar to “SMART on FHIR” with a few differences. Instead of patient identifiers, we’d use researcher URIs. Instead of a FHIR endpoint, we’d use a VIVO endpoint (SPARQL and/or Linked Open Data URLs.). Best of all, this shouldn’t be too hard to do. We already have the endpoints and OAuth does most of the rest.
UCSF can do this for Profiles RNS, does someone want to do the same in the VIVO product as a joint effort so that our apps are plug and play? We could then call it a standard. Let’s discuss!