Salvatore Iaconesi

Open-source engineer and artist
artisopensource.net
An artist, hacker and interaction designer, Salvatore Iaconesi embarked on a bold open-source project in 2012. Subject: his own brain cancer

Why you should listen

"I have a brain cancer.” Data artist and TED Fellow Salvatore Iaconesi posted these words on his website September 10, 2012. He wrote:
 
Yesterday I went to get my digital medical records: I have to show them to many doctors.
Sadly they were in a closed, proprietary format and, thus, I could not open them using my computer, or send them in this format to all the people who could have saved my life.
I cracked them.
I opened them and converted the contents into open formats, so that I could share them with everyone.
 
In cracking his scans, X-rays, lab notes and charts, and opening them to the world, he laid out a model for open-sourcing not only a support group, but a whole cure (he calls it, in his native Italian, "La cura"). And he means a cure of any kind: "There are cures for the body, for spirit, for communication." He had brain surgery in February 2013, "and everything went perfectly." Now he is working on sharing the benefits of his experience.

What others say

“Salvatore Iaconesi has given us a manifesto.” — Psychology Today

Salvatore Iaconesi’s TED talk

More news and ideas from Salvatore Iaconesi

Live from TEDGlobal

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TEDGlobal 2013 has come to a close, and we’ve reached the final session: All Together Now. Here a look at the speakers who appeared in the session. Click on the speaker’s name to read a recap of their talk. Michael E. Porter wrote the books on modern competitive strategy for business. Now he is thinking deeply […]

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