Announcement: New DICOM Working Group; WG-33 Data Archive and Management, call for participation!

To: DICOM Community

Cc: Kowalczyk, Luiza <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

Subject: Announcement: New DICOM Working Group; WG-33 Data Archive and Management, call for participation


To: All members of the imaging informatics community

At its meeting on December 5, the DICOM Standards Committee (DSC) approved the establishment of a new Working Group, WG-33 Data Archive and Management. This is the call for participation in WG-33.

The scope of WG-33 is the interoperability of systems that archive and manage DICOM data. The focus is on the management and interoperability of the archive data set as a whole, rather than interoperability of the data for individual studies or patients. The initial charge to WG-33 is to determine appropriate modifications to the DICOM Standard to better support “PACS migrations”, and to propose a corresponding Work Item to the DSC.

Participation in this WG is free and open to all interested parties. We especially invite participation by enterprise imaging architects and imaging informaticists in healthcare provider organizations, PACS and VNA product architects and engineers, and providers of support services. Voting membership in WG-33 is granted to any member of the DSC (including members of SIIM, RSNA, ECR, and other professional societies that are members of the DSC). Non-members of the DSC may be granted voting membership in WG-33 upon submission of the patent declaration and approval by the DSC at its next meeting. Any person may have observer status simply by informing the Secretariat. To join WG-33, please fill in the form at www.dicomstandard.org/participate/.

We will convene an initial meeting by teleconference in January. This meeting will discuss the scope of WG-33, review the processes for DICOM WGs, elect co-chairs, and establish a meeting schedule. An email with a doodle survey poll will be sent out in a week or 2.

Please contact Harry Solomon, past Co-Chair of the DSC (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), if you have any points to be added to the agenda, or position statements you would like to distribute to the WG.

WG-33 will elect two Co-Chairs, one from the manufacturer category and one from the healthcare provider organization category. Responsibilities of the Co-Chairs are to organize the meeting agendas, run the meetings ensuring all points of view are fairly represented, and report on progress to the DSC three time a year. The Co-Chair does not have to be neutral during technical discussions, but does need to help the WG achieve consensus. If you would like to stand for election as Co-Chair, please submit a statement to the Secretariat (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) with a brief bio, qualifications, and position statement. (Note: Harry Solomon will not stand for election as WG Co-Chair.)

Please help circulate this call for participation to all potentially interested parties.