Laurel & Hardy meet Santana: a mashup

In my speeches about transforming healthcare I sometimes speak about mashups: combining several things that were created without knowledge of each other, creating something new. One example is satellite navigation systems in our cars: when those GPS (global positioning) satellites were shot up in the air, nobody had the idea of combining their data with street maps and combining that with way-finding software, to help us get from wherever-we-are to wherever-we-want-to-be. Mashups are one of the key methods of improving the value of things, especially on the internet.

In my talks I say that I can't wait to see what mashups will do for healthcare - but it all depends on the ability to move data between systems, so smart innovators can add value to it. If the data's in silos, mashups can't happen.

Well, there are other kinds of mashups. Here's one, courtesy of fellow kidney cancer patient and ACOR member Richard Catlett, via his Facebook page: Laurel and Hardy meet Santana - clearly two performances that were never destined to meet. Except on the internet. (Email subscribers, if you can't see the video, click here to come online and view it.)



p.s. This is my personal blog about healthcare issues. My business website and blog is ePatientDave.com.