+EpiData Software - Acknowledgements & Credit

See Persons involved •  General Acknowledgements •  Funding received

References and technical documentation for EpiData Software

General reference

Christiansen TB and Lauritsen JM. (Ed.) EpiData - Comprehensive Data Management and Basic Statistical Analysis System. Odense Denmark, EpiData Association, 2010-. Http://www.epidata.dk

Documentation or publications
  • Lauritsen JM & Bruus M. EpiData Entry (version). A comprehensive tool for validated entry and documentation of data. The EpiData Association, Odense Denmark, year. Indicate version
  • Lauritsen JM & Bruus M. EpiC (version). EpiData Command Processor tool. The EpiData Association, Odense Denmark, year. Indicate version
     
  • Lauritsen JM. (Ed.) EpiData Classic, Data Management and basic Statistical Analysis System. Odense Denmark, EpiData Association, 2000-2008. Http://www.epidata.dk
Technical documentation
    (year of first version)
  • M. Bruus & Lauritsen JM. Detailed Technical description of datafile structure in EpiData. (2002)
  • Lauritsen JM. & M. Bruus. Translation principles and tools for EpiData Entry. (2002)
  • Mahmud S. Design and Implementation of core parsing principles and modules for EpiData Analysis. 2003 (partially completed source code).
  • Lauritsen JM. Output design definition in EpiData Analysis. Contributor J. Hockin. (2005)
  • Lauritsen JM. Commands and Functions in EpiData Analysis. Contributor J. Hockin. (2005)
  • Lauritsen JM. & Arias P. Translation of EpiData Analysis. (2006)
  • User Defined Functions in chk files. Programmed by S.Mahmud. Source Code with two examples.
    • Gumm algoritm (By L.Hvidberg, J.Mortensen & A Skytthe. Institute of Public Health, Epidemiology University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)
    • Extended Soundex and Metaphone function (By S.Mahmud. Univ. of Mcguill, Montreaul, Canada)
  • See also the technical documentation here and the wiki based documentation

Released by EpiData Association, Odense Denmark unless otherwise indicated. Available on the documentation pages. (first year of release)

Conferences and planning meetings
  • Many International meetings in relation to courses, implementation and design (Paris, Oslo, London) 2002-2016
  • Internal EpiData planning seminar for inclusion of analysis in EpiData. Health Canada, Public Health Training and Applications Division, Ottawa, Canda. 16.-17. May 2002
  • Lauritsen JM. The EpiData strategy for development and maintenance of simple tools for sound data in public health and epidemiology. IEA Conference, Toledo 30.Sept.-4.Oct.2003, Spain.
  • Nyen B & Lauritsen JM. Statistical Process Control (SPC) Freeware. The 17th National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care. Florida, Usa. Dec.11-14. 2005. Accepted for symposium: "The Power of Tools."

    Persons active in development of EpiData View Photos;Previously Active

    Overall participation

    Jens Lauritsen

    Initiator of the EpiData project in 1998 and coordinator.
    Responsible for overall design and implementation of procedures and functionality. Installation routines. Adaptive programming of Analysis. Web site setup and maintenance. Future planning and strategies. International coordination, translation and contact. Finances.

    Torsten Christiansen

    Full time employed in the Re-Design of Core Software and Programming Components since 2008. Rewriting, re-design and re-construction of software from Delphi Pascal to Free pascal

    Involved in specific tasks
      (First year)
    • Jamie Hockin, Canada. Issues of style sheets and html documentation format in Analysis. Specifications for table analysis.(2004)
    • Hans L.Rieder, Schweiz & IUATLD. Testing of specific functionality and development of focused course materials (2004)
    • Pedro Arias, Madrid/Stockholm. Format and structure for Help system in Analysis. With additional commenting assistance from Peron (JC Merino Spain)(2005)
    • V. Hogli and B. Nyen, Gruk Norway. Specification, definition and test of SPC implementation.(2005)
    • Torsten Christiansen, Denmark. Programming tasks for EpiData Analysis(2004-mid 2008)
    • Svend Kreiner, Denmark. Implementation and programming of Exact analysis principles for Tables.(2005)
    • EpiData-list Email based discussion list. Hosted by University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada. Chris Green and Nelson Vieira are contact persons/moderators. (2003)
    • International translations by individuals and institutions to several languages, see download page
    • Specific testing of analysis prior to first release: (Jamie Hockin, Neville Verlander, Louk Meertens, Pedro Arias and others) (2004)
    • Many users submitting examples, comments, suggestions and ideas for implementation or support
    • Isolated parts of source code based on freeware and shareware components
    Available Photos
    Jens Lauritsen Michael Bruus Jamie Hockin Pedro Arias

    Jens Lauritsen
    Denmark

    Michael Bruus
    Denmark

    Jamie Hockin
    Canada

    Pedro Arias
    Spain
    Friends of EpiData

    An international group of "Friends of EpiData" was formed in 2002 on an initiative by Eric Brenner with the purpose of securing contact to the active public health circles and further funding for the development of EpiData. Core strategic decisions are based on consultations with this group.

    Particularly Active Members 2011- : Jamie Hockin (Canada), Hans Rieder (Switzerland), Vegard Høgli and Bjørnar Nyen (Norway).

    Members 2006- : Jamie Hockin (Canada), Hans Rieder (Switzerland), Bjørnar Nyen (Norway), Gilles Desve (France), Juan Carlos Fernandez-Merino (Spain), Tony Stewart (Australia), Mark Myatt (United Kingdom), Lino Pasquale (Italy).

    Members 2002-2005 were: Eric Brenner, (USA-initiator), Jamie Hockin (Canada), Hans Rieder (Switzerland), Vegard Høgli (Norway), Gilles Desve (France), Juan Carlos Fernandez-Merino (Spain), Mark Myatt (United Kingdom), Tony Stewart (Australia), Lino Pasquale (Italy).

    Persons previously active

    • 1999-2002 Mark Myatt. Mark contributed with great inspiration, specifications and ideas to version 1 and 2 of EpiData - initiation of the EpiData effort would not have been possible without Marks contribution. First version of EpiData released as Lauritsen JM, Bruus M., Myatt MA, EpiData, version 1.0-1.5. A tool for validated entry and documentation of data. County of Funen Denmark and Brixton Health UK. 2001.
    • 1999-2008 Michael Bruus, Denmark. Design and Programming of EpiData Entry and EpiC (Classic). Implementation of read and write procedures in Analysis. Web based procedures for version control (Webservices). Setup of PHP/MySql news system

    • 2002-2003 Salah Mahmud, Canada. Initial programming and design of the analysis module, including implementations of command structures and parsing principles. The efforts by Salah Mahmud have been essential for development of the analysis module. But unfortunately Salah had to stop involvement due to lack of time.

    Funding

    Without support from a number of NGO's, Universities, Regional Health Authorities and other funding bodies EpiData development would have stopped. See the list of financial supporters.

    Further Acknowledgements

    The ideas and principles used in EpiData are an extension of:
    Dean AG, Dean JA, Coulombier D, Brendel KA, Smith DC, Burton AH, Dicker RC, Sullivan K, Fagan RF, Arner TG, Epi Info, Version 6: A Word-Processing, Database, and Statistics Program for Public Health on IBM-compatible Microcomputers, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., 1995.

    Further specific acknowledgements

    • EpiData Manager, Entryclient and further developments based on the EPX standard is written in Freepascal for several Operating Systems. Rewriting was initiated in 2008 and is expected to be completed in 2017/18
    • EpiData Classic
      • EpiData Classic Software is programmed completely in Borland Delphi Pascal (EpiData Classic and EpiData Analysis)
      • Andrew Dean then at the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) kindly provided the source code for Epi Info v6 to us. Selected parts of EpiData Analysis were inspired by this source code. But EpiData was completely rewritten. CDC has no responsibilities in relation to development or support of EpiData.
      • Install packages for windows are made with freeware inno-setup by Jordan Russell www.innosetup.org.
      • Translators of the inno-setup installation routine texts can be seen here.
      • Functions that allow EpiData to export data in Microsoft Excel format is based upon a freeware Delphi Unit written by Eddy Sterckx.
      • Parsing and interpretation of calculations, IF THEN conditions and expressions are based on a freeware Delphi Unit written by Martin Lafferty. This unit has been modified for use with EpiData.
      • Encryption routines (Rijndael) provided by David Barton, see www.scramdisk.clara.net
      • HTML output module provided for free by (analysis module) David Baldwin see www.pbear.com
      • Zip routine VLCZIP provided for free by Kevin Boylan see www.bigfoot.com/~vclzip
    • EpiData.Dk website development and principles for style sheets are adaptations of general principles and specific ideas. Get a copy: epidata.css stylesheet and Epidata.js javascript functions