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More data will be produced in the next five years than in the entire history of human kind, a digital deluge that marks the beginning of the Century of Information. Through a year-long consultation with UK researchers, a coherent strategy has been developed, which will nurture Century-of-Information Research (CIR); it crystallises the ideas developed by the e-Science Directors' Forum Strategy Working Group... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although academic interest in the study of mobilities is on the increase, exactly what it takes and what it means for data to become mobile is seldom asked. This paper addresses that question for the case of digital medical images, more precisely mammograms (X-ray images of the breasts). It is argued that the kind of reasoning which treats mobility as a fixed asset of such images is problematic, because it obscures the particular perceptions, circumstances and practices that play a part in the accomplishment of medical images as mobile. The argument is based on ethnographic involvement with an e-Science/telemedicine research project aimed at demonstrating the benefits of a digital mammography database for breast cancer screening services, epidemiological research and radiology teaching in the UK. By focusing on the ways in which mammograms are re-presented as ‘mobile data’, and on how their movement is practically organized in the context of this project, the paper indicates a new direction for the sociological study of data mobility: one that understands the relationship between ‘data’ and ‘mobility’ as accomplished and emerging rather than fixed and inherent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: eDiaMoND is a next generation Internet ("Grid") multidisciplinary research project funded by the UK e-Science Programme with the following objectives; the development of a next generation Internet enabled prototype to demonstrate the potential benefits of a national infrastructure to support digital mammography; the exploration of potential benefits for digital mammography systems, with particular emphasis being placed on selected applications, namely, screening, training, computer-aided detection and appropriate support for epidemiological studies.Methods: EDiaMoND has worked in conjunction with selected clinical partners to enable the collection of valuable mammography information and the design of applications based upon extensive requirements gathering exercises. The clinical partners validated both the immediate needs and assisted with defining future needs of such an architecture to support the UK Health Service.Results: The project has succeeded in invoking the interest of clinical partners and representatives of the UK NHS Breast Screening Programme in our vision of a world without film, albeit a long way off. The project has also succeeded in identifying the barriers to adopting this approach with the current limitations within the NHS, and has developed a blueprint for working towards this strategy.Conclusions: A UK national digital mammography archive has the potential to provide major benefits for the UK. For example, such an archive could: ensure that previous mammograms are always available, and could link up seamlessly the screening, assessment and symptomatic clinics; it could provide a huge teaching and training resource; it could be a huge resource for epidemiological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]