The RODS Open Source Project: removing a barrier to syndromic surveillance.

The goal of the Real-time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance (RODS) Open Source Project is to accelerate deployment of computer-based syndromic surveillance. To this end, the project has released the RODS software under the GNU General Public License and created an organizational structure to catalyze its development. This paper describes the design of the software, requested extensions, and the structure of the development effort.