subject: What are electronic lab notebooks for? [print this page] 1. Introduction1. Introduction
Electronic lab notebooks enable groups of researchers to conveniently carry out four central aspects of the research process:
Record experimental data and other kinds of information
Add structure to the data and information
Share the data and information
Communicate about their research
Electronic lab notebooks differ from other tools used in recording experimental data, like paper lab notebooks and electronic media such as word documents, spreadsheets,and wikis, in that they enable researchers to carry out all four of these functions in an integrated, ideally online, environment.
2. Recording experimental data and other information
Electronic lab notebooks enable recording of experimental data, and other information like meeting notes and protocols, in two ways. First, they allow import of data which has already been captured elsewhere -- e.g. in word documents, spreadsheets and images. Second, they permit direct recording of data in various forms -- text, tables, images, etc.
3. Adding structure to data and information
Like paper lab notebooks, but unlike other electronic media such as word documents, spreadsheets, and wikis, electronic lab notebooks enable research groups to bring structure to their data. They do this in a variety of ways:
By providing the ability to use records which, unlike the blank page of the word document or wiki, themselves have structure. This is illustrated In the example below, where the record has a series of fields; Alternative name, Source, Lab, etc.
With preformatted template records likely to be of use to many researchers, e.g. for experiments, antibodies, protocols,and inventory
By providing the ability to create records with a structure desired by the user, and including a range of field types, such as strings, radio buttons, dates, etc.
The structure which is added to the research record is invaluable not only in terms of immediate organization, but also in terms of later search and archiving. The field structure make it possible to conduct fine grained searches which go below the record level. In the above example, the lab might have thousands of antibody records; taking advantage of the field structure it would be possible to search on all the' validation status' fields containing the term 'No signal'.
Electronic lab notebooksalso make is possible to build in a second level of structure through the ability to create links between records, for example between a record of an experiment and a record of an antibody used in the experiment. Links are useful at this one-to-one level. Moreover, by creaing a series of links it is also possible to build databases, as reflected in the visualization below of a series of linked records.
4. Sharing data and information
Electronic lab notebooks are designed to facilitate collaboration among a group of researchers. They do this with a permissions system that permits some records to be accessed by the entire group, some records to be accessed by subsets of the group, and some records to be kept entirely private. In addition, they provide different kinds of access to different records or sets of records. For example, the PI and the student conducting an experiment might have view and edit permission on the experiment record, so that the student could document the experiment and the PI could comment on it, and other members of the lab might have view only permission, so that they could observe and learn.
Electronic lab notebooks also permit permissions to be inherited by 'child records'. So, once the permissions are set on a particular project folder, all the experiments created within that folder have the same set of permissions, and it is not necessary to reset permissions each time a new experiment is set up.
Electronic lab notebooks also allow the creation of groups of users. Typically there is an 'all users' group, and groups of smaller sets of users working together on particular projects. Again, this makes setting permissions more streamlined. For example, on records which everyone is to have access to, permissions are set for the all users group, and since everyone is a member of that group, it is not necessary to set permissions for each individual.
5. Communicating
It's pretty hard to collaborate if you can't communicate, so good electronic lab notebooks include a messaging system. This acts as an internal email capability, but it should also do more. Ideally there should be the ability to make links in messages to other records in the ELN, so for example when a student sends a message to their PI to say that a particular experiment is ready for review and comment, the student can put a link in the message to the experiment record, so that all the PI has to do to access the record is to click on the link.
Online electronic lab notebooks are accessible 24/7 through any web browser, so they allow a new level of flexibility in communication between lab members. No need to make an appointment during offfice hours to look at someone's paper lab notebook. You can now view it, and comment on it, at a time that is convenient to you, for example at home in the evening. And when you are on the road you can stay in touch with the work that's going on back in the lab because you can login over the internet, in the evening, between meetings, or whenever it suits you, and see what people have been doing.
