This isn’t really free (well it is for 60 days). However, it came with Microsoft Office (which most people need or get anyway).
Shared folder on desktop PC to hold the ELN Onenote folder
We have a lab NAS (Buffalo Linkstation Pro) that I tried to use for the shared Onenote folder at first. However, I came to find out that the Linux server system running on the NAS does not play nice with some higher windows file system calls. The Linkstation works great for our Lab Shared Drive (for both Windows and Mac computers). But the Onenote notebook files, when open at the same time on multiple computers, must make some Windows specific file system actions. The end story is, if using a NAS shared folder doesn’t work, just share a folder on an always on desktop PC - it will save you a big headache.
I have recently been checking out more pay ELNs (to see if they are adding features not possible in a free Onenote type system). Rescentris is an ELN solution that is 21 CFR 11 certified.
They seem to have an OK product (way overpriced), but their business practices are horrible! They are relentlessly spamming their site all over the internet (which seems to be a common business practice), but on top of that they misinform and slander free ELN solutions. Heck, my blog was slammed by one of their employees on wikipedia (I contacted them about such behavior and they tacitly condoned it). I don’t even really have a free ELN (I just describe how I do it with what hardware and software I already have). The poor people who develop free ELN software are getting clobbered by such bad business practices.
I would have to give Rescentris a -1 out of 4 stars for being down right mean!
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago at 3:36 pm. Add a comment
I know, I know, I have STILL not redone the ELN guide. But you know how lab researchers get carried away with their experiments - I will get to it soon, we just submitted a paper so I will (hopefully) have some time.
These MIT students developed a wearable computer that actually looks quite functional. Wouldn’t that be great (when it gets cleaned up a bit, and maybe a bit smaller) to be able to pull up a protocol or past results at any time and project it anywhere!? Or even really easy resource management - everytime you use a solution or chemical it could be quickly recorded (you wouldn’t have to worry about being out of antibodies or solutions!). Or take pictures of any step or something that looks strange….
Before I finish up my new guide on how I set up my current lab ELN, I wanted to organize things and fix little nuisances.
Synergy
It may be a cheesy business buzzword, but it’s also a simple and wonderful little program. Synergy is a small program that you can install on multiple computers which allows you to use a single keyboard and mouse on multiple computers. The computers don’t even have to run the same operating system.
So I bought a cheap desktop off of www.craigslist.org, so that my undergrads wouldn’t have to wait to analyze stuff if all the computers in the lab were being used.
I was pleasantly surprised to actually meet a couple people at the SFN 2008 Annual Meeting who wanted to talk about ELNs!
While discussing how I was using my ‘ELN’, it occurred to me that it has been a long time since I have written a ‘guide’. In fact, I came to the website and noticed it’s very difficult to even navigate back to the old posts!
So, within the next couple weeks I will try to write an updated guide - simple ELN with Onenote (and Groove sharing). Plus I will try to refresh the site a little (maybe make it easier to get to the ‘old’ posts).
Posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago at 9:59 pm. Add a comment
This is a long shot, but if any ELN users out there are going to be in DC in a couple weeks then stop by my poster at the SFN annual meeting held in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and say hello.
My poster and session is:
Sat, Nov 15, 3:00 - 4:00 PM
33.7/D65 - Activity-Dependent Increase of NRSF / REST levels suppresses expression of the hyperpolarization activated cyclic-nucleotide gated (HCN) channel
So, it turns out that my insatiable desire to always try out new programs that I think will make my life easier, inevitabley backfires and initially makes my life much harder.
Capturx(from Adapx) is back in the news (at least back in mine).
If you read my Review of their pen (which I feel could really bridge the traditional and the electronic lab book worlds), then you know my major disappointment was that I did not have the ability to print my own form or protocol and then use the pen to mark it up.
Well check out their new offering (as far as I can tell it’s the same pen) - Capturx Excel Forms. There’s a demo that really shows it at work.
So now I could print a protocol, mark it up with the pen with any data or changes to protocol, and then just plug the pen in to the computer and upload the information.
Better still, if I am recording (or a student is recording) numerical data, it could be uploaded, and calculations in a spreadsheet could automatically be made! Very innovative idea.
I still would love to be able to print from Onenote or Word as well, but maybe that’s coming in the future.
What would be really cool is if Microsoft (and all other Office software developers) would get rid of the idea of a word document, excel spreadsheet,etc.. Just integrate them all into one ‘document’. I would love to be able to use excel spreadsheets in my Onenote lab notebook without opening excel -maybe create a table in Onenote, where the cells could add, subtract, average, slope, etc.
Hopefully I’ll be able to do a hands on review some time in the future. For now go check it out at their website.
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago at 3:33 pm. Add a comment
Endulge my wild imagination for a moment. I’m going to discuss a possible Super ELN which may seem outrageous, but actually is feasible now!
I have mused of the ‘Legend’ video recording lab safety glasses in the past. But let’s take it to the extreme.
[Problem]Why do most people not write directly to their lab books as they are performing their research?
I mean, in Academia when I teach a lab class I always feel like 90% of it is exhortation to the students to ‘record what your are doing in your lab notebook’.
Answer- Because they are busy performing their research!
Back to the undergrads- they may not be likely to write in their lab notebooks without constant pressure from me, but they are very likely to have a written procedure sitting right next to them to peruse.
Thus the rationale for ELNs to have a template for a certain lab procedure. But if you diverge from the template/protocol then you need to make note of it in your lab notebook. [Problem]Again there is a reluctance to always record this since you are in the midst of performing your research. And I must admit that in my ELN usage experience, sometimes I go back over my research from days past (in order to plan for my next experiment) and notice that I neglected to change PCR cycle numbers or gel running times or whatever.
What can be done?
Well, if writing stuff down is going to get in our way, then let’s just not write it down! Heck, we’re scientists for goodness sake - so I think by definition we think we are smart or something. So if we don’t want to do something then we should be smart enough to figure out an alternative, right!?
Sure the ‘Legend’ video recording lab safety glasses allow for us to have a record of what we did without writing things down, but then one of ELN’s major benefits disappears - the ability to quickly and powerfully search your lab notebook. Searching through hours of footage (even in super fast forward) to find something specific seems very unlikely. *But I don’t want to give up this cool gadget in my Super ELN.
[Solution]Neural Impulse Actuator - Brain-computer interface - A headset that can allow you to control things with your mind. Make simple notes in your ELN by thinking, scroll through or change protocols without touching anything!
So here’s the Super ELN of the future - Hand’s free:
A light Tablet PC
w/ touch screen and active digitizer - for when you want to interface in such a way
w/ a wireless connection to the internet where your web based ELN is located
&
A modified Emotiv like headset
throw in a video cam on the headset to record and take pictures of things when you want
Now- you have a wireless headset and wireless Tablet PC
- take it wherever you are doing your experiments (lab, in the field, at the large hedron collider)
- open it up so you can see the screen
- with your mind call up the template for the experiment you are going to run
- follow the protocol
- whenever you change anything or observe something use your mind to make note
- if you want to take a picture or record your procedure use your mind to turn on the camera.
- while you’re working, you could scroll through or search and find similar experiments you have done in the past to reference!
It’s so seemless, it brings a tear to my eye.
Posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago at 6:22 pm. 2 comments
Everyone is always looking for the next big thing. In cell phones maybe it’s fast, touch screen internet, in stocks/business maybe it’s alternative power, in politics maybe it’s a minority(race/gender) in the white house.
But, what is the next big thing for the world of ELNs?
Maybe it’s eELNs, web-based ELNs, e-lab-books (my personal favorite moniker), any other ideas for a catchy name?….
Okay, okay. Sure ELNs haven’t even taken a strangle hold in labs yet. But the reality is the shift from the traditional lab notebook to electronic data is very wide spread, people simply don’t recognize it as an ELN (and continue to keep a traditional lab notebook for some reason).
In my current PhD research, I keep my ‘Onenote ELN’ on a shared network drive and can feasibly use it, record to it, peruse it at different computers. But only in the lab, and only if they have Onenote as well (can’t write freehand unless the computer is a tablet).
There are some web solutions out there. Labtronics, for instance, at paperlesslab.com, have a nice looking idea with their web based ELN (e-lab-book :)). I think you could easily set it up to be pretty flexible (or rigid for those undergrad researchers you get every semester). They don’t have the ability to write using a pen/stylus like in Onenote, or all the easy formating options of Onenote, but I think one could actually do that.
Over at Gottabemobile.com and todoUMPC.com they have integrated the ability to write using your tablet PC to the forums, you can actually ‘ink’ messages. Such an application could be integrated into an e-lab-book! Also maybe the pen/paper idea of Adapx (see earlier post) could be integrated as well, so that you could just upload your pen data to your e-lab-book on the web.
This would be great for academia, for instance, if you were to visit and work in another lab for a week or two. While your learning a new technique you would have access to all your info!
Anyway, to have everything integrated (such as the ability to ink, use the Adapx pen, …) is more of a dream. But my fortune teller’s prediction is that the NEXT BIG THING IS ELNs ON THE WEB.
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