http://research.microsoft.com/InkSeine/

   I’ve played around with alot of tablet gadget programs, and have always been a little disappointed.

   The most useful tool for me has always been Onenote - which nowadays I mostly use minus the pen anyway.

   When I had classes, I did frequently use the pen to take notes - in Onenote.

   This new INKSEINE program looks to really change the way you take notes!

   It’s a very interactive way to take notes, and provides added Tablet interface functionality as well.

   When taking notes you can quickly attach word, prdf, excel,… files to a note or idea. Much more easily than doing so in Onenote!

   Furthermore, you can quickly tag things for future searchs, or quickly search the internet as you’re taking notes.

   I can see this helping students in the active learning process - even in the case of a boring professor - your quickly getting added internet content and explanations. (I can also see A.D.D. distracting notetakers from the speaker - all in the quest for knowledge)

PEOPLE LOVE LISTS, SO HERE’S MY PROS
   Scrolling through lists by swirling clockwise or counterclockwise - GENIUS.
   Easy to learn pop up tips
   Quick & Easy linking of files
   Quick & Easy searching internet
   History of running research

Only real CON - should just be a part of Onenote so everything can be organized better.

CONCLUSION

I didn’t expect it to be so difficult. Then again, my wife did have a baby boy right before the program started.

But, I made it through - now all I have is hundreds of years of lab work and my thesis.

I have my full lab notebook here. LINK

The subject of illegal aliens is a hot topic around here (in southern California). ELNs, aliens, similar sounds…. Okay, sorry for that.

So… Let’s look at the LEGAL ISSUES INVOLVED WITH ELNs.

I want to begin with a little bit of a rant. I use Microsoft Onenote, it’s free (in the sense that I already have Office). What is the difference between writing in a composition notebook and writing in Onenote? I have been told on multiple occasions to write it in a composition book for ‘legal purposes’ or ‘because a grant requires it’. What makes a composition notebook and ink so secure. I am a computer nerd and I know computer files can be changed - but so can composition notebooks!

ELN software now looks for solutions with electronic signatures and other ’security’ technology that feigns to make your electronic record of research indisputable in a court of law. Let’s face it though - just like a composition notebook wirtten in ink, electronic notebooks will always be subject to forgery. And when a researcher testifies of what’s in his/her record that’s about as good as it gets.

Okay, back to the LAW - I keep getting sidetracked in editorial comments.

37 CFR - Patent Submission Rules – electronic records acceptable as long as they comply with appropriate format requirements

Recent rulings (Sept 2004) confirmed that electronic records will be accorded the same weight as paper records in interference cases

Federal Rules of Evidence – Business Records Exemption Fed. R. Evid. 803(6)
– Records of regularly conducted activity. A memorandum, report, record, or
data compilation, in any form, of acts, events, conditions, opinions, or
diagnoses, made at or near the time by, or from information transmitted by, a
person with knowledge, if kept in the course of a regularly conducted business
activity, and if it was the regular practice of that business activity to make the
memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, all as shown by the testimony
of the custodian or other qualified witness, unless the source of information or
the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness. The
term “business” as used in this paragraph includes business, institution,
association, profession, occupation, and calling of every kind, whether or not
conducted for profit.

The Federal Rules of Evidence state that
– If data are stored in a computer or similar device, any printout or other output readable by sight, shown to reflect the data accurately, is an “original”. Fed. R. Evid. 1001(3).

An accurate printout of computer data always satisfies the best evidence rule.

There are no test cases yet (and may never be).

Re Scott T Jolley – Fed. Cir. 2002
Emails were used when Dow granted patent interference for Lubrizol based on prior art.

Why may there never be test cases?
Very few patent interferences or litigation arise each year.
95% of cases are settled pre-trial.
The 5% left over are unlikely to come down to ELN or Paper notebook evidence.

THINGS TO NOTE

USER AUTHENTICATION / 3RD PARTY TIME STAMPS - These are expensive ’solutions’ to making sure your electronic notebook is ‘legal’. (eg. SAFE compliant Smart Card). A GREAT solution to truly making your research notebooks bulletproof to the lawyers. But really, when someone argues I should have something like that if I want to replace my composition book - my reply would be ‘is there some 3rd party time stamp in my composition book that I’m missing?’

RECORD MANAGEMENT - There should be a clear distinction between record authoring and record storage/archiving. Current ‘best practice’ suggests PDF is appropriate for long term archiving. WHY? In a larger organization the author wants to be sure his record has not been edited by others handling/storing the record.

MY OPINION (again)
I’m all for better security, better time stamps, etc. But what is the difference, right now, between paper and electronic? Why stop progress by saying no to a simple ELN using Onenote or another program!? I don’t think there are grants that stipulate - have a composition notebook written in ink. Why should it be - paper notebook for one dollar or ‘certified’ ELN software for 10s of thousands of dollars. Scientists don’t know (or usually care) about the wild/crazy laws, so they just stick with the old school, or pay lots of money to feel secure. Well, I say go ahead and use cheap solutions like Onenote - it’s much better than a composition notebook (which, let’s face it, people rarely look at) and as far as I can tell it’s just as ‘legal’! If you’re really worried, email a backup to someone every week

IRONY
The majority of data in a paper notebook now is originally electronic!

Some lawyers don’t want their clients to have electronic records because it provides too easy of access to all their clients raw data which leaves them exposed to reanalysis and new findings! So basically, as opposed to paper notebooks (which nobody would ever use or read), electronic notebooks/records can easily be search and utilized - well that would be horrible!

I must admit I did take notes in some classes while doing my Masters in Biochemistry with the old OQO. See below.

Funny, looking through my notes makes me realize how much I have forgotten already.

Now check out my notes from this week in one of my classes.

So here’s my list of the X60s advantages/disadvantages in note taking:

1) Ease of use.

Notetaking Area
It’s much easier to take notes in the larger (notebook sized) area. The OQO is like taking notes in your daily planner (which is good in some situations - but taking notes for a class is more intensive).

Responsiveness
CPU speed changes the usability of the tablet features. If you look at the notetaking samples above you will notice when using the X60 it was easier to change pen colors (thus more pretty colors). What you don’t see is the fact that I am able to erase and change stuff quickly. You can’t ask the professor to wait while your tablet changes pen colors or reformats something (actually you can - we all know those kind of people don’t we).

Shock Factor
Although the size of the OQO lends itself to being used more frequently - just pull it out, jot down some notes, put it back - actually, I have noticed that I am much more likely to use my X60 in class. Why? Well, if I decide I want to take notes on something and all of the sudden pull out my old OQO then someone always will be like - ‘what the heck is that, what are you doing?’ Hey, I’m a tech nerd so deep down I want that attention, but at the same time it’s a bit rude and disruptive and sometimes would prevent me from pulling it out in seminars and classes. The X60 looks like a laptop - which is very common now. People still notice, but it’s not as disruptive.

2) Battery Life

No contest - The X60 (especially with the extended battery) can last through 4 hours+ of classes and seminars. The OQO was hard pressed to make it through 1 hour (and I would never think to turn on the wifi to look something up).

That’s another added bonus - responsiveness and battery life allow for wifi use in class to look up and cut and paste stuff from the web. See below.

Well I was going to make a big list of good stuff - but, really, since I’m just looking at notetaking the other things should be saved for a different debate.

So where does the OQO win out?

Size, Tech nerd glory, that slide out keyboard (granted the X60 has a full size keyboard - but it’s a bit of a lugubrious effort to flip around the screen when compared to the slide out of the OQO)

The big list of benefits would be for either of these tablets over traditional notes. I won’t go into that list - but, those notes from my OQO above in my Receptor Biochemistry course would now be a recycled paper back had I taken them in a paper notebook. Some people keep all that stuff! That’s even worse, a closet full of notes you really will never look at :).

I have a new son - Maxwell Ethan McClelland (born July 21, 2007)

We are all moved.

I am all settled in to a new lab.

Classes start back up next week.

I am ready to go!

I went to NextFest last weekend and saw a bunch of cool stuff. I got to actually see the OQO 02 in person. Since switching to my Lenovo (which I love) and selling my OQO 01+, I haven’t thought about it in awhile. It kind of made me miss the little thing. But only as a cool gadget. I still think the lab notebook (at this time) is better done on a faster computer.

Feel free to leave input on directions you would like to see the website go.

I was moving to a new lab (actually I’m still moving). In the coming year, as a part of the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program at UC Irvine, I will rotate in sevral labs before picking the lab I want to do my PhD work in. So I will have a chance to try the ELN (electronic lab notebook) in various settings.

Currently I am using the Lenovo X60 Tablet with multitouch (touch screen and active digitizer ability). The touch screen has become second nature and has really added another dimension of functionality to its use as an ELN.

I’m getting settled and I will try to do at least weekly highlights of possible new hardware and/or interesting ways to use the ELN. There is alot of hardware going on right now!!

You can always flip through my previous research work, if you’re bored, using the menu on the right sidebar to get ideas. I still need to work on that stuff as well.