Application of EMSL's Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) in Climate Impact Research
EMSL Project ID
2400
Abstract
Collaboration is a popular buzzword, and many software packages are being developed to facilitate collaboration, but with limited functionality (I.e., online audio/video teleconferencing, remote showing of PowerPoint presentations, etc.). Although there is much interest, extensive investigative efforts have proven that few collaborative software packages exist for the purpose of scientific paper writing. The act of writing or publishing a scientific paper as a collaborative effort usually relies on the tried and true methods of email, phones calls, and business trips between the collaborators. The need for a collaborative tool to aid scientists in publishing scientific papers is paramount. Scientific collaborators are therefore forced to use (or misuse) existing tools, not intended for scientific paper publishing, to accomplish this goal. EMSL's Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) is an innovation in the area of scientific laboratory software. The ELN provides an online equivalent of the hardcopy laboratory notebook where researchers and collaborators can record and share observations and experimental results. But despite its focus as a research record, the ELN is also the best candidate we have found for providing an online environment where collaborators can compose scientific papers. The Methods and Models for Integrated Assessment (MMIA) project within NCAR's Environmental and Societal Impacts Group (ESIG) has chosen EMSL's Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) as a tool for distributed scientific paper preparation. The ELN's combination of continuous distributed availability, ability to store text and graphics, project history and threaded discussion capabilities, ease of administration, and flat learning curve made it the best choice for the job. The project, which will focus on spatial data and scaling methods for assessment of agricultural impacts of climate, includes collaborators from the ESIG, Climate and Global Dynamics Division, and Geophysical Statistics Project at NCAR, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department at the University of Florida, and the School of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin. We would like to formalize an ongoing collaboration with the EMSL to aid us in deploying the ELN for this purpose. NCAR's Environmental and Societal Impacts Group (ESIG) provides an opportunity to utilize the ELN in ways not originally intended. ESIG is in a position to provide feedback to EMSL regarding useful extensions to the ELN and effective procedures for using it for scientific paper publishing. To date, Jennifer Oxelson and Steve Aulenbach at NCAR have worked to set up several notebooks for the project and have developed an extensive tutorial presentation on using the ELN. To support the MMIA goals, we've developed (with help from EMSL staff) and tested new viewers for the ELN that incorporate the QuickView plug-in for display of Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations within a notebook page. An additional viewer allows the display of live graphs produced using the S-Plus statistical package. The tutorial, and viewers are now available for use by EMSL staff and collaborators. (Efforts within EMSL's Collaboratory operations project have already begun incorporating elements of the tutorial into their training materials.) In return, the MMIA would like to have EMSL host an ELN for the project should the need arise, and provide guidance in understanding some of the more complex functionality and interfaces of the ELN. As mentioned before, the need and interest is great among the scientific community to develop such a collaborative tool. Information gleaned from ESIG's use of the ELN would prove invaluable for future development of collaborative software packages, ultimately benefiting EMSL researchers with interest in the collaborative development of scientific research papers.
Project Details
Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2001-12-10
End Date
2002-06-01
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator