The paper-based laboratory notebook remains one of the last bastions of manual information in the scientific world. Until recently, its unique characteristics: light weight, portable, and durable, with free- form and flexible, yet indelible datat entry, could not be provided by any information technology. The emergence of pen-based hardware technology and component software technology offers an opportunity to replicate the highly desirable features of paper-based notebooks with equivalent electronic ones, while bringing added benefits of electronic information to the scientist and scientific organization. This research seeks to develop a full-scale Electronic Laboratory Notebook (RLN) system, directed at the specific needs of pharmaceutical and related health-science research. The Phase II research seeks to develop an ELN that uses a flexible combination of mobile and desktop computing hosts. The ELN provides two separate views of the data, a Notebook view which retains the indelible properties of the paper notebook, and a Workbook view which can be used to create, edit and transfer data to the Notebook. The ELN also provides access to third party tools ranging from word processors to laboratory instruments, and several ELN-specific tools designed to meet the specific needs of the bench chemist.
The proposed research will lead to development of an electronic laboratory notebook, hoste on a pen-based computer. This product would be usable by virtually every bench scientist in the pharmaceutical related chemical field, a marketplace which is estimated at more than 250 million dollars.
