Wright Jerry M
Department of Physiology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 725 N Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Autom Exp. 2009 Nov 19;1:5. doi: 10.1186/1759-4499-1-5.
With massive amounts of data being generated in electronic format, there is a need in basic science laboratories to adopt new methods for tracking and analyzing data. An electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) is not just a replacement for a paper lab notebook, it is a new method of storing and organizing data while maintaining the data entry flexibility and legal recording functions of paper notebooks. Paper notebooks are regarded as highly flexible since the user can configure it to store almost anything that can be written or physically pasted onto the pages. However, data retrieval and data sharing from paper notebooks are labor intensive processes and notebooks can be misplaced, a single point of failure that loses all entries in the volume. Additional features provided by electronic notebooks include searchable indices, data sharing, automatic archiving for security against loss and ease of data duplication. Furthermore, ELNs can be tasked with additional functions not commonly found in paper notebooks such as inventory control. While ELNs have been on the market for some time now, adoption of an ELN in academic basic science laboratories has been lagging. Issues that have restrained development and adoption of ELN in research laboratories are the sheer variety and frequency of changes in protocols with a need for the user to control notebook configuration outside the framework of professional IT staff support. In this commentary, we will look at some of the issues and experiences in academic laboratories that have proved challenging in implementing an electronic lab notebook.
随着大量电子格式数据的产生，基础科学实验室需要采用新的数据跟踪和分析方法。电子实验室笔记本（ELN）不仅仅是纸质实验室笔记本的替代品，它是一种存储和整理数据的新方法，同时保持了纸质笔记本的数据录入灵活性和合法记录功能。纸质笔记本被认为具有高度灵活性，因为用户可以对其进行配置，以存储几乎任何可以书写或粘贴在页面上的内容。然而，从纸质笔记本中检索和共享数据是劳动密集型过程，而且笔记本可能会放错地方，这是一个单点故障，会导致整个本子中的所有记录丢失。电子笔记本提供的其他功能包括可搜索索引、数据共享、自动存档以防止数据丢失以及便于数据复制。此外，ELN还可以承担一些纸质笔记本中不常见的额外功能，如库存控制。虽然ELN已经在市场上存在了一段时间，但学术基础科学实验室对其的采用一直滞后。限制研究实验室中ELN发展和采用的问题是协议变化的种类繁多和频率较高，需要用户在专业IT人员支持框架之外控制笔记本配置。在这篇评论中，我们将探讨学术实验室中在实施电子实验室笔记本时被证明具有挑战性的一些问题和经验。
