Chemistry, University of Southampton , Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom.
J Chem Inf Model. 2014 Dec 22;54(12):3268-83. doi: 10.1021/ci500469f. Epub 2014 Nov 25.
The drive toward more transparency in research, the growing willingness to make data openly available, and the reuse of data to maximize the return on research investment all increase the importance of being able to find information and make links to the underlying data. The use of metadata in Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELNs) to curate experiment data is an essential ingredient for facilitating discovery. The University of Southampton has developed a Web browser-based ELN that enables users to add their own metadata to notebook entries. A survey of these notebooks was completed to assess user behavior and patterns of metadata usage within ELNs, while user perceptions and expectations were gathered through interviews and user-testing activities within the community. The findings indicate that while some groups are comfortable with metadata and are able to design a metadata structure that works effectively, many users are making little attempts to use it, thereby endangering their ability to recover data in the future. A survey of patterns of metadata use in these notebooks, together with feedback from the user community, indicated that while a few groups are comfortable with metadata and are able to design a metadata structure that works effectively, many users adopt a "minimum required" approach to metadata. To investigate whether the patterns of metadata use in LabTrove were unusual, a series of surveys were undertaken to investigate metadata usage in a variety of platforms supporting user-defined metadata. These surveys also provided the opportunity to investigate whether interface designs in these other environments might inform strategies for encouraging metadata creation and more effective use of metadata in LabTrove.
研究的透明度不断提高，越来越愿意公开数据，并且为了最大化研究投资回报而重复使用数据，这些都使得能够查找信息并链接到基础数据变得越来越重要。在电子实验室笔记本（ELN）中使用元数据来管理实验数据是促进发现的重要组成部分。南安普顿大学开发了一种基于 Web 浏览器的 ELN，使用户能够向笔记本条目添加自己的元数据。完成了对这些笔记本的调查，以评估用户在 ELN 中的行为和元数据使用模式，同时通过访谈和用户测试活动在社区中收集用户的看法和期望。调查结果表明，尽管有些用户对元数据感到满意，并且能够设计出有效的元数据结构，但许多用户很少尝试使用它，从而危及他们将来恢复数据的能力。对这些笔记本中元数据使用模式的调查，以及来自用户社区的反馈，表明尽管有少数用户对元数据感到满意，并且能够设计出有效的元数据结构，但许多用户采用了“最低要求”的元数据方法。为了调查 LabTrove 中元数据使用模式是否不同寻常，进行了一系列调查，以调查各种支持用户定义元数据的平台中元数据的使用情况。这些调查还提供了机会，调查其他环境中的界面设计是否可以为在 LabTrove 中鼓励创建元数据和更有效地使用元数据提供策略。
