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AKjDPG: Arbeitskreis junge DPG

AKjDPG 4: Hacky Hour II (joint session AGI/SOE/AKjDPG)

AKjDPG 4.5: Talk

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 17:30–18:00, MAR 0.011

snip: user-centered lab book — •Markus Osterhoff, Sebastian Mohr und Sarah Köster — Institut für Röntgenphysik, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen

Conducting and steering complex experiments is a highly creative process, requiring not just the alignment, sample treatment, and preliminary analysis, but also real-time discussions among researchers. In the realm of traditional hand-crafted log books, there was significant freedom to combine printouts with annotations and sketches, mirroring the progress and decisions of the experiment. However, with the advent of electronic log books, the creativity in free note-keeping has been largely disregarded, with an overemphasis on formalities consuming more time. Moreover, important machine parameters, like motor positions and images from detectors and microscopes, are not easily accessible or referenced, even in facility-developed log books.

We propose "snip," a digital user-centered lab book that combines hand-crafted entries with computer-generated content. This system not only supports standard measurements but puts creative research at the forefront. Through external software (control software, detector and microscope computers, etc.), standardized "snippets" representing the experiment are created and sent. Researchers can curate these snippets, adding annotations and using a pen for quick documentation, sketching, and highlighting. The web-based software facilitates collaborative work, allowing experts worldwide to work on the document simultaneously and discuss their ideas in real-time.

The "snippets" carry essential information as metadata, like motor positions or images. Before being "glued" into the book, users can adjust the actual "view" (size, ROI, etc.), and then annotate with pen entry. This maintains the "analogue mode of operation" to a large degree, but instead of printouts, "true digital copies" are used. Furthermore, an API provides definable interfaces for third-party software (control, analysis, simulation) to submit digital versions of the traditional paper snippets, including system state printouts or graphics.

In this way, snips are not automatically or strictly chronologically added to the lab book. Instead, users creatively curate them according to the ongoing discussion, enriching the machine-readable information with sketches, highlights, and ad hoc texts. This approach not only preserves but enhances the creative and collaborative aspects of experimental research, integrating the flexibility of digital technology with the intuitive, hands-on approach of traditional scientific exploration.

Keywords: Elektronisches Laborbuch; Laborbuch; ELN