Cognitive Artifacts in Complex Work - Ambient Intelligence for Scientific Discovery - page 172

methodical steps and recording every step by hand in the notebook. In other
labs, the notebook may be updated on a regular basis, but is kept current at
least weekly.
The notebook is used as a personal, yet distributed cognitive artifact in every
step of an experimental cycle, and then as a document supporting findings for
discovery, lab discussions, and documenting experiments in a manuscript. As a
personal document, it represents the actual work of setting up experiments, with
a record of materials, measures, and equipment, sucient to enable duplication
by any other researcher. As a distributed artifact, the notebook is property
of the research lab and is shared (at times) with and by other members of a
research project. It is archived as a bound volume for safekeeping and future
review. According to Mackay, et al [21], biologists “are heavy computer users,
but most appreciated the simplicity and flexibility of their paper notebooks.
They particularly liked the ability to highlight or annotate images or data and
create free-form drawing to illustrate a point.” These properties illustrate some
of the existing boundary conditions that must be exceeded or accommodated by
an electronic notebook artifact.
Discoveries that emerge from experimental findings are noted in the lab note-
book, and the “unexpected findings” hoped for by research projects are shared
in discussion from this artifact. However, we have little insight into the extent to
which using the notebook may contribute to the cognitive processes of discovery.
Given prior research recognizing how the distributed contributions of scientists
help interpret discovery, distributed access and display of lab notebook data
might assist this process.
Recent projects have identified some factors associated with adoption of elec-
tronic notebook. Mackay [21] examined three approaches to electronic lab note-
books, and found it most effective to augment the paper notebook with electronic
capability using a graphics tablet, a PDA, and cross-interaction software that
translates writing and commands on the notebook itself to an electronic record.
It supplements the paper notebook by transferring written details as text to a
database, supporting data operations such as tagging and documenting mice or
samples, and linking to online source data or articles on the web. By transferring
document data to electronic format, scientists can store shareable records of ex-
periments to the database, and generate tables of contents across the notebook
entries.
Other recent studies [30] have suggested scientists are not yet ready to switch
to electronic notebooks, even in highly computerized labs. Schraefel's [30] team
compared current electronic lab topic approaches, and identified problems pre-
venting adoption. They co-designed a Tablet PC-based notebook with chemists,
making a prototype that addressed perceived adoption issues with electronic
notebooks. Initial results of the prototype were promising, but these studies also
show how far removed such systems remain from wholesale adoption in research
labs.
There are certainly multiple factors establishing the cognitive boundary con-
ditions for endogenous artifacts in research practices. A technology-based view