When keeping research notes, I use a traditional lab notebook. But, more than once I have been tempted to take the time and work out my notes on a computer to keep better track of everything. The benefits of a traditional paper notebook are simple:
- Easy to carry around to any research environment (especially in fish rooms)
- Can quickly j0t down notes and sketches
- No need for a power plug nearby
- Notes do not accidentally get deleted or lost
However, a digital notebook has one overwhelming advantage in my opinion:
- Ease of locating important notes
The ability to tag notes with keywords, organize them by date or topic can cut down on hours of flipping through a lab-book to locate that tidbit of information you need to continue with your data analysis. Personally, I’m planning to combine the best of both worlds and enter important information in a virtual Google Docs lab notebook. The reason I’ll go with Google Docs is that I can access it from any computer (our lab has more than one, and access on any particular one depends on who is using what).
One of the reasons I am considering Google Docs is for it’s ease of access, and ease of use. But there are also plenty of Google tutorials available for Docs and other Google applications. In addition, I trust my data is safe with Google, but I still wouldn’t use the notebook for any crucial information. It would mostly be for those things you need to process data at the end of the day, and might not easily find in a traditional notebook. Some other science bloggers have mentioned the use of virtual notebooks, but which method you use really seems to depend on your research needs. For some, taking notes within a particular software program, such as Mathematica works best. I, unlike Philip at BioCurious, would worry about being able to access my notes down the road if appropriate readers are no longer available. That worry might stem from my frustration of not being able to open older version SPSS output files in newer versions of the program, but that really doesn’t mean the problem exists with other applications.