Following the last ELN meeting in Europe (ELN: Laboratory Informatics for the 21st Century, the SMi Group, London, January 2010), a considerable amount of discussion ensued on an ELN LinkedIn Group in which some thoughts were expressed about the role and effectiveness of ELN conferences.  The general consensus was that delegate attendances were falling, content [...]

There have been two separate discussion running on LinkedIn that have a bearing on the subject of laboratory integration. The first of these follows up from a question I raised: “Does anybody have any thoughts on the integration/interfacing of laboratory systems to SaaS offerings of ELN and LIMS?” The second was based on [...]

I have a problem with the notion that we would stop attending conferences in-person and rely entirely on webinars. It’s not that anyone has come out and said exactly that (that I know of), but I think there are some conversations leading in that direction.

Let me admit this – I’m among that techie crowd that e-mails everyone. I resist picking up the phone when I don’t absolutely have to. Much of my time spent with other people in our industry is spent either in e-mail or in on-line groups. But even I can tell you that this is a poor substitute for leaving your desk and attending a meeting.

Over on Richard Gayle’s Blog Spreading Science, I read a post entitled Scientists need to tell better stories. It touches on a point that has bothered me for a while now, and that is that the basic structure and discipline of the scientific method demands a particular style of documentation, and that style often [...]