Labscape: a smart environment for the cell biology laboratory

• Published in: IEEE pervasive computing Vol. 1; no. 3; pp. 13 - 21
• Main Authors: Arnstein, L., Chia-Yang Hung, Franza, R., Qing Hong Zhou, Borriello, G., Consolvo, S., Jing Su
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 2002; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Biological cells; Biologists; Biology; Cells (biology); Collaborative work; Computation; Computational fluid dynamics; Drugs; Electrokinetics; Fluid flow; Fluids; Laboratories; Organizing; Representations; RNA; Tasks; Testing; Ubiquitous computing
• ISSN: 1536-1268; 1558-2590
• DOI: 10.1109/MPRV.2002.1037717

Labscape is a smart environment that we designed to improve the experience of people who work in a cell biology laboratory. Our goal in creating it was to simplify, laboratory work by making information available where it is needed and by collecting and organizing data where and when it is created into a formal representation that others can understand and process. By helping biologists produce a more complete record of their work with less effort, Labscape is designed to foster improved collaboration in conjunction with increased individual efficiency and satisfaction. A user-driven system, although technologically conservative, embraces a central goal of ubiquitous computing: to enhance the ability to perform domain tasks through fluid interaction with computational resources. Smart environments could soon replace the pen and paper commonly used in the laboratory setting.