1. IT UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN
The eLabBench in the Wild
Supporting Exploratory Science in the Biology Lab
Aurélien Tabard, J.D. Hincapié-Ramos,
& Jakob Bardram.

2. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
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3. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
Research cycle
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Design
Office
Analysis
Construction
Laboratory

4. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
Iterative
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From Sketching User Experiences (Bill Buxton) via A. de Luca teaching slides

5. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
Exploratory
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From Sketching User Experiences (Bill Buxton) via A. de Luca teaching slides

6. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
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9. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
Study and needs
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10. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
The problem
Digitization of laboratory work:
.: Access to digital data needed in the lab
.: Strong need for capture tools in the lab
.: Laptops not allowed in the lab
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11. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
Related work
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12. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
Field work
.: Situated access to digital information.
.: Capture of laboratory data in digital format.
.: Coverage throughout the whole experimental cycle
.: Accommodate to the constant presence of clutter
.: Expect the user’s attentional focus not to lay on the digital tools
.: Provide the mechanisms to deal with bio-hazard risks
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13. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
eLabBench hardware
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pen
keyboard
mouse
multitouch cell
button
camera
glass plate
frame

14. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
eLabBench deployment
...
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lab
computer
sink
refrigerator + freezers
LB1
LB2
bench
LB4
LB5
LB6
LB7
LB8
LB9
flowbench
6 biologists - 5 months

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16. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
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eLabBench

17. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
Interaction with tangibles
Levels of information capture
Transformation of the workflow
Usage patterns
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18. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
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19. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
the
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Information Roaming

20. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
.: Organization around activities
.: Roaming
.: Duplication/forking
.: Capture and Contextual annotations
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Activity Based Computing

21. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
Results
Usage patterns
.:Predefined experiment
.:Predefined experiment with changes on the way
.:Variation of an experiment done in the past
.:Ad-hoc experiment, not prepared
.:Collaborative experiment
Different levels of information capture
Interaction with tangibles (racks and machine tags)
Transformation of the workflow
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22. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
Results
Usage patterns
Different levels of information capture
Interaction with tangibles (racks and machine tags)
Transformation of the workflow
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23. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
Image of the wiki and the rack UI
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24. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
Results
Usage patterns
Different levels of information capture
Interaction with tangibles (racks and machine tags)
Transformation of the workflow
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25. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
Tangible integration
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26. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
Tangible integration
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27. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
Mediated tabletop interaction
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Mediated Tabletop Interaction - Ubicomp'11.

28. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
Results
Usage patterns
Different levels of information capture
Interaction with tangibles (racks and machine tags)
Transformation of the workflow
.:Blending laboratory and office work
.:Computation in the laboratory
.:Changes in the plans
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29. Supporting exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - LMU
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Native applications

30. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
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Physical Design

31. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
.: Snapshots,
stills from a top-mounted camera
.: Notes,
longer typed notes
.: Scribbles,
short hand-written notes,
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Capture and access

32. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
.: Wiki based notebook
.: Web browser
.: Calculator
.: Bio-informatics tools
.: Word/Excel
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Native applications

33. Designing for exploratory science - Aurélien Tabard - ITU
Questions?
Work done in collaboration with
.: M. Esbensen
.: J. Bardram
.: E. Andersen
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34. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
Mediated tabletop interaction
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J. D. Hincapié-Ramos, A. Tabard, and J. Bardram
Mediated Tabletop Interaction
In Proceedings of Ubicomp'11.

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36. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
Architecture 2.
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ActivityDock eLabBench
ABC server
miniAbcLib miniAbcLib
HTTP
POST/GET
Cornerston
e Win7
IR pen
Win Native
Services
front
button
Arduino/
Serproxy
top
camera
keyboard
mouse

37. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
Architecture 3.
37
ActivityDock eLabBench
ABC server
miniAbcLib miniAbcLib
HTTP
POST/GET
Cornerston
e Win7
IR pen
keyboard
mouse
Win Native
Services
front
button
Arduino/
Serproxy
top
camera
Window
managemen

38. The eLabBench - ITS 2011
Architecture 4.
38
ActivityDock eLabBench
ABC server
miniAbcLib miniAbcLib
HTTP
POST/GET
Cornerston
e Win7
Win Native
Services
Arduino/
Serproxy
top
camera
Window
managemen
Cornerston
e API
Racks
Machine
tags
IR pen
keyboard
mouse front
button