Figure 3

The lab notebook as a time dependent feed of relationships. A) A series of research objects collected as part of an experiment. A raw material is converted into a sample that is then subjected to analysis. A photo is taken of the sample. The analysis generates data that is in turn is described as consistent with a previously published model. The connection of the new data with the model, and onto the literature that describes the generation of that model wires the new, unpublished experiment, into the wider web. The dotted green lines show previously existing relationships between the model data and published papers. B) The same set of objects and relationships shown as a set of time dependent feeds generated by a set of services. Each object is accessible on a feed generated by the service where it is hosted. The "laboratory notebook" is the feed shown at the bottom which records and describes relationships between the research objects.