Webinar: Pathfinders – Process Recording

Webinar: Pathfinders – Process Recording

In the first webinar of the series (a recording of this now available on the PSDI YouTube page) we took a look at PSDI as a whole. In this second webinar we focus down into work package 4 of the current phase, which contains our 5 pathfinders, in this webinar we looked at the work in Pathfinder 2: Process Recording, which is led by Dr Samantha Kanza.

The recording of this webinar is now available on Youtube.

Abstract: Process recording is fundamental to ensuring the preservation of the scientific record and enabling reproducibility. The Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) was originally created to serve as a direct replacement for the paper lab notebook, to ensure the digital capture and retention of the scientific record. What seemed like an obvious simple software-based solution has been anything but, and there are now over 80 active ELNs on the market and a wide range of different approaches have been taken to digitizing scientific research across academia and industry.

This talk will discuss the shift in software offerings and attitudes to process recording software and report on the results of a recent survey on ELN and Notebook Usage in our physical sciences community. We will also discuss the current work that is being undertaken in this pathfinder to produce a comprehensive resource on process recording tools to aid researchers in identifying the best solution(s) for them. It will also cover research being undertaken around the different aspects of process recording, and community recommendations for making improvements in these areas, such as metadata, semantics, data standards and the use of hybrid/voice technologies.

Bio: Dr Samantha Kanza is a Senior Enterprise Fellow at the University of Southampton. She is a Pathfinder Lead and researcher in the Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure initiative. She also coordinates the Future Blood Testing Network (www.futurebloodtesting.org) run out of Reading as well as previously co-ordinating the AI 4 Scientific Discovery Network (AI4SD – www.ai4science.network). Samantha works in the interdisciplinary research area of applying computer science techniques to the scientific domain, specifically through the use of semantic web technologies and artificial intelligence. Her research includes looking at electronic lab notebooks and smart laboratories, to improve the digitization and knowledge management of the scientific record using semantic web technologies; and using IoT devices in the laboratory. She has also worked on a number of interdisciplinary Semantic Web projects in different domains, including agriculture, chemistry and the social sciences.

Watch the recording

You can watch the recording of this webinar via our youtube channel.


The pathfinders aim to focus development in strategic areas with the aim to explore and establish exemplar systems that can be brought under the PSDI umbrella and act as templates for future phases of the project. An overview of the pathfinder will be presented as well as their goals over the course of the project. For those that wish to get some more information about the pathfinders before the webinar please go to: https://www.psdi.ac.uk/current-work/wp4-pathfinders/

The PSDI team looks forward to seeing you at the webinar, if you have any questions you can always get in contact with us.

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