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Characterization of Tasks in Neuroscience Research

The purpose of this list is two-fold. Firstly it is to verify that my impressions of what you do is correct. Secondly it is to give you an opportunity to CONFIDENTIALLY respond to my observations. This means NO ONE will be able to read the responses except the surveyor. And even then the identity of the person who wrote the response can be kept completely anonymous if desired. Please realize that you do not have to answer every question in the survey- only those parts that interest you. In particular I am interested in getting responses about the diagram below.

Since the GENESIS database will likely include some form of hypertext interface, I thought it might be a good idea to get you accustomed to hypertext by using Xmosaic (this program) rather than gopher to present this information. You will notice that some text items below are underlined. These underlined items can be selected (by pointing and clicking with the left mouse button) to display more detailed information about the item. Since Xmosaic is heavily networked based, selecting any item will cause it to connect to a remote computer to access the required information for display. In this case the information you are reading is all stored at the University of Illinois at Chicago. This is just to forewarn you that if Xmosaic takes a little while to respond, it is likely to be because of heavy network traffic.

• Experiments
  • lab preparations (depends greatly on nature of experiment).
  • record data on recording rig; pass recorded data through filters before storing on hard disk. (Filter is not always used)
• Analysis of recorded data
  • use matlab, excel, other visualization tools.
  • make lots and lots of plots. Stick them to the wall or organize them on screen.
  • use ruler to measure data from graphs printed in journals.
  • compare recorded data to other results in journals.
• Genesis simulations
  • construct simulation model.
  • tweak parameters using published data.
  • explore parameter space to gain an understanding of the system and stimulate new ideas to do experiments on.
• Refer to papers, books, journals for ideas & data
  • gather parameter data for simulation.
  • gather data on experimental technique.
  • gather data on experimental results.
  • gather data on morphology.
• Record personal notes
  • notes on experimental procedures.
  • notes on paths followed so far.
  • collect figures & equations from various papers.
  • record channel parameters so that comparisons can be made when decisions are needed on the best one to use.
• Write research paper
  • collect bibliography from previous written papers and any new references.
  • transfer equations, graphs and diagrams from analysis packages and/or GENESIS to paper.
• Management of all this raw data gathered from experiments
  • stored on optical disk or tape.

Give me an idea of how you combine these individual tasks in your research (that is, what is the order in which you perform these tasks).

What do you think about this hypertext survey?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!