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II. The biologist in the Age of Information

The Internet provides a wealth of information tools for the modern Biologist.

However one can easily be overwhelmed with an unsorted cascade of useful and useless information.

When you need to find a particular piece of information, how do you go about it? What is most efficient? What methods yield the most valuable and trustworthy information?

an E-mail to the right person you might get your answer in a few hours

a message to the most relevant USENET group usually gets answered in less than a day

a precise search of the World Wide Web may pull up just what you need in a few seconds

Skilled use of information sytems = finding the information that you need quickly & efficiently

Everyday lab computing tasks:

ordering supplies

on-line refrence books

electronic lab notebook

literature searching

Training "computer savvy" scientists who:

know the right tool for the job

can get the job done with the tools at hand

value their network connection as the information lifeline of the scientist

know that jobs, projects, and techonologies change, scientists adapt

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Using Computers for Molecular Biology
Stuart M. Brown, Ph.D., RCR, NYU Medical Center

Comments to: browns02@mcrcr.med.nyu.edu