May092011May 9, 2011May 8, 20112Commentsby L.

Data’s killer app

Posted in Software

On the topic of the recent app post, I’ve been thinking about an old blog post from Peter Keane. The of his post is, “What is Data’s Killer App?” In it, he pondered the problem of data management.

After a not entirely apt analogy to HTML, Keane suggested that there is no killer app coming. Instead, “our solution will likely be a set of protocols, formats, and practices all of which will enable the creation of end-user applications that can ‘hide the plumbing.'” I think that’s a valuable insight and I submit that it already exists. Moreover, people are already migrating to it. Just not in any organized way.

I suggest that this is a minimal skeleton for data and lab management upon which most comprehensive solutions can be built:

  • For protocols and other miscellaneous information: a lab wiki.
  • Primary data should be stored in, or referenced by, XML files.
  • Standard collaborative tools should be used where appropriate. E.g., Google Docs, MS Office, Zoho, Buzzword, etc.
  • Standard databases tools should be used for organization of stereotyped datasets. That means mySQL-based tools like dbForge, or Filemaker, or the like. Excel is not a database.
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