Easi: An Electronic Assistant for Scientific Investigation

Although many automated tools support the productivity of professionals (engineers, managers, architects, secretaries, etc.), none specifically address the needs of the scientific researcher. The scientist's needs are complex and the primary activities are cognitive rather than physical. The individual scientist collects and manipulates large data sets, integrates, synthesizes, generates, and records information. The means to access and manipulate information are a critical determinant of the performance of the system as a whole. One hindrance in this process is the scientist's computer environment, which has changed little in the last two decades. Extensive time and effort is demanded from the scientist to learn to use the computer system. This paper describes how chemists' activities and interactions with information were abstracted into a common paradigm that meets the critical requirement of facilitating information access and retrieval. This paradigm was embodied in EASI, a working prototype that increased the productivity of the individual scientific researcher.